Case study: Damian

Damian started nursery school just after his third birthday and showed great enthusiasm. Observations by his keyworker and other staff indicated that he had poor attention and listening skills, experienced difficulty in understanding simple instructions and basic concepts and was using mainly two-word utterances such as 'Daddy gone'. He was ineffective in forming relationships with other children, and most of his play was solitary. After a month, to enable him to settle and gain confidence and after discussion with his parents, Damian was referred to the Speech and Language Therapy Department for a detailed assessment and advice. A programme of support was developed with his father, keyworker, SENCO and speech and language therapist. Initially this focused on developing his attention and listening skills. Damian was encouraged to take part in a range of activities at home and school involving visual and aural attention and memory skills. The activities used resources that particularly interested Damian including cars, Bob the Builder and a train set.