Adam is a two-and-a-half-year-old speaker of an additional language. He is from a refugee family and was born in the months following his mother's arrival in Britain. By the time Adam began nursery he had a younger brother who remained at home with the rest of the family.
Every morning when his mother left him at nursery Adam was struck with panic. His pleadings and rush for the door expressed his profound feelings of loss at that moment. No amount of soothing voices or gentle holding would console him or dissipate his grief.
He would spend hours by the front door refusing to move his face from the glass pane, as though searching for his mother. Staff at the nursery found his behaviour very distressing. Although a settling-in policy was in place, it was not supporting a successful integration into the toddler room, and so the nursery staff consulted our team.
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