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Answer by Amanda Gummer

You will be amazed at how able your daughter is to communicate when she needs to. At two and a half her language skills are developing at an enourmous rate and if she is immersed in the language she will quickly pick it up. I assume that there are no language problems with her speaking her native language?
I would suggest finding a childminder with a principle carer who your daughter can bond with, and with other children of a similar age so that she can learn the language through interaction with them as well as with the childminder. In recognition of the language issues, I would suggest discussing this with the childminder and arranging a settling in period that you are both comfortable with during which you stay with your daughter and help her to communicate with the other people in the setting. I would suggest a maximum of a couple of weeks, with you quickly getting into the habit of leaving her for increasing periods of time after the first day or two. You will be able to judge how she is settling in, but bear in mind that many children take a while to settle into a new routine and you shouldn't expect her to settle straight away. There will also come a point where you and/or the childminder will feel that she is better left to settle on her own and your presence may, after a time, become an obstacle to her settling in quickly. The more comfortable you are with the childminder, the more likely your daughter will be to settle in the long run and the better your whole family will feel.

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