IEP approaching

[Guest guest]

Hello to all...I'm interested in your advice. We are facing some

difficult decisions in our upcoming IEP. Not difficult in a bad way,

we have a great program now, and we are being offered a great

alternative by the district. I've waivered back and forth so many

times, I'm beginning to confuse myself. I will consider your

responses invaluable. I'll lay out the 2 programs...

We currently have:

We have had an in-home ABA program run by a great organization for

the past 14 months, since my son was diagnosed at 3 yrs old. We have

an wonderful Behavioral Analyst, and a team of 4 therapists. The

program also has 2 classrooms, in their physical location, where the

children can attend to prepare for transition. They can spend as

little or as much time there as necessary to prepare for their school

years. The first room is used mostly for one to one prgram work, and

some small group activities, while the second room is more advanced,

in that it's more like Kindergaten. They learn from a distance, and

it's more structured, with greater demands. The children always have

one to one instruction, at home or in the classroom. This program is

usually a 2-3 year process, with school inclusion or mainstreaming as

the ultimate goal.

Our school district is starting their own program in Sept. This is

what they are offering:

A 30 hour per week ABA program in a classroom setting. It would be

20 hours of DTT in school, and another 10 hours at home five days a

week after school. The schedule would be one to one trials w/small

group opportunities in between. It's a full day program, so they

would have lunch and recess as well. There is also talk of a short

music and PE class. Speech and OT would be onsite. There will be

one certified teacher, one therpaist w/extensive ABA knowledge, like

a lead therpaist position, and four aides. There will be five

children in a contained classroom. We are told it will be one to one

all the time. There are also opportunities for the children to spend

time in the " Preschool Handicapped class or Developmental

Kindergarten class " if they show the ability. The aides are just

being hired, and will only receive one week of " intensive " training.

The program will be overseen by an outside consutlant who is a very,

very, very good clinitian. It's some one I know personally, and who

has knowledge of my some son's current program model.

My concerns are:

Is the school program intensive enough?

Is he ready for a full day?

The staff's lack of training " in the chair "

The bugs of a new program

The time that could be lost in an unnecessary transition

He is doing very well right where he is...cognitively he has gained

about 2-2 1/2 years, in 14months, and about 1 1/2 years in language.

Am I denying him the social interaction he needs by keeping him his

current program?

Is a school setting w/lots of one to one the best of both worlds, or

is it not intensive enough for a 4 yr old?

I will fight to the end for what I want, but I'm just not sure. I

feel very fortunate to have this kind of problem! Our district has

been generous, and is building a great program. Most districts would

not build such an aggressive program. Thier goal was to take take the

componants of a home program, and build them into a school setting.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to really show you the whole

picture...your comments are very important to me. I've gined tons of

knowledge from all of you, over the past year!

Many thanks,

Francine

Mom of , 4 yrs. old, PDD/NOS