Where is best for my kid?

[Guest guest]

IMHO - The KEY is support. What therapies, staff, environment is good for

your child. My take - always try the LRE FIRST. You can always back down a

step but it is much harder to go UP a step.

Elie was in a segregated preschool (old elementary building) but Head Start

was in the same building and classes were integrated. He didn't even walk

the first 6 months! But by the time he started integrated Kindy, he sort of

knew the routine for circle time,, centers, lineup to go out, etc. CLASS OF

5 in preschool, class of 15 in kindy with a teacher and an aide. By first

grade, the class was up to twenty - still with a teacher and co-teacher or

aide and 4 kids with labels. That held for 2nd grade. BUT in 3rd grade,

class size jumped to 25 kids with a teacher and co teacher or aide. AND

Elie could no longer function with the speed of language, learning

environment, noise level, hours of sitting. Even adapting EVERYTHING he

still couldn't function. He ended up in the back of the class where he was

more comfortable. LAST YEAR OF integration/blending/mainstreaming/ what

ever.

After that he was self contained and came out of his special class for PE,

music, computer time, lunch. Some years he also came out for art - if it

wasn't pen/pencil/paint which he HATED. When the subject was clay or

weaving or big walls to decorate like a collage, he liked it. His last year

in h/s he returned to a regular school environment, still self contained.

BUT he loved this new school, ate in the cafeteria for the firt time in

maybe 10 years, went to PE with football players. ALl the rest of the class

day were self contained with 7 classmates, a teacher and 2 aides. He went

to work daily (half da) with his class and went out in the community on one

of those group trips to stores, shopping, petstores, parks, bowling - and he

learned important social skills in public while " helping " another

classmate.

> Kayla is 4 and I just put her in an integrated class after spending 1

> 1/2 years in a self contained severe special needs preschool class.

>

> I was very hesitant to do it, since she's nowhere near the level of a

> typical 4 year old. In fact, the preschool director did not want her

> in the integrated class because she is not " high functioning " (does

> anyone else hate that term???). But I really felt like I needed to

> give it a try and the 6 weeks of Extended School Year was a perfect

> time to try.

>

> WOW! What a difference in Kayla! She is babbling nonstop now. And

> every time I go in the class, she is in the middle of all the kids,

> who just love her. She notices them and wants to be part of the

> action! She used to just be stimming on a musical flashing toy in the

> other class whenever I stopped in.

>

> I dropped her off one day and a little boy ran over to her and

> said " Kayla! I'm so glad you came to school today! " I was just about

> in tears. This is exactly what I wanted out of an integrated class.

>

> Now, we had the full support of the school district's IEP chair.

> Kayla does have a 1:1 aide and a TON of therapy (5 speech, 4 OT, 3

> PT, 2 play therapy, plus 5 hours a weeks with a certified ABA

> teacher). That's the reason this is working.

>

> Ecki

> Mom to Kayla (DS/ASD, 4/5/04) and Laurie (PDD-NOS, 7/12/01)

> http://oppositekids.blogspot.com/

>

>

> Their suggestion today was that Connor no

> > longer attend his local ESD classroom " preschool " but be relocated

> to an autistic only classroom half an hour away with teachers and

> children that he does not know. I asked if there would be any other

> children with dual dx and they said probably not as again, it is

> unusual to catch it this early. Again, maybe the new school would be

> great for Connor and I will go visit and observe the ACE classroom

> next week. Part of the assessment talked about Connor wandering off

> to himself and ignoring classmates activities. They presented it as

> that this happened during the assessment but now I am wondering how

> often he does that in the classroom and they just let him do it

> because they want to avoid the tantrum/meltdown. The autism

> specialist connected with ESD that did this assessment feels that the

> current classroom is not working as he needs 1:1 support and adult

> assistance. If I ask for it to happen in his local classroom do they

> have to provide

> > it?

> > I also asked about blended classrooms as I have heard them

> mentioned on here before as being a good experience for our kids as

> well as typically developing kids. They told me that Connor was a

> little " young " as they don't usually place the DD kids in a blended

> classroom until they are pre-kindergarten IE: 4 years old. Then they

> went on to give examples of how the DD kids didn't do well in the

> blended classroom. My husband and I feel we are getting the

> runaround and don't know what to do. Connor's DD caseworker with the

> County has been a huge support and plans to be a part of the planning

> meeting that we are forcing them to have in August after we have

> looked at our options. Any other suggestions or things I have

> missed? Am I overreacting? I want the best for Connor and do feel

> that he needs more support but how can we do that?

> > Thanks for " listening " . I clearly am still processing and needed

> to vent some more!

> > Amy

> > Mom to Connor and Brenna

> >

>

>

>

--

Sara - Life is a journey- we choose the path.