visited integrated preschool

[Guest guest]

I had posted a couple of weeks ago about my son Elias. He is 4, with

bilateral high frequency (moderate-to-severe) hearing loss due to high dose

chemo for neuroblastoma. He wears hearing aides and is supposed to be using

a FM system.

The school district, and his SEIT, recommended that we consider an

" integrated preschool " placement for him because of his delayed speech and

his problems with social skills. He currently goes to a fulltime daycare, 3

days a week, and is in the preschool program there. We have been very happy

with the preschool, which is a Bank Street style program. He has been there

since he was a baby, except for the year that he was doing intensive cancer

treatment.

We visited the integrated preschool this morning. They are in a church in

White Plains. There are 3 classrooms. Each has 17 kids - 10 " regular " and 7

with IEPs. The " regular " kids are all Head Start. There is one sped teacher

and two aides per classroom. They also follow a Bank Street program, so

their setup and curriculum looked identical to Elias's current school.

My overall take on it was that it doesn't offer much advantage over Elias's

current preschool, except of course that it is free :-) and they have

transportation. The other thing I liked is that the speech therapist is on

hand most of the day, and kind of floats around the classrooms. So I am sure

there is more integration of speech services.

On the other hand, I don't think they are well set up for kids with hearing

loss. Mostly, because the rooms were all LOUD! I couldn't hear anything in

them and my hearing is normal. They clearly have never paid attention to

accoustics, because all the regular kid noises were bouncing off the hard

surfaces. And that makes me wonder how much experience they have with

hearing loss kids, or how much attention they would pay to his particular

needs.

Also, the teacher-child ratio is identical to Elias's current preschool, but

with higher need kids. Not only the 7 IEP kids in each classroom, but also

the other kids. I would guess that 3/4 of the kids were Central American and

Spanish speaking. Which doesn't surprise me at all for a Head Start program

in White Plains - that's the demographics - but I would think those kids

need a good bit of attention. And the language issue is problematic for a

kid like Elias who is already having trouble socializing with the kids

around him. So while I think the class demographics would be great for my

older, non-hearing-loss son, I think it would not be so great for Elias.

Is there anyone on this list who might be familiar with other integrated

preschools in Westchester County NY, which are more oriented towards kids

with hearing loss?

--

Bonnie