Re: [SPAM] Appropriate Preschool Setting for Apraxic Child

[Guest guest]

Hello I am new to this board and am just beginning to read posts and this post

sounds so similar to what I am going through right now with my daughter who just

turned 3 in January. She is again out of EI in August and our school distric is

pushing me to send Iszabella to an integrated preschool program through a school

in the next town over. I am an over protective mom and have had her home with me

since she was born and I will not feel comfortable putting her on a bus and will

take her if she goes at all. The school is insisting on a full day class with

her speech, ot, and pt at school but I am so afraid with her severe apraxia to

change speech therpaist. She is very verbal but is hardly any words that

outsiders can understand. The classroom would have 8 normally developing peers

and 8 special ed kids in it and I am so worried she will pick up bad habits from

other kids. I am afraid with such a large class size she wont get the speech

reinforcement that I give her. and on the other hand I know she loves music,

crafts etc and will enjoy meeting peers. I am losing sleep over the send to not

send debate. The school wants to get her a formal IEP set up as we just have a

suggested plan in place right now. Anyone opinions would be greatly appreciated.

I hate to lose our current speech therpaist because if school doesnt work out

then there is such a waiting list among all three of her therpaist that I dont

think she could retain her slot. They are just too overbooked and will give her

space away immediately. I wish I could afford to send her to half day private

school and have her therapy home here in the mornings. I am so stressed. I wish

I had a way to know what the right thing is to do for her speech. SO afraid she

will lose what few sounds she has, she talkes mainly in vowels and some

consonsants on the end of words and deletes all from the beginnings of her

words.

[sPAM][ ] Appropriate Preschool Setting for Apraxic

Child

We are new to the board and have a son who will be 3 in April recently

diagnosed with Verbal/Oral Apraxia. He also presents with overall fine motor

planning issues and demonstrates some sensory seeking behaviors. His cognitive

skills are average. We are in the midst of his IEP meetings and are looking for

information on appropriate preschool settings for. We feel confident that we are

able to support our requests for his speech therapy (3x weekly) and OT (1x

weekly) to include summer session, but have not been able to find much

information on appropriate preschool. From what I can gather from families who

share their stories many children are attending preschool programs through their

public school system that include children with IEP's and their typically

developing peers, while some have found private preschool providing speech

services. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? We have not yet formalized our

son's IEP services, but it has been suggested that he will be offered speech and

OT at our local public school and the assistance of an itinerant special

education teacher to visit him in a private preschool program. The suggestion

has been that our land county only has 4 mixed (IEP/typically dev.)

classrooms (no summer sessions) and that our son will not qualify. My concern is

twofold, how to find the time to deliver the intensive therapy he requires if

not in this setting? How do you manage a child's schedule to include naps,

preschool and therapy? As separate entities he will have little time to play and

do regular kid stuff! My other concern is how a child with almost no functional

speech will do without special education support in a 3 year old classroom full

of talkers. Granted, we have just begun aggressive public and private speech and

he will not attend preschool until the fall, so his abilities may improve, but

the IEP planning must happen now. We don't have any specialty private preschool

options for speech in our land area. As a fallback position, I have secured

a private preschool for the fall which includes a small class size and a

willingness to work with our son and the itinerant teacher, they don't however

have any special education experience. We'd appreciate any experience or

thoughts you have on either preschool route. Additionally any information or

resources that would support our efforts to lobby the county for the inclusive

preschool program would be helpful.

Thanks this board has been a lifesaver!

[Guest guest]

What we've done with our son (turned 4 in Jan) was put him in a private prek 2

days a week for 2 1/2 hrs and had walk in ST at our school districtfor this

school year. I didn't think he was (at age 3) ready for a full day integrated

prek class (I'm a spec. ed prek teacher and 3's don't typically do well in my

full day class - too much " academics " , not enough " play " b/c of having to follow

state content standards, not to say there haven't been exceptions to that, some

3's are ready or b/c of the amount of therapy they need, they need full day to

get any benefit of a prek class).

Anyway, we've been very happy this year. Now next year I am strongly

considering the full day class (4 full days /week). Because it's what I do, I

tend to be overly critical of the classroom (only 1 in our school district, so

no choice). I visited once and wasn't over the moon; I actually gave her

suggestions (not saying I'm perfect, but hey, if my child's going to be in her

class, obviously I want the best!) If he was to stay in the private prek for

next year, he'd only go 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hrs w/ all typical peers and

we'd con't w/ the walk in ST. As a parent, it's tough to decide what's best for

your child. Last summer we did get " summer speech " (they didn't want to call it

ESY), I'm wondering if he'll get it this year?! Good luck!!!

Bonnie