? on regular preschool vs. special needs preschool

September 30, 2008

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if any of you have sent your kids who have apraxia to

just a regular preschool versus one with other speech delayed

children? my son is 2 1/2 and receiving one on one speech therapy in

our home once a week for verbal apraxia but in january he will be out

of the birth through 3 program and needs to move on. They would like

him to attend the 3 year old program(which there are also 4 and 5 year

olds in there too i guess) at the local elementary school where he

will get interaction with other children as well as one on one time

with the teacher. my husband and I are debating on whether to send

him there a couple days a week or send him to a regular 3 year old

preschool instead. He wont get any one on one therapy there but I am

going to be working with him extensively like I have been now. The

important thing to me is that he gets interaction with other kids. I

have honestly not been impressed by any of the therapists work, as I

feel i (as well as other family members) have done as good of a job if

not better than what she has done. our issue is whether it would be

better for him to be around other children with speech and

developmental delays or to be around other children who talk at a

normal developmental rate. Part of me feels if he is around other

children who cant talk that it wont really help him too much but then

i also worry maybe he'd get frustrated being around other kids who can

well if they dont understand him. When he is around other kids who do

talk normally(which he is not very often) he always seems to come home

talking more and trying to talk more. So, I was just wondering if

anyone is in or has been in a similar situation in deciding whether to

send their children to a regular preschool or a special needs one. if

so, have you found one is better than the other. I'm sure it just

depends on the child, but I would still greatly appreciate any

thoughts. thanks so much. you have all been so helpful to me.

jenn

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