RE: Re: Starting Preschool--Tips??

August 23, 2010

It's a " normal " preschool. The teacher is new (this is her first year as

the teacher, though she's been an aide for 7-8 years) and she seemed very

open to doing whatever would help Cale, so I'm hopeful :-) I also know that

there is an inclusion specialist that I can call to go into his school and

give them suggestions on what they can do to help him (and therefore help

themselves). I guess I should call her soon :-) I got the communication book

idea from my daughter's school (she's the peer buddy in a special needs

preschool) :-) I'll bet they could give me some good ideas too, I'll have to

ask them :-)

Thanks,

Brittany

In a message dated 8/23/2010 10:26:06 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

mosense@... writes:

Most special needs pre schools are used to doing Communication Books daily

to help parents know how their kids day went, since most of them arent able

to tell us how on their own. Its also a way communicate with therapists

that see our kids there. If its a typical kids prek, they may not be used to

writing in a book each day or a couple times a week how things went. is it

a special needs prek or regular? thats the only wall you may hit. having a

meeting with the teacher before school starts is a great idea. in the

special needs prek that my daughter went to six years ago, she was

communicating

mostly by sign. They told me that they understand all her signs and would

communicate with her and would not pretend to not understand her, but they

would not teach her more sign. the goal was to have her talk. they started

a picture system in her class and she did start speaking in K a lot more.

Let us know how your meeting goes.

Maureen

August 23, 2010

AWESOME idea with the commuication book....

[ ] Re: Starting Preschool--Tips??

Most special needs pre schools are used to doing Communication

Books daily to help parents know how their kids day went, since most of

them arent able to tell us how on their own. Its also a way communicate

with therapists that see our kids there. If its a typical kids prek,

they may not be used to writing in a book each day or a couple times a

week how things went. is it a special needs prek or regular? thats the

only wall you may hit. having a meeting with the teacher before school

starts is a great idea. in the special needs prek that my daughter went

to six years ago, she was communicating mostly by sign. They told me

that they understand all her signs and would communicate with her and

would not pretend to not understand her, but they would not teach her

more sign. the goal was to have her talk. they started a picture system

in her class and she did start speaking in K a lot more. Let us know how

your meeting goes.

Maureen

August 23, 2010

we've been using communications books for years now with the school.Â school

has

a board maker program that uses pecs symbols and they made a page " home to

school " Â and " school to home " Â they would circle activities they did during

the

day and there was also room for written comments as well.Â I'm sure you can

google on-line and find something similar just to get a feel for it. we used a 3

ring binder to keep all this in.Â It was a great way to document how things

were

progressing (or not) during the school year.

have to say that some years it worked great, others not so much.Â it really

depends on the teacher.Â but overall gave us as parents, a sense of what

happened in the day and something to try and " talk " about with our son without

him getting so frustrated. My son is now going into grade 6, so we're in a

different place, but we use his school agenda for passing info back and forth so

that both school and home are working together.

________________________________

From: mosense <mosense@...>

Sent: Mon, August 23, 2010 12:45:13 PM

Subject: [ ] Re: Starting Preschool--Tips??

Â

Oh, I wish I could take credit for the idea of Communication books! It started

here with our Early Intervention Therapists--all four of them! they had me keep

one here so they could " talk " to each other about her progress in their

respective areas. Now, its something I can look back on with dates and all to

see what she was doing back than! We've been out of EI for six years. So when

she transitioned to special needs prek, I was all ready for the idea behind

communication books. Get a composition book that does not fall apart easy!

>

> AWESOME idea with the commuication book....

>

August 23, 2010

If the teacher or school claims not to have time to write in a communication

book each day, here is another idea. Type out a " My Day " sheet with each area

of the day, leaving blanks or using multiple choice for info that you want

reported: e.g. Circle--theme________, book_______, song_________, I played with

_________, I had speech/ OT/PT, In speech, we worked on_____________ Overall, I

had a hard/ okay/ great day.

Then, get this page laminated so that the school team can use write on /wipe off

markers to communicate how your child's day went. This is faster than a

notebook, esp if you have multiple choices. Then, you can xerox it at home or

copy down the info into a notebook.

Hope is helps!

Warmest wishes,

Barbara , M.S., CCC-SLP

www.helpmespeak.com

410-442-9791

Ask me about NutriiVeda!

On Aug 23, 2010, at 12:34 PM, " D. Meyer " <mmeyer@...> wrote:

> AWESOME idea with the commuication book....

>

> [ ] Re: Starting Preschool--Tips??

>

> Most special needs pre schools are used to doing Communication

> Books daily to help parents know how their kids day went, since most of

> them arent able to tell us how on their own. Its also a way communicate

> with therapists that see our kids there. If its a typical kids prek,

> they may not be used to writing in a book each day or a couple times a

> week how things went. is it a special needs prek or regular? thats the

> only wall you may hit. having a meeting with the teacher before school

> starts is a great idea. in the special needs prek that my daughter went

> to six years ago, she was communicating mostly by sign. They told me

> that they understand all her signs and would communicate with her and

> would not pretend to not understand her, but they would not teach her

> more sign. the goal was to have her talk. they started a picture system

> in her class and she did start speaking in K a lot more. Let us know how

> your meeting goes.

> Maureen

>

August 24, 2010

Wow! You guys have been able to tell me quite a bit and I look forward to

the archives working again to read some more! My son is only 2 1/2, so he'll

be going to a mainstream preschool and in January (when he turns 3), when

testing is done through the schools, he'll hopefully get placed in the

special needs preschool. I just felt that putting him in preschool, where he

can be around other children and have fun would be good for him at this stage

(and all his therapists agree), even though he can't go to the special

needs preschool yet. I hope to see him able to follow directions, sit still,

and complete tasks better just by being in a preschool environment. He has

both an apraxia and an ADHD diagnosis, so we'll see how it goes. I will keep

you all updated, if you are interested. I was also in touch with an

inclusion specialist today who is going to go into his class within the next

month to work with the teacher and she also suggested that his speech therapist

give therapy during preschool time once or twice so that she could make

her own suggestions to the teacher. It's amazing how much advice you can get

when you ask! :-)

Again, thank you everyone :-)

-Brittany

In a message dated 8/24/2010 10:40:55 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

kiddietalk@... writes:

Hi ,

I would love to see the study that found that putting children with severe

impairments with speech such as apraxia into a typical preschool without

putting them into a special needs placement as well was found to be best.

I'd love to know what number of children were used, what was the diagnosis,

and who funded this study. I love that with the lack of funding for just

about all research recently that somehow there is a stat that our apraxic

children will do better in a regular preschool and I have to wonder if there is

a vested interest behind this if this was an actual study. Apraxia is a

very expensive impairment to deal with for both the school as well as the

parents. A typical preschool would be the cheap way to go...in the short run

not the long run for most. But cost isn't even the issue for us as parents if

your child isn't ready for mainstream kindergarten when the time comes,

isn't able to remain and thrive in the mainstream K through 12. And if this

was found for apraxia and those children with more severe impairments are

they changing the thoughts as well for hearing and visually impaired

students...from what I know they get their own schools for preschool to bring

them

up to speed so that they can thrive in the mainstream. I know because...my

son Tanner attended 'out of district preschool placement' paid for through

Tanner's IEP through the public preschool disabled program as that was

deemed not appropriate for him. Tanner attended for preschool the Summit

Speech School for the hearing impaired in New Providence NJ

_http://www.summitspeech.com/_ (http://www.summitspeech.com/) and then went on

to be a top

student -mainstreamed since preschool, kindergarten on - and now in 8th grade

(second day of school today!)

If you check this group's archive the children that have done best K to 12

are those that have parents that advocated for appropriate placement and

intensive therapies for preschool years. And yes for some a typical

preschool would be appropriate -but I'm speaking for most who have a child with

apraxia which is considered a severe motor planning disorder. Some of the ASHA

research ridiculously is hard to access unless you are an SLP with your 3

Cs today but when my son Tanner was first diagnosed it was open for all

which is should have stayed as they were providing a service to help the

verbal disabled as Pubmed does with their open access to papers. They may have

something on this topic for the SLPs in this group to check for us.

To me the goal isn't mainstream preschool -it's mainstream K to 12 and

what's is going to provide the best possible probability to get your child up

there. Are you in the US and are you talking with an IEP? Are you talking

about a public school paying for out of district placement at a local

typical preschool/daycare center (like one I pass called Apple Seeds or

something) that doesn't have an SLP and OT on staff and then you provide those

therapies on the side after your child plays at preschool? Perhaps I'm not

clear...I have known parents to get schools to pay for typical preschool

programs like say camp during the summer when there was nothing else available

for

the extended school year-but for the school year?!!

I personally have found in our group with children I have known, have read

about it numerous times, that in some instances exposing preschool aged

children with severe impairments of speech to groups of normal developing

children has led to cases of behavioral / frustration issues (ie: hitting or

withdrawing) No matter how many typical developing children you expose an

apraxic child to anyway isn't going to help them learn how to talk! And even

with a special needs preschool placement -most everyone I know also takes

their child to " normal " activities -the park, mommy and me classes etc. and

in addition almost all I know supplement the therapy they get in their

special needs preschool placement with private ST, OT and other alternative

therapies as well.

I love that we today believe kids NEED preschool to learn how to be

social. It's amazing I guess that our grandparents who didn't attend preschool

actually made it through life and learned how to get along with others huh.

I again can't access the archives right now here at as they are down

and BigTent cuts all the archives short so will have to wait till these

are up -but I can share story after story once they are back up. Typically

it's the dad who wants the child in the typical developing preschool but

typically it's the mom that does the research- and again would love to see

research that states otherwise for preschool years where all the EI research

is- a wealth of it.

Just want to state for those that do go the typical preschool route that

if the professionals that work with your child and you and your husband

agree that for your child a typical developing preschool is appropriate- that's

what you do and that's what appropriate for your child. I'm speaking for

the majority of those who have children with apraxia which is again a severe

motor planning impairment of speech. I 100 percent agree that for a child

with a developmental delay in speech a typical preschool is fine- but in

the same light to throw this out there if your child has a simple delay in

speech no preschool at all would be fine too. He'll talk -just a bit

later-exposure to other children and/or simple speech therapy may stimulate a

child

with a simple developmental delay in speech to speak a bit sooner -but no

biggie either way. Again that's not the type of child I'm talking about in

regards to getting them up to speed for K to 12 mainstream -I'm talking

those with moder ate to severe impairments of speech.

And just to throw this out there as is sending me her neurologist

report from Kent University regarding her child on NV.. I know like her

son NV has created a paradigm shift in that we now have kids going from a

diagnosis of profound apraxia to mild/moderate apraxia in months on NV -but

the majority don't have their kids on NV and I'd still be nervous to have a

child with anything but a mild impairment in a typical preschool -not

special needs based on what I've seen. You can always throw a child into a

typical preschool if thriving -they are all over the place and a dime a dozen

-appropriate placement however isn't always easy to find for preschool.

I'd love to hear from parents of older children who have children now in

4th grade or above thriving there who started them in a typical developing

preschool with speech therapy on the side. 3rd grade is one of the toughest

years as it's the first year the child is expected to be reading and

writing off the blackboard independently -so the goal isn't mainstream

kindergarten either -it's to remain in the mainstream thriving there as at

least a

normal student.

In conclusion: Special ed vs the regular preschool and which is best

depends on a number of things such as what the schools are like, but even more

important, if your child is a child with a simple delay in speech (then

either preschool is probably fine) vs. a child with a severe impairment in

speech (special ed placement will surround your child with all appropriate

therapies and needs -or it should while regular preschool will provide...?)

And again if there is research saying that a typical preschool is better

for an apraxic- I need to see that to believe it!!!! (no disrespect intended

for you -but to whomever published that study unless I can see

what this study was based on -because I want to deal in reality and what's

best in the long run for our children to make sure they all have a chance to

thrive)

Actually no this is conclusion -I probably push WAY more for mainstream K

to 12 than I see most parents today...and I'm on the phone with LOTS of you

-so perhaps this is the new trend...mainstream preschool and then special

ed K through 12...that wasn't my choice or if you check the archives the

choice of most of us here. This group has an incredible success ratio of

mainstream K through 12 and that to me is most important.

=====

Geng

President CHERAB Foundation

Communication Help, Education, Research, Apraxia Base

_http://www.cherab.org/_ (http://www.cherab.org/)

_http://www.cherabfoundation.org/_ (http://www.cherabfoundation.org/)

_http://www.apraxia.org/_ (http://www.apraxia.org/)

_https://www.bigtent.com/groups/cherab_ (https://www.bigtent.com/groups/cherab)

_http://www.pursuitofresearch.org/_ (http://www.pursuitofresearch.org/)

_http://twitter.com/TheLateTalker_ (http://twitter.com/TheLateTalker)

772-335-5135

" Help give our cherubs a smile and a voice "

> >

> > I have a page about this up at our _http://www.apraxia.org_

(http://www.apraxia.org/) group _http://www.facebook.c

om/topic.php?uid=115029735601 & topic=9304_

(http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=115029735601 & topic=9304)

and there's also info about the communication book in The Late Talker book.

If writing into the communication book daily is not written into your

child's IEP or dealing with a different type situation Barbara's suggestions is

wonderful -but also keep in mind that you can request and advocate to have

written into your child's IEP that all professionals that work with your

child in the school write into the communication book.

> >

> > Also there is so much in the archives on first day of preschool tips

which I thought it's best if I go there rather than by memory as my son just

started 8th grade today But there appears to be a search issue with

today. Stay tuned -hope to get more info to you soon! But one

thing...for sure in general if apraxic given the choice of a regular preschool

or

special needs one -in almost ALL cases the special needs one is the one to

choose. The goal is to get the child up to speed by kindergarten -mainstream

from K to 12- little to nobody cares if your child is in a special needs

preschool -but you want them in the least restrictive environment which of

course means appropriate placement- which includes as well appropriate

therapies needed. Lots of research to show that even though the brain may stay

malleable -don't underestimate the power of early intervention.

> >

> > =====

> >

August 24, 2010

Thanks, Barbara, that's a great idea, if they aren't willing to do the

notebook! I think I'm going to push for the notebook, then if it doesn't work

out, or they say no, then I'll do this! Thanks!!!

You all are such a great resource!!!

-Brittany

In a message dated 8/23/2010 11:14:34 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

helpmespeak@... writes:

If the teacher or school claims not to have time to write in a

communication book each day, here is another idea. Type out a " My Day " sheet

with each

area of the day, leaving blanks or using multiple choice for info that you

want reported: e.g. Circle--theme________, book_______, song_________, I

played with _________, I had speech/ OT/PT, In speech, we worked

on_____________ Overall, I had a hard/ okay/ great day.

Then, get this page laminated so that the school team can use write on

/wipe off markers to communicate how your child's day went. This is faster

than a notebook, esp if you have multiple choices. Then, you can xerox it at

home or copy down the info into a notebook.