carmen3
Emu Egg
Joined: Apr 13, 2012
Posts: 2
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 Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:03 pm Post subject: Where should a kindergartener go? |
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Hello and thank you in advance for your consideration and feedback. I am the mom of a 5 year old diagnosed with PDD-NOS with hiperactivity. She has had tremendous progress with therapies and maturity, but still strugles with language. Her berbal IQ was meassured a year ago and it was 64, a year later it went up to 94, her NON verbal IQ is 105. The testers (SLP and phychologist) were impressed with such a great progress, but still both recomend a small classroom. The public school district she attends has only two options: self_contained classrooms with students with severely disruptive bahavious or regular classes with a resource (ese) teacher who covers math and english. Her teacher is recomending this last option.
The other option available is one school in town for kids on the spectrum , all HFA, 8 kids per classroom with teacher and 1 aid, she spent a day there and was acepted.
My worry is that she may be lost in a "regular inclussion class" with up to 27 kids in a classroom, on the other hand I worry about being in the private schools that, has a strong academics but it is still a modified curriculum. Thinking ahead and the prognosys she has of attending a tipical school later on I wonder if transitionning to a traditional curriculum will be too dificult.
I appreciate your feedback,
Carmen |
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questor
Hermit
Joined: Apr 24, 2011
Posts: 1983
Location: Twilight Zone
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| Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 8:55 pm Post subject: Schooling issues. |
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Your child is not ready for a regular class room sched, and also not ready to participate in a regular school environment. The other kids are likely to prey upon her for her lack of speech and other differences. Please leave her in the special class for now. Give them a chance to help her with her problems. Once those are under control, then you can take steps to try to "catch up" to kids her age in the regular school system, and then enter her there at that time. If she finds it too hard to work at the rate needed to fully catch up, then you should consider letting her come in at a grade or two behind kids her age, once she is able to handle the work at that level. I started in regular school with kids my age, but a few years later was put into a special school when I was a child. In my fourth year there, they split my day between the special school and the regular school, but a grade behind the other kids my age. I probably should have been placed two grades behind, at least in some subjects. At that time I also recieved some one on one tutoring in a small, separate room at the regular school for math and other subjects. The tutor was also some kind of councillor for special needs kids, as she also did some of that with me. She was nice, and I guess the only one of all the psych docs and therapists I ever liked, but even she wasn't able to do much for my problems. You can't make mean kids stop being mean when there are no adults around to stop them, or the adults around don't take it seriously. Also, at that time, spectrum disorders were not recognized as such. Instead, we were diagnosed as having emotional or behavior problems, and/or being a discipline problem.
Do give the special needs school a chance. Your kid is not ready for regular school. Before you can run a race you have to fix the broken leg. Your kid needs help with her problems before she can take on regular school classes. |
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scubasteve
Phoenix
Joined: Dec 18, 2009
Age: 28
Posts: 993
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Carmen,
What was your impression of the private school? Do you think she'd be comfortable there? Can you afford to send her there? If your answer to both of those questions are yes, I would suggest giving it serious thought. Personally, my impression of the public school system (at least in my area) is that children with PDD-NOS (or generally, anyone on the spectrum who is not classically autistic,) are especially likely to slip through some cracks.
I understand your concern about the curriculum, but I don't think a modified curriculum will necessarily impede mainstreaming down the road. Her confidence, at this stage, may be a more important factor in future success than the extent of topics covered. Similarly, being among peers one can relate to can help to develop her social confidence. (There is an argument to be made that she may benefit more socially in an inclusive environment, but this is not always true. It depends largely on the child, the quality of teachers, the character of her peers, and so on and so forth.)
As far as the public options, a class with severely disruptive behaviors doesn't sound like an ideal fit. It is difficult to judge without knowing the child, but from what you've described, the teacher's suggestion to put her in a larger class does sound reasonable. Her peers in the larger class are more likely to have special language needs rather than behavioral, which may be a better fit for her. The downside to a large class is that she will receive less individual attention in school. However, if you are able to compensate by providing the support she needs at home, this also may be a good situation for her.
Whether it would be better than the private school environment, I couldn't say. It depends on your knowledge of her needs, (and the knowledge of her in-school needs that her previous teacher shared,) and you will have to decide what you feel is the best fit for her. It also depends on whether you can afford it. Ultimately, as long as you can be there to support her in any needs that are not addressed in school, I see no reason to think she couldn't be successful in any of these environments.
Last edited by scubasteve on Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Cornflake
Rattles when shaken
Joined: Oct 31, 2010
Posts: 30200
Location: Hertfordshire, UK
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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[Moved from School and College Life to Parents' Discussion]
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Giraffe: a ruminant with a view. |
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zette
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 28, 2011
Posts: 572
Location: California
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:27 am Post subject: |
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| My DS6 has AS and ADHD and is in a mainstream classroom with a phenomenal teacher with a talent for doing inclusion. His communication issues are mainly pragmatic. She's worked extensively to help him and we added medication and even so he is only hanging on by the skin of his teeth. She and I are very worried about 1st grade, as the only teacher who might be a good fit for him is at risk of being transferred. If I had the chance to send him to a classroom of 8 HFA kids I'd be very tempted. |
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DW_a_mom
Ignoring the To-Do List
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Posts: 9295
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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This is one of those things that varies a lot by specific child and specific classroom. Visit the options with your child, talk to teachers and parents, and then trust your gut. I don't think there is an easier way to do it.
My son did very well in public school with supports, and I think we've been fortunate. Other kids in the same school and with the same teachers have not always fared as well - it is THAT individual.
Just know that we have all been through it in various forms and are here to support you.
_________________
Mom to an amazing AS boy (plus a non-AS daughter). Have at least a few AS genes myself, although probably more NT than AS.
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Think of the greening of my name as an emeritus thing; I used to be a moderator but am retired and have no authority to act |
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Bombaloo
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 01, 2010
Posts: 1395
Location: Big Sky Country
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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Reading between the lines of your post it sounds like your concern about a "modified curriculum" is that it would somehow be setting her up for future failure? Like she won't get into the right college if she goes to a less than rigorous elementary school? (sorry, I don't mean that to sound harsh, just exaggerating a bit for the sake of comparison).
I guess the thought that came to me was in regards to some recently published articles about how much early intervention helps and how for some kids by the time they get to later years of elementary some of their ASD symptoms have all but disappeared. I think this speaks to giving your kid as much support as possible in the early elementary years. For us any way, the battle this year in kindergarten has all been about behavior, academics is taking a back seat at this point. AS already stated, check out your options and go with what feels like will provide the most support for her as far as the social and emotional aspects. |
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carmen3
Emu Egg
Joined: Apr 13, 2012
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you so much for your insightful feedback. It is the first post I made and it is great to receive all the information from parents and students who had been there.
Yes, what the county calls inclusion in our state is basically a regular class with up to 27 students with one teacher, most likely the teacher will not be a special education teacher. She will be pullout for English, reading and math for a total of 3 hours a day with an ESE teacher.
For the private school we can use a Boucher from the county that pays them part of the tuition, parents pay the difference and we are able to afford it this way.
She is right now in a reverse mainstream program, with 5 role models and 9 students with special needs. Inclusion after preschool is what I describe above, with only 4 or 5 children with special needs but in large classes.
She receives 6 hrs of verbal ABA, 1 hr of OT, 2 hrs of tutoring and preacademics and 3 hrs of speech a week. The school only gives her 1 hr of speech and 1 hr of OT a week, the rest we do outside of school.
My gut feeling and your responses guides me to the private school, we still have another 4 months to decide, thank you for your feedback and support!
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