Re: Preparing for Kindergarten...

[Guest guest]

They cannot, by law, place your child into a self-contained classroom,

unless and until they prove they have provided her with the LRE (least

restrictive environment) and that it, along with appropriate supports,

modification, accommodations, and services, didn¹t work. They CANNOT place

her in self contained first, unless you go along with it. I would fight them

tooth and nail over putting my child, not only not in her home school, but

also not in a reg ed classroom. The simple reality is, when it¹s done with

appropriate supports and services (which cost $$$$, which is why schools

systems don¹t want to do it, and TX is one of the toughest to deal with,

imho), all students win with integrated classes. All students. You are right

to start to get ready. Your daughter does not have to be Œmature¹ enough to

be in K. Trust me when I tell you there is a huge span of maturity in any

given classroom at any given age ­up to a 4 year span. I work with K

students daily and there is a large variety. She can learn good behavior

(not running away, etc) from what others do. One of the very best/most

effective techniques a teacher ever employed with my busy/add kid was to ask

her (when she was out of her seat and being inappropriate), ³, what are

the other students doing? Are you doing what they¹re doing? What can you do

to get back together?² All said in a kind way ­ tremendously effective ­ I

still use it 6 years later.

You cannot make up later on for what your child doesn¹t get educationally

early on. These early years are critical and crucial. You may find it very

helpful to go to the WRIGHTSLAW.com website and start to learn the lingo of

education speak. We on this list will help you. There are serious veterans

of many school wars, who have come out happily on the other side.

will give you great advice, and there are many others who will too. My

best advice is to learn your stuff, be firm, kind, but don¹t back down. They

will learn quickly to take you seriously. But forge good school

relationships. Most teachers want to do the right thing. Sometimes they need

support and help.

Good luck.

Eleanor Green

On 1/15/10 12:45 PM, " Karyn " <thebombtexas@...> wrote:

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> Adena will turn 5 in March and her ARD (In Texas)/IEP Meeting is scheduled for

> March. She is very smart.. she knows her ABC's by sight and also knows

> phonics although is not consistent. she knows 1-10 consistently. She speaks

> using 2-5 word sentences although is difficult to understand but I can

> understand most of what she says. she will answer some questions but still

> repeats a lot of what you say. she is very smart and she knows it but often

> plays dumb, especially to her therapists and pretends she can't do things she

> can do. She also like to run off. I talked to her teachers before christmas

> and they do not think she is ready for kindergarten mainly because of the

> running off and not being consistent at following directions and activities.

> They know her well and she does not fool them with her pretending she can't do

> things. She is in a PPCD classroom which in texas is a preschool class for

> children with disabilities. i specifically chose this program in a rural

> school because it is a full day program rather than 3 hours offered in our

> school district and it is more inclusive. Although it is for children with

> disabilities, there are some typically developing kids in her class. The local

> school district only places kids with severe language delays or disabilities

> that meet their gudielines then kicks them out when they are 'age-appropriate'

> or " meet their IEP goals'. If Adena stays in the transfer district, they

> will send her to a self-contained classroom at another rural school. if we go

> with our local district, they place all kids with ds in a self-contained

> classroom. I could send her to another rural school that may place her in a

> regular classroom but it will be 30 minutes out instead of 20 minutes and I

> don't know for sure if they will take her. the other surrounding communities

> also send to the same self-contained classroom. my husband wants to keep her

> in the PPCD class for another year. i don't think she is mature enough for

> kindergarten and she is still not potty -trained. She has the smarts and the

> knowledge. her ppcd teachers are very good to teach her new skills and not

> only keep working on the same old thing. I just wanted ideas from people who

> have walked down the road. i felt very confident sending her to preschool

> because i had done my research and felt comfortable with the fit. but Adena

> was the last child they have accepted as a transfer student and are not

> accepting any more. i am afraid if we rock the boat, they just won't accept

> her as a transfer student and we may go from the frying pan into the fire.

> ironically, the special education director got state recognition for doing

> such a great job in our local school district. I just feel very lost and

> looking for ideas.. my husband wants to fly by the seat of our pants and i

> want to be prepared..

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> Thanks,

>

> Karyn

> Mom to Adena, 4, DS and , 14 months and just as stubborn about not

> walking as her sister was but will say a 4-word sentence!!

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[Guest guest]

Karyn,

Read up on IEP's. Study them... read on guidelines, laws, rules. The IEP is

going to be your best friend, if you set it up correctly.

When you go to an IEP meeting, they will have a blank form in front of them.

(OK, in reality, they will have a form that is filled out and that they call, " a

draft " , but THAT is illegal.) SO...have them throw the draft away.. UNLESS,

they have sent it home to you about a week earlier for you to look over and

totally understand what the goals are.

Make sure when you go to an IEP meeting that you have some goals written down

that you want to have put in the IEP. In YOUR situation, you will want to look

at social goals like : Adena will follow classroom routine. Adena will

initiate conversation with typical peers. (you can figure out the measurements

for those, but that is the general idea. )

Make sure that all the goals can be carried out in a reg ed classroom. All

academic goals can, many speech and all OT and PT can be done in the classroom.

Oh... Adena will follow the proper lunch room routine with her class.

Things like that.

Do not discuss placement until ALL the goals are written.

Placement is decided based on the goals. IF you have all goals set up that can

be worked on in the reg ed classroom, they have no reason to place her in the

reg ed classroom.

Do you have a copy of the district IEP? Look at the continuum of services.

They need to start at the top and work their way down. Top is Reg Ed services.

Next is Reg classroom for more than 60% of the day with support services as

needed.

Hope this helps. What I suggest is that you memorized IEPs and then figure out

what you want. Make sure they have data supporting any reasons that they are

using to keep her out of reg ed. Ask for everything in writing. Take a tape

recorder to the meeting. Don't sign anything. Take it home and think about I..

and restudy it.

Bring on the questions because there are many of us who have BEEN THERE DONE

THAT!