McKay IDEA - Please help me understand this.

January 30, 2010

Hi,

My daughter is 4 w/ high functioning ASD, SID and she is very bright and she can

be super sweet one minute and scream, bite and kick the next. She is currently

in ABA 3xweek for 5 hours/day and this is covered by Pedi-Care/CMS. I have

always planned on homeschooling her but at this point I don't know if I can

handle it 24/7 because she tantrums so much and is very aggressive towards me (I

have had 2 black eyes in the last 2 weeks). I looked into the McKay scholarship

but they are telling me that she has to be in public school 1 year to qualify.

She can go to VPK for that year in a public school but the only class they offer

in my county (in FL) is an all disabilities class with 20 or more kids. This is

not an option for her because she is very bright and if she is bored and not

academically challenged she will become very disruptive and aggressive. She has

never been able to function in a group of more than 3 or 4 and even in a group

that small she requires lots of individualized attention. Otherwise she will

just run into the walls full speed and scream and be a general disruption.

Obviously, one-on-one teaching like homeschooling would be the best option for

her to learn academics but she needs support to learn to operate in a group and

behavioral therapy for her screaming, tantrums and aggression. I think if she

spent a year in regular VPK she would be so hated and probably so abused by

peers and teachers that she may not recover and might begin to hate learning.

So I feel that I am stuck here; if I want to get her qualified for McKay so that

she will be able to continue with the private ABA school she now attends, I will

have to throw her to the wolves for year and a very important year of

intervention will be lost. If I do what is in her best interest and homeschool

her I won't have behavioral support for her. I saw someone mention somewhere

that IDEA would provide some support even for homeschoolers. Does anyone have

more details on that? My ideal situation would be for her to continue with the

schedule she has now - ABA 3xweek and I could HS around that schedule but when

she is 6 I don't think they will be paying for the ABA through Pedi-care. Help

and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for reading my essay.

Sherry

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