Guest guest Posted October 6, 2004 Report Share Posted October 6, 2004 I need some advice from parents who have been thru the whole pre- school thing. My boys are 2 1/2 and we're now learning about our options for pre-school when they're 3. There is a very good special education pre-school in our district which accepts children with any kind of " delay " between the ages of 3-6. The class is small (10 children to 1 teacher & 1 teacher's aid). They provide a variety of therapies (speech, PT, OT, etc.) as well. I think it sounds like a great program. The only thing my husband and I don't like the sounds of is that it is only for children with delays, and there will not be any " typical " children in this classroom. That being said, there is another program in a classroom next door for which Jake could be eligible (non-special ed), and the potential for the two classes to co-mingle occasionally. I guess our concern is that are we giving him the most optimum environment by " segregating " him from non- disabled peers? I keep thinking that they'll only be 3, and that we want him to be successful when he gets to kindergarten, and hopefully by placing him in a smaller class for a couple years with attention focused on what he needs to work on, that's the best thing for Luke? Opinions, please! What have been your experiences? Thanks! --mom to Luke (DS) and Jake (2 1/2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 2004 Report Share Posted October 7, 2004 Hi , My twins are now 9, so it has been a while since we were making decisions about pre-school; however, I can share with you what decisions we made and how Sara is doing now in school. After Early Intervention, we had the choice of having her go to a pre-school near our home, or taking her to one in a bigger town about 25 miles from where we live. The school near our home would have all typically developing children, except for Sara; the one in the bigger town would be about half typically developing and half delayed. Her twin brother could attend with her, so that is the one we chose. We made that decision, because we felt the services would be more frequent (the speech therapist was part of the class) whereas had we chosen the school closer to home, the services would have visited the school for short periods of time). The next year, we blended the two schools and did two days at the school where part were typically delayed and two days at the school near our home, where Sara was the only delayed child. Her third year (the year before K-garten, we chose to have her in a Head Start program near our home, where she had an aide and services came to her. She was the only developmentally delayed child; however, there were certainly children who had either home-environment challenges or health challenges. Sara has been included in our public school, since Kindergarten. I feel iit has gone very well. She has aide support and is placed in smaller groups for certain subjects with other children who are learning math or reading at her level. (They may be at her grade level or a grade or two below). She is definitely learning. She receives speech 5x a week for 30 minutes each session in a small group and she is in her classroom, as well for science, art, geography and writing. The bottom line is that where we live, we do not have the option of having Sara in a classroom or school where all children are delayed. I do believe that has made her step up to the plate--she has typically developing friends and seems to go through all the stages that her friends go through (wanting to listen to certain stations on the radio), playing dress-up with make-up and the whole bit, and wanting to call her friends on the phone-she really learns a lot (sometimes not so good behaviiors, too) by being around all children. Hope this helps--if you have any other questions, let me know. Marcia Mom to Sara (DS) and 9 and Lucas 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 2004 Report Share Posted October 7, 2004 Hi , My name is Deb and I am a Special Ed preschool teacher. I am on this board because I posted a song about DS. I think that I can give you a different angle about inclusion versus self contained. I have taught both over the years and the school that I teach in specializes in reverse inclusion (typical kids brought into a special ed classes.) I truly believe in inclusion for all children but it works best when the teachers believe in it. I also see a great number of children who spend the first year in preschool in self contained and the second in inclusion. For children with DS this may be the best thing. Get a good head start on daily living skills, language and communication skills and most importantly parental separation and social skills. A smaller classroom can help with transitional difficulties and things like elopement - a problem typical to children with DS in the 3's. With better behavioral skills the chance of a successful inclusional setting increase. Best of luck. God Bless. Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 8, 2004 Report Share Posted October 8, 2004 Hi , Glad the information was helpful. That is the joy of this group--those who have "been" through it can share experiences with those who will be "going" through it. Take care, Marcia Mom to Sara (DS) and 9 and Lucas 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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