Re: IEP questions

[Guest guest]

In terms of the pull-outs... in retrospect, I wish we had delivered the majority of my daughter's related services on a push-in (vs. pull-out) basis. We tried it in kindergarten -- where the day was even shorter than the preschool day -- and she made signficantly greater gains than she did in a pull-out environment. Besides the inclusion-related benefits you mentioned, I've found that my daughter is much more motivated to do a class assignment (which, in those early years, lend themselves so well to OT and speech in particular) vs. some fabricated assignment in the OT's room. Those services which we still felt should be pull-out were delivered between AM and PM kindergarten sessions so she wouldn't miss class time (except for PT, which we did as a pull-out with a typical "buddy" during recess). Sheryl Knapp mom to Caleb, Louisa(Ds) and Ethan

7i.wronski@... wrote: Hello Everyone. Gretchen's IEP meeting will be in two weeks. I have been doing a lot of thinking and reading of what I would like to see in her IEP this year. Gretchen will be 5 in November, so she is in her 3rd year of preschool and presumably off to Kindergarten next year. I would like to include a goal on social inclusion. Has anyone else had one included? If so, do you mind sharing some of

your ideas? Also, Gretchen's preschool is only 2 1/2 hrs a day for 4 days a week. She receives 1 1/2 hours a week of pullout sessions for PT and Speech. She has another 1 1/2 hours a week of in class therapy session. So there is little time left in the classroom. I have asked the teacher to see if we can have one or two of her pullout sessions before or after her preschool class. That would give her more time in the class to hopefully accomplish our social inclusion goal. Anyone with experience on this? Thanks in advance for your response. Inga Wronski Mom to (9) and Gretchen-DS & a (4.9)

[Guest guest]

When my son was in his special ed preschool all of his service were in the classroom. The majority of speech was group with a some one on one time with the speech therapist but it was still in his classroom. As for social inclusion, the county I live in does not have preschool for children that do not have disablities so there was not another class for him to participate in. However, there is enough variety of ability levels in the preschool that he got a lot of socialization. There are some possibilities that can provide additional socialization opportunities first you can try requesting your schools system to pay for private daycare/preschool of a couple days of week for the socialization skills to be develop. I know several that got this because the preschool teachers indicated on evaluations that the child needed more situations to work on socialization skills outside of the preschool classroom. Additionally, the preschool teachers had stated that the child was not ready for kindergarten due to the socialization skills. Another possibility is if your school system as a morning and afternoon preschool request participation in both sessions with the guidance that all pullouts must be done during just one of the sessions. I do not know of anyone who has done this in the school district I live in since we only have morning preschool (which is 4 hours long). As for next year, does your county have full day Kindergarten program for headstart/step? My school district does and they also open the full day to children with special needs that meet specific qualifications. Prior to the handful of full day Kindergarten being available I know of several families that actually had there child in both morning and afternoon regular Kindergarten. All pullout session were restricted one of the sessions and the child was assigned to a First Grade class to go to lunch with. Since our preschool was 4hrs (which include lunch) to go to just one 1/2 day Kindergarten (which is 2.5 hrs) they were spending significantly less time at school and were missing more of the classroom taught lessons and interaction with classmates.

I hope this information is helpful in coming up with a plan that is best for daughter.

Katy Touve

mom to 9, and Tyler(DS) 6.75

[Guest guest]

Hi Inga,

I'm just reading your e-mail; I'm pretty behind.

You may already know this but I refused 's IEP in January 06 and thankfully they were pretty good at her other school and agreed with me. She was going to her old school 4 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day and she was 4 years old and that was not enough when you factor in the pull outs, free time, potty time, snack time. There just wasn't enough "learning" time. They actually wrote in her IEP that she needed a full time placement which was beneficial to me. She's now going 5 days a week Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri from 7:30-1:30 and Wed 7:30 - 11:15. It is perfect. When I dropped her off this morning I was about 10 minutes later than usual so she walked right over to the "breakfast" table and started drinking milk from an opened dixie cup---I almost fell over. Jillian, my 9 year old, said "mom, you should have heard yourself". I was high fiving her and praising her to pieces. I felt like a heel for not knowing she could do this but anyway.......I thanked the teachers profusely. She's also talking complete sentences occasionally leaving out the pronoun at the beginning but I have seen a huge improvement in her since attending this school which I attribute to both, the teachers and the longer day.

As far as including a social aspect in the IEP. I find I don't need it at this point from what I've seen but I would surely include it if I wanted to. You can put absolutely anything you want in an IEP.

I looked into having some of 's therapy's before or after school and it's not possible in her situation but I do love that 2 of her speeches are in her classroom. The therapist follows her around the room and so far so good. So that could be another option for you if the before and/or after doesn't work.

Talk to you soon Inga. Hope all is well.

Sherrill