Amber, Mom to Mik

[Guest guest]

Where is your rural area?

We chose to retire to rural NE GA for Elie's last year of FAPE after he

spent 6 years in an approved private school in a lIFe Skills class. HEre

he is in a regular h/s!!, spearate class which is called ????? (can't wuite

figure what it is called and don't much care) where he is working on a new

Edmark reading program, math of daily living, work at the local college,

cooking (making a menu, shopping for the menu, using a microwave, making

salad,) , and eating in a regular h/s cafeteria!!

We are worrying and working on a parogram for after h/s in an area which is

pretty limited right now in what is, but somewhat open to what can be. I

HATE the thought of communting 1.30 hrs to the CITY just for a daily life

for Elie.

Sara - Choose to make lemonade, not complain about the lemons.

>

>Reply-To:

>To:

>Subject: Lifeskills class

>Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 17:00:31 -0000

>

>Hi everyone,

>

>I am new to this group, I have a 15 year old daughter with DS and

>although she has not ever been diagnosed with Autism we have always

>thought that there is more going on with her than just the DS.

>Especially after reading alot of your posts about your kids, she has

>many many of what seem to be the typical autistic characteristics and

>traits. It seems that those seem to be what we struggle with more

>than what comes with just DS.

>

>I have been reading the posts regarding the Lifeskills class vs reg

>ed and other classes. Although Mikayla is now 15 I remember very

>well the day that I had to move into the school district preschool

>from the center we had been going to. We live in a pretty rural area

>and Mik was the first child that young that had any major

>disability. I walked in to a class that all the kids were walking,

>talking and maybe had a hearing impairment or speech disability. Mik

>was still barely sitting and crawling by herself. What a shocker and

>what a breakdown I had. The thing is that we have built a pretty

>great Lifeskills program in our district over the years that really

>works with each kids individual needs.

>

>During elementary school Mik was included in quite a bit of the

>regular classroom but has always needed a 1 on 1 aide. What I found

>for her was that that seemed to be more socialization time and that

>her academics (reading writing math) was provided better in the

>Lifeskills class. Now that she is in High School she is primarily in

>the Lifeskills class working on specific jobs that can be done in our

>community. She helps in the kitchen, office, janitorial duties and

>they go out into our small grocery store and work. We still include

>your basic academic skills but mostly how they apply to daily living.

>

>For me I have found that she may be better prepared for real life

>after graduation than my other two " normal " kids are (they are 20). I

>hope that because the class has a Lifeskills label on it parents

>arent swayed from taking advantage of the individual education it can

>provide. Not that it has always been easy and I have certainly had

>more than one breakdown after an IEP meeting but with persistance and

>patience it seems to be paying off.

>

>I am really enjoying the posts on this site, in our area there are

>not alot of support groups and it is nice to not feel so alone.

>

>I am an Amber too

>

>

>

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