What kind of classroom is best for HF son?

December 31, 2003

Hi everyone,

I'd like to get some opinions from those of you who have been

there...my son, 5.10, is high-functioning and currently in a really

wonderful special ed kinder/1st grade program with an absolutely

AWESOME teacher. There are 9 kids in the class and there is one

aide. The kids all have IEP's, but most do not have the label

of " autism " ...for example, one or two have dyslexia, a couple have

a " Specific Learning Disablity " ; a couple of others have a speech

disorder, and so forth. All the kids have " normal or above "

intelligence. If you were to watch this class in progress, or the

kids playing on the playground together, you would never know that

they

were special ed. There are a lot of opportunities to inclusion, too -

- the kids have recess, music, computer lab, library, and something

called " psychomotor " (which I think is a fancy name for PE) with

typical kids. The teacher's focus is to get the kids *ready for

mainstreaming*. She adores -- he is just blossoming in her

class. In a recent conference, she recommended that be with

her through 1st grade and then be transitioned to regular ed.

Here's my dilemma: For several months now, Dr. G has been hammering

me to put in a regular kinder class. I do understand the

reasoning for this; I just don't know if he's ready. My primary

concern is making a change so soon. His last teacher (pre-school)

barely concealed the fact that she didn't like him (or me) and was

very destructive. We've finally found a teacher who " gets " his

uniqueness and to whom he responds. Why would I want to pull him out

of such a great situation right now?

We visited the kinder class at our " school of residence " (the public

school closest to our home) and I was alarmed by the size of the

class...it seemed chaotic. Plus I have heard from other parents that

the teacher really doesn't like working with special needs kids.

still gets overwhelmed with large groups of children. I don't

see how he can thrive in a situation like that. I

think he needs more time before we take that step.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance,

Donna

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