Re: Mainstreaming a Kindergartener

[Guest guest]

Hi Coli- My daughter is in her second year of mainstreaming- she also started

in kindergarten. It's been a rocky road but I think worth it thus far. What

state are you in? (We live in Washington state). I might be able to answer

some of your questions or at least relate some of our experiences . What is

your daughter's level of hearing, and what is her primary means of

communication? Even though the IDEA is nationwide, interpretations vary from

district to district; some schools are very progressive while others will

fight you on every little thing... Let me know if there is anything I help

you with! , mom to Tori, 7 yrs mod bilateral

[Guest guest]

Hi Coli- My daughter is in her second year of mainstreaming- she also started

in kindergarten. It's been a rocky road but I think worth it thus far. What

state are you in? (We live in Washington state). I might be able to answer

some of your questions or at least relate some of our experiences . What is

your daughter's level of hearing, and what is her primary means of

communication? Even though the IDEA is nationwide, interpretations vary from

district to district; some schools are very progressive while others will

fight you on every little thing... Let me know if there is anything I help

you with! , mom to Tori, 7 yrs mod bilateral

[Guest guest]

Hi Colin- I live in Spokane, and our daughter attends school in a very large

district that is notorious for the disservice it does to it's special needs

kids, particularily deaf/hoh kids. Tori first attended a deaf/hoh preschool

that was great- we live a good distance from it but we drove her to and from

it every day for three years. The school initially was Total Communication,

but due to cuts and staff changes it sort of morphed into an ASL based

curriculum, which caused quite a few problems for us as our daughter tends to

be more of an auditory learner. She started regressing in speech and when

she did speak it was in ASL format. We decided to mainstream her and were

met with a great deal of resistance- the district refused an interpretor or

cued speech aide, etc. We finally settled on a temporary IEP, where we

agreed to let the school evaluate her over a period of six weeks and when we

sat down to finalise the IEP we would consider their recommendations. Is

this something you could try, especially since your daughter may be receiving

a CI? You will want to put EVERYTHING in writing; don't count on them doing

what is logical or right. Our daughter's speech pathologist has been an

invaluable part of our IEP team- she is a wonderful advocate and information

source.Since you live here in Washington I may be able to locate someone in

your area to help you in this process- I belong to an advocacy group of

parents and professionals that meets bi-monthly and we have speakers and

guests from all over the state....We are now in the process of re-doing our

IEP; the school kind of blew it bigtime a few months ago and we intend to

have every little thing written into it this time . I am still learning the

ropes but one thing I have learned is to follow my instincts and advocate for

my little girl, and it sounds like you are very much the same! I think your

ideas for your daughter are more sensible and certainly reasonable, and I

think Marissa is probably going to do great in the mainstream environment

given the appropriate support. Gl and let me know if I can be of any help!

[Guest guest]

-

I too live in Washington State! Marissa had a profound hearing loss that has

progressed since it was diagnosed when she was about 1 year old. She has

worn hearing aids since 1 1/2 and full-time since about 2 1/2. I would say

that her main form of communication is with sign, however receptively she

can understand alot of speech. She is fully mobile, social, etc. She is just

severly language delayed (my major concern) and has CP that affects the

right side of her body, including her face muscles (speech).

They school has " offered " to send her and another child with a hearing loss

(but is virtually non-communicative - down syndrome) to a different school

than she goes to now where she can be " closer to the intinerant

teacher...now they wont have to walk across the school to do AR " ?!?!!? I am

concerned these kids are going to get " lumped " together and not get what

they need. Also- the kindergarten at this school does the Monday/Wednesday

every other Friday model with Kindergarten, and I think Marissa needs to go

to school at least 4 days a week...every week.

I want to see her do afternoon Kindergarten, and in the mornings do speech

daily, AR daily, and pre-teaching daily. All of this would need to be

coordinated between everyone.

This is getting too long but I'm sure you get my point. Another issue is

that she may recieve a CI during the summer...which changes everything once

again. It would be so helpul to have a " checklist " to take in to the IEP of

things it should include. Classroom acoustics, extra HA stuff...the

preteaching. Any ideas? What services have you been able to attain? Anyone

else have any advice?

Colin

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[Guest guest]

-

I too live in Washington State! Marissa had a profound hearing loss that has

progressed since it was diagnosed when she was about 1 year old. She has

worn hearing aids since 1 1/2 and full-time since about 2 1/2. I would say

that her main form of communication is with sign, however receptively she

can understand alot of speech. She is fully mobile, social, etc. She is just

severly language delayed (my major concern) and has CP that affects the

right side of her body, including her face muscles (speech).

They school has " offered " to send her and another child with a hearing loss

(but is virtually non-communicative - down syndrome) to a different school

than she goes to now where she can be " closer to the intinerant

teacher...now they wont have to walk across the school to do AR " ?!?!!? I am

concerned these kids are going to get " lumped " together and not get what

they need. Also- the kindergarten at this school does the Monday/Wednesday

every other Friday model with Kindergarten, and I think Marissa needs to go

to school at least 4 days a week...every week.

I want to see her do afternoon Kindergarten, and in the mornings do speech

daily, AR daily, and pre-teaching daily. All of this would need to be

coordinated between everyone.

This is getting too long but I'm sure you get my point. Another issue is

that she may recieve a CI during the summer...which changes everything once

again. It would be so helpul to have a " checklist " to take in to the IEP of

things it should include. Classroom acoustics, extra HA stuff...the

preteaching. Any ideas? What services have you been able to attain? Anyone

else have any advice?

Colin

_________________________________________________________________

STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*

http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

[Guest guest]

-

I too live in Washington State! Marissa had a profound hearing loss that has

progressed since it was diagnosed when she was about 1 year old. She has

worn hearing aids since 1 1/2 and full-time since about 2 1/2. I would say

that her main form of communication is with sign, however receptively she

can understand alot of speech. She is fully mobile, social, etc. She is just

severly language delayed (my major concern) and has CP that affects the

right side of her body, including her face muscles (speech).

They school has " offered " to send her and another child with a hearing loss

(but is virtually non-communicative - down syndrome) to a different school

than she goes to now where she can be " closer to the intinerant

teacher...now they wont have to walk across the school to do AR " ?!?!!? I am

concerned these kids are going to get " lumped " together and not get what

they need. Also- the kindergarten at this school does the Monday/Wednesday

every other Friday model with Kindergarten, and I think Marissa needs to go

to school at least 4 days a week...every week.

I want to see her do afternoon Kindergarten, and in the mornings do speech

daily, AR daily, and pre-teaching daily. All of this would need to be

coordinated between everyone.

This is getting too long but I'm sure you get my point. Another issue is

that she may recieve a CI during the summer...which changes everything once

again. It would be so helpul to have a " checklist " to take in to the IEP of

things it should include. Classroom acoustics, extra HA stuff...the

preteaching. Any ideas? What services have you been able to attain? Anyone

else have any advice?

Colin

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

Colin (and ),

I'm in Washington state, also...Western Washington. (It makes a difference for

services.) Colin, if you're on " this side " , which school district are you

dealing with?

Carol

[Guest guest]

Colin (and ),

I'm in Washington state, also...Western Washington. (It makes a difference for

services.) Colin, if you're on " this side " , which school district are you

dealing with?

Carol

[Guest guest]

Colin (and ),

I'm in Washington state, also...Western Washington. (It makes a difference for

services.) Colin, if you're on " this side " , which school district are you

dealing with?

Carol

[Guest guest]

Carol-

I am in Western WA- Bellingham. The ESD program I mentioned is in Anacortes.

Colin P.

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[Guest guest]

Carol-

I am in Western WA- Bellingham. The ESD program I mentioned is in Anacortes.

Colin P.

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

Carol-

I am in Western WA- Bellingham. The ESD program I mentioned is in Anacortes.

Colin P.

_________________________________________________________________

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