Re: new to group/Nevada/self-contained autism class

[Guest guest]

Is the classroom with autistic children appropriate for your child?

Is it the least restrictive environment? If not then you have your

answer.

As far as mainstreaming your child in kindergarten, they sound like

a cool school system to me. You may want to reconsider your views

as well as consider starting him at 6 vs. 5 in kindergarten for a

few reasons including research on those with any type of

developmental delay.

Of course until kindergarten it would be most important that your

speech impaired child receives the free and appropriate public

education as well as appropriate therapies in the least restrictive

environment. Here in the US -until the laws change he is entitled

to that by law.

What is the school's preschool program like? Have you explored the

oral based schools for the hearing impaired in your area? In NJ we

found them to be quite successful as a group for hearing apraxics.

The education and therapy was multisensory. And perhaps even more

important in ways many don't appreciate enough yet - there is the

approach to the children as a group that they can do it -just like

any other child can. Just because they can't yet speak does not

mean that they can not learn. Most with speech impairments have

average to above average intelligence -so why view our children

as " learning disabled " -especially prior to them showing that they

are -prior to kindergarten even?

Study the work of Dr. Rosenthal or watch the movie Stand and

Deliver. Then know that according to sources such as the

CDC " Approximately 70-75 percent of individuals with autism also

have mental retardation "

http://www.cdc.gov/nip/vacsafe/concerns/autism/autism-facts.htm

Even if that number, 70 to 75% (!!) is not accurate (since its

probably based on verbal based IQ testing) if your child is

schooled in a classroom where 70 to 75% are viewed as MR -he may

only rise to that level of expectations.

Expect more, have the teachers expect more, and you'll be surprised

how well your child and all those like him will do.

I just posted on this -and this is a soft spot for me. My son is a

straight A student in second grade now. He is mainstreamed and has

lots of friends in school. It took fighting and much advocacy to

get him mainstreamed in kindergarten because he was schooled in out

of district placement in an oral based hearing impaired school where

the testing was appropriate -nonverbal -and Tanner tested average to

above average across the board. The problem -the verbal based

testing the public school had to also do. The inappropriate testing

they used showed Tanner needed to be schooled in a " self contained

learning disabled class " and that " Tanner would not make it in the

mainstream " I compare this to giving a blind child a visual based

test for cognitive or receptive ability. The public school were by

the way referring to that my son Tanner would not make it in the

mainstream in 'kindergarten'. As his kindergarten teacher Mrs.

said in response to this when the case manager in NJ had the

nerve to call the case manager in Florida to say this " Tanner is not

just making it -he is one of the top students in my class "

But just as scary -I know that they would have proved themselves

right if they put Tanner in that self contained learning disabled

class since kindergarten. Students do rise to the level of

expectations. Ask yourself -if from preschool age all viewed and

schooled you as if you were unable -where would you be today? Where

do all those speech impaired children with average to above average

ability fall when viewed and treated this way from preschool age?

Sadly those with older children to many times have given up hope of

the mainstream. Don't give that hope up prior to kindergarten.

So once again -expect more.

Tanner's page

http://www.cherab.org/information/familiesrelate/letter.html

Post I just sent out on this topic

/message/34337

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[Guest guest]

hi.

I'm sorry did you say that your son is autistic as well as apraxic? If not I do

not understnad why they are putting him in a classroom with children who are

autistic. I would think this classroom is very structured and maybe not as

socially stimulating?

I would be worried too if he went from a class with autistic children to a

typical setting. Why wouldn't they put him into a typical preschool then,

because of his speech being so behind? there's ways to keep him in typical

setting even though his speech is delayed

I'm kinda confused please write me back

chris

kids4966 <kids4966@...> wrote:

I am new to the group. My four year old was diagnosed with Verbal

Apraxia 1 year ago. He has been going for the past 6 months to

speech class 5 days a week for 30 min. each. This has helped. He

went from saying only sounds to about 15 words. (what we consider

words. not all intelligible) We just moved to nevada and they want

to put him in a class with Autistic children 5 days a week for 4

hours each. I'm ok with this. I just want him to talk. What I really

need to know is, when will he talk? I know all kids are different

and no one can say when he will talk but he's 4 and he's supposed to

start kindergarten in a year and when he starts kindergarten they

want to put him in a regular classroom. This really bothers me. How

can he be in a regular classroom when no one can understand him?

When do kids with apraxia usually start talking and making sense to

others? I think I'm the only one who understands him. He's such a

smart boy and i love him dearly i'm just really concerned about him

being in a regular classroom. Any insight into apraxia is greatly

appreciated. I can't get anyone to really tell me much about it.

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Welcome!

I wish I could answer your question about when apraxic children learn to

talk. All of these kids are so very different and hence outcomes vary.

Here are some factors that influence an apraxic child's outcome: what other

conditions the child has (other medical conditions that are present such as

sensory integration dysfunction, cerebral palsy, etc), when appropriate

treatment is started, how well the family follows through at home with

speech therapy practice. There are other factors that affect outcomes but I

just wanted to give you a few.

I think that making a jump from a self-contained autism class to a

mainstream K would really be a huge jump for any child.

My son did two years in a disabled pre-K. When he was eligible age-wise for

kindergarten he ended up going to a mainstream pre-K. (we held him back

from going to kindergarten.) This extra year of pre-K was a great stepping

stone for him. Plus the fact that we went from disabled pre-K to regular

pre-k was a great trial to see if it was appropriate for his educational

program to integrate with typically developing peers (larger class size,

more academics, etc) and have the same expectations placed on him as every

other kid. This year he is in a mainstream kindergarten and doing great!

I am sure there are non-verbal kids that have mainstreamed in K successfully

but not without a ton of support (one on one aide? augmentative

communication device? etc?) Is your school system well-funded? Do they seem

to give special ed kids the accommodations and supports that they need to be

successful? Any district can place a child with a disability in a

mainstream class with a sink or swim mentality but it takes a well-funded,

well led school to provide a severely verbally challenged child with an

appropriate education in a mainstream class.

I think what you are encountering with your school system has happened to

many of us. After one year in an Early Childhood classroom (disabled pre-K)

that was mostly for speech-impaired children, the district wanted to move my

son to a self-contained autism class. they felt that they couldn't meet my

son 's sensory needs within the early childhood classroom. My gut was that

it would be an inappropriate placement as my son had just started making

sounds (age 3 1/2) and was now moving onto words and I knew that he needed

some peer modeling of children using speech to communicate. he also needed

peers that wanted to interact with him so that he would have opportunies to

use his newly found ability to utter words. I told the district that I

would consider their recommendation of placement in the autism class but I

would not sign any autism eval paperwork at this point. I then went to

observe the autism classroom. The teacher that led the class was

outstanding. However, I knew with in the first few minutes that it was much

too restrictive for my son - very sterile, I don't think any of the children

even noticed that I entered the classroom, I did not see any interactions

between children, and the list goes on. I truly tried to keep an open mind

when I went to see the classroom as I wanted to make the best decision for

my son and not hold onto pride too much. Anyway, I was able to avert the

autism classroom placement and my son did another year in the Early

Childhood classroom and just thrived. In the end, school personnel

approached me and thanked me for challenging their recommendation. I think

that self-contained classrooms are appropriate for some kids but not all. I

know you are not asking for advice on this topic but I have to chime in. I

would highly recommend observing the class before accepting a placement

there. one inappropriate placement can do lots of damage to a child.

Did you read the article posted by

[Guest guest]

He is supposed to receive a minimum of 30 min. per day 5 days a week

of speech therapy. However, they don't have the staff for it and the

school we're zoned for does not have a pre-k program. He is not

autistic, only apraxic. They have a program that they have at

another school which is a half day program. They set it up initially

for autistic children but have been putting the apraxic kids in this

setting as well. It's supposed to be some preschool but also intense

speech therapy as well. I don't know much about it yet. My husband

spoke with them last and i am meeting with them on Friday.

[Guest guest]

I'm so glad its helpful and not preachy. please let me know how it turns out

chris

kids4966 <kids4966@...> wrote:

No--not too strong. You can never come on too strong when it

concerns our children. These are great questions to ask. So what i

need to do is ask these questions and visit the class. See if it's

appropriate for my son. Thanks so much for the insight. At least I'm

not flying blind now and just going with their recommendation.

Thanks