Re: To pre-school or not...

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

I think you're right that it's not necessary that your son attend

preschool. That being said, I do think that my daughter benefited

from (not to mention LOVED) her preschool, which was special ed

through our local school district. Have you looked into the

possibility of your son attending a public preschool? Meg's was

half integrated (typical) students and half students with special

needs - though because her class only met twice a week the children

were only mild to moderately delayed. There were 4 " teachers " - a

real teacher, two aides and a speech therapist - in her room, and

the maximum number of students was 16 (when she started there were 8

and it grew to 12 by then end of the year - that's only a 3:1

ratio). The classroom was " language enriched " and focused on life

skills rather than academics. There were a lot of other things that

were helping Meg at the time (like supplements, diet and private

therapy), but I definitely think being in that preschool environment

motivated her to try to talk all of the time. I think the other big

benefit of preschool programs is that they get kids used to the

structure of school - ie now it's circle time, now free play, now

snack, now recess...

So maybe look into your local district's preschool program,

especially if your biggest concern with typical preschools is the

high student to teacher ratio. Depending on his delays he may be

able to go as a special ed student, or as an integrated peer.

They're usually cheap or free, as an added bonus! By the way, my

daughter was released from special ed services this year, so she's

now attending a typical school with a 14:1 student to teacher ratio,

and she's flourishing. I think it really helped that she was in the

public program last year.

Kerri

>

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

>

> I take my son to three different organized play groups that give

us

> 2X per week interactions with other children. I am there to help

> teach my son sharing and cooperation skills. What would he learn

> about that at a pre-school with 15 kids per teacher? I am dubious.

>

> But, then my husband says it will get my 30-month-old son

> speaking...If that were really the case, then I would re-think my

> position, but I work afternoons until 8pm. The pre-schools are

> morning programs here. I would rarely see my son because he would

> have to start going to bed early, and we wouldn't have the

mornings

> anymore. I am resisting this, but if there is research that shows

a

> relationship between kids interacting and speech improvement, I

> neeed to read it and think more deeply about what my husband is

> saying.

>

> Any thoughts? To be honest with you, I think my son prefers

playing

> by himself because his interests don't seem to be the same as most

> of the kids his age. The other boys at play group are playing

> superhero fight games, and he is always off by himself enacting a

> complex fire-fighting scenario that I guess is a boy's version of

> playing house on steroids. So, in my opinion, he would either be

> alone playing at pre-school, or he would be here in the mornings

> playing with me. We do so many fun things together...we do jigsaw

> puzzles, read lots of books, so searches on the internet, make

toys,

> build rockets, classify animals, write stories, do creative

> interpretation of music...that kind of thing. What would he be

> getting at a pre-school besides a few more fingerplays and access

to

> a different variety of toys and art supplies? OK, maybe he would

be

> challenged more physically...

>

> Anyone been through a similar decision who could comment?

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi-

I think that it is safe to say that if your son truly has apraxia,

simply being 'with' other children will not be enough to " get " your

son speaking. In the early journey with apraxia, it is sometimes

easy to think that somehow our kids don't want to talk, or are

choosing not to talk, and that by placing them in the correct

environment, they may just begin speaking. For kids with a a true

motor speech disorder, it is not a question of their will, but of

their ability to produce language that will determine when then

speak.

So, while your husband may be incorrect that he will start to speak,

I also think that you are somewhat incorrect in thinking that being

around other children with " bad langauge skills " is detrimental.

Age-appropriate peer interaction has to be one of our primary goals

as parents of apraxic kids - we WANT them to be engaged with those

children.

I cannot answer your question in terms of is it worth the time away

from your son - only you can. It sounds as though he is already

getting some strong interaction in the playgroups. However, I will

say that when my son was still really struggling with langauge, he

was MUCH more willing to talk to adults. I always thought it was

because they took the time to listen to him and understand what he

was saying. Kids, on the other hand, simply would walk away because

they didn't know what else to do. So, while I kind of wanted to

protect from that kind of 'failure' with peers, I also knew

that unless he was around children a lot, he would pull back even

more from his attempts to speak to them. It is, as you know, a bit

of a Catch 22.

My son was unable to attend a regular preschool as his brothers had

due to his apraxia and other delays, so we ended up in the school

district specia ed preschool programs. As sad as I was that he

wasn't able to go to the 'regular' school, it was exactly what he

needed. I did miss him, but he did get a lot of instruction ( and

speech, OT) that I would never have been able to provide had I kept

him home with me.

These are tough decisions, aren't they?

-- In , " " <cmlegg@...>

wrote:

>

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

>

> I take my son to three different organized play groups that give

us

> 2X per week interactions with other children. I am there to help

> teach my son sharing and cooperation skills. What would he learn

> about that at a pre-school with 15 kids per teacher? I am dubious.

>

> But, then my husband says it will get my 30-month-old son

> speaking...If that were really the case, then I would re-think my

> position, but I work afternoons until 8pm. The pre-schools are

> morning programs here. I would rarely see my son because he would

> have to start going to bed early, and we wouldn't have the

mornings

> anymore. I am resisting this, but if there is research that shows

a

> relationship between kids interacting and speech improvement, I

> neeed to read it and think more deeply about what my husband is

> saying.

>

> Any thoughts? To be honest with you, I think my son prefers

playing

> by himself because his interests don't seem to be the same as most

> of the kids his age. The other boys at play group are playing

> superhero fight games, and he is always off by himself enacting a

> complex fire-fighting scenario that I guess is a boy's version of

> playing house on steroids. So, in my opinion, he would either be

> alone playing at pre-school, or he would be here in the mornings

> playing with me. We do so many fun things together...we do jigsaw

> puzzles, read lots of books, so searches on the internet, make

toys,

> build rockets, classify animals, write stories, do creative

> interpretation of music...that kind of thing. What would he be

> getting at a pre-school besides a few more fingerplays and access

to

> a different variety of toys and art supplies? OK, maybe he would

be

> challenged more physically...

>

> Anyone been through a similar decision who could comment?

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

When you factor in that you won't see him as much that is a concern.

If that had been my circumstance I likely would not have put my

daughter in nursery schoool. I can just tell you about our experience

with preschool.

I put my daughter in a local nursery school (she was 2 at the time so I

had no formal preschool's available). Where she goes has a little set

up for the younger kids, then there's a preschool and there's also a

before and after school program. She spends time with the kids her own

age but also gets to participate with the preschool kids in some of

their activities. In addition, the school age kids like to play with

the younger kids so she gets " fussed over " quite a bit and eats it up.

She goes 2 mornings a week from 8 until noon. (she also goes with me

to a developmental playgroup 2 mornings a week)

I set it up so that she eats breakfast with the other kids but I pick

her up in time for us to eat lunch together. The results were

astounding but not necessarily all speech related.

She was never great with self feeding, self care.... now she's great.

Watching other kids did wonders (she's an only child). She started

picking up more and more social skills, seemed to begin to understand

the concept of language (I say something, you say something), began

pretend play, etc. It has been a very positive experience. As a point

of comparison... the skills she picked up at nursery school occurred

within the first month. Developmental playgroup has been fun for her

but the only skills she has picked up involve learning the motions to

some songs and that took her 6 months. I often wonder if my being

there at playgroup causes her to think she doesn't have to figure out

how to do some things for herself. Not sure.

When it comes to apraxia, nursery school did not help that in the

slightest. What it did do was help her socially mature and reinforce

the concept of language. Not long after starting she was more willing

to try new things verbally. On the flip side.... although she has

never been teased to my knowledge it was through her attending nursery

school that I first started to get inklings that she figured out that

she was " different " somehow.

It's a mixed bag but kids with apraxia do not get " healed " through

nursery school, etc. Late talkers... maybe but not kids with apraxia.

Kids will, however, pick up some skills (some good, some bad) that they

may not have been able to grasp with only having adult input. Another

bad thing about preschool/nursery school/daycare is the illness ratio.

During our first 4 months we had multiple colds, stomach bugs, ear

infections, etc and some of these occurred at times that prevented us

from getting to speech therapy. So... those weeks I wondered if this

whole nursery school idea was a bad one.

Just my thoughts.... good luck.

Kris

On Sep 17, 2006, at 5:31 PM, wrote:

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

>

> I take my son to three different organized play groups that give us

> 2X per week interactions with other children. I am there to help

> teach my son sharing and cooperation skills. What would he learn

> about that at a pre-school with 15 kids per teacher? I am dubious.

>

> But, then my husband says it will get my 30-month-old son

> speaking...If that were really the case, then I would re-think my

> position, but I work afternoons until 8pm. The pre-schools are

> morning programs here. I would rarely see my son because he would

> have to start going to bed early, and we wouldn't have the mornings

> anymore. I am resisting this, but if there is research that shows a

> relationship between kids interacting and speech improvement, I

> neeed to read it and think more deeply about what my husband is

> saying.

>

> Any thoughts? To be honest with you, I think my son prefers playing

> by himself because his interests don't seem to be the same as most

> of the kids his age. The other boys at play group are playing

> superhero fight games, and he is always off by himself enacting a

> complex fire-fighting scenario that I guess is a boy's version of

> playing house on steroids. So, in my opinion, he would either be

> alone playing at pre-school, or he would be here in the mornings

> playing with me. We do so many fun things together...we do jigsaw

> puzzles, read lots of books, so searches on the internet, make toys,

> build rockets, classify animals, write stories, do creative

> interpretation of music...that kind of thing. What would he be

> getting at a pre-school besides a few more fingerplays and access to

> a different variety of toys and art supplies? OK, maybe he would be

> challenged more physically...

>

> Anyone been through a similar decision who could comment?

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

>

>

> Anyone been through a similar decision who could comment?

>

>

>

>

>

Hi .....I am no way an expert on this but wanted to comment on

what happened with my son. He was first dx pddnos and attended a

preschool class with autistic kids. He was much more advanced than

the other children there and his teacher also felt that an intergrated

or inclusion type preschool class would be better for him since he

wanted to be social....he was barely speaking back then...when he

started the new preschool with mostly typical kids, he did start

speaking much more!! the annuciation was not too good and that it when

it was suggested that he had apraxia. But preschool did help with

social play and he did start talking in complete sentences soon after.

Hope that helps alittle:) rita

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

I think you're right that it's not necessary that your son attend

preschool. That being said, I do think that my daughter benefited

from (not to mention LOVED) her preschool, which was special ed

through our local school district. Have you looked into the

possibility of your son attending a public preschool? Meg's was

half integrated (typical) students and half students with special

needs - though because her class only met twice a week the children

were only mild to moderately delayed. There were 4 " teachers " - a

real teacher, two aides and a speech therapist - in her room, and

the maximum number of students was 16 (when she started there were 8

and it grew to 12 by then end of the year - that's only a 3:1

ratio). The classroom was " language enriched " and focused on life

skills rather than academics. There were a lot of other things that

were helping Meg at the time (like supplements, diet and private

therapy), but I definitely think being in that preschool environment

motivated her to try to talk all of the time. I think the other big

benefit of preschool programs is that they get kids used to the

structure of school - ie now it's circle time, now free play, now

snack, now recess...

So maybe look into your local district's preschool program,

especially if your biggest concern with typical preschools is the

high student to teacher ratio. Depending on his delays he may be

able to go as a special ed student, or as an integrated peer.

They're usually cheap or free, as an added bonus! By the way, my

daughter was released from special ed services this year, so she's

now attending a typical school with a 14:1 student to teacher ratio,

and she's flourishing. I think it really helped that she was in the

public program last year.

Kerri

>

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

>

> I take my son to three different organized play groups that give

us

> 2X per week interactions with other children. I am there to help

> teach my son sharing and cooperation skills. What would he learn

> about that at a pre-school with 15 kids per teacher? I am dubious.

>

> But, then my husband says it will get my 30-month-old son

> speaking...If that were really the case, then I would re-think my

> position, but I work afternoons until 8pm. The pre-schools are

> morning programs here. I would rarely see my son because he would

> have to start going to bed early, and we wouldn't have the

mornings

> anymore. I am resisting this, but if there is research that shows

a

> relationship between kids interacting and speech improvement, I

> neeed to read it and think more deeply about what my husband is

> saying.

>

> Any thoughts? To be honest with you, I think my son prefers

playing

> by himself because his interests don't seem to be the same as most

> of the kids his age. The other boys at play group are playing

> superhero fight games, and he is always off by himself enacting a

> complex fire-fighting scenario that I guess is a boy's version of

> playing house on steroids. So, in my opinion, he would either be

> alone playing at pre-school, or he would be here in the mornings

> playing with me. We do so many fun things together...we do jigsaw

> puzzles, read lots of books, so searches on the internet, make

toys,

> build rockets, classify animals, write stories, do creative

> interpretation of music...that kind of thing. What would he be

> getting at a pre-school besides a few more fingerplays and access

to

> a different variety of toys and art supplies? OK, maybe he would

be

> challenged more physically...

>

> Anyone been through a similar decision who could comment?

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi-

I think that it is safe to say that if your son truly has apraxia,

simply being 'with' other children will not be enough to " get " your

son speaking. In the early journey with apraxia, it is sometimes

easy to think that somehow our kids don't want to talk, or are

choosing not to talk, and that by placing them in the correct

environment, they may just begin speaking. For kids with a a true

motor speech disorder, it is not a question of their will, but of

their ability to produce language that will determine when then

speak.

So, while your husband may be incorrect that he will start to speak,

I also think that you are somewhat incorrect in thinking that being

around other children with " bad langauge skills " is detrimental.

Age-appropriate peer interaction has to be one of our primary goals

as parents of apraxic kids - we WANT them to be engaged with those

children.

I cannot answer your question in terms of is it worth the time away

from your son - only you can. It sounds as though he is already

getting some strong interaction in the playgroups. However, I will

say that when my son was still really struggling with langauge, he

was MUCH more willing to talk to adults. I always thought it was

because they took the time to listen to him and understand what he

was saying. Kids, on the other hand, simply would walk away because

they didn't know what else to do. So, while I kind of wanted to

protect from that kind of 'failure' with peers, I also knew

that unless he was around children a lot, he would pull back even

more from his attempts to speak to them. It is, as you know, a bit

of a Catch 22.

My son was unable to attend a regular preschool as his brothers had

due to his apraxia and other delays, so we ended up in the school

district specia ed preschool programs. As sad as I was that he

wasn't able to go to the 'regular' school, it was exactly what he

needed. I did miss him, but he did get a lot of instruction ( and

speech, OT) that I would never have been able to provide had I kept

him home with me.

These are tough decisions, aren't they?

-- In , " " <cmlegg@...>

wrote:

>

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

>

> I take my son to three different organized play groups that give

us

> 2X per week interactions with other children. I am there to help

> teach my son sharing and cooperation skills. What would he learn

> about that at a pre-school with 15 kids per teacher? I am dubious.

>

> But, then my husband says it will get my 30-month-old son

> speaking...If that were really the case, then I would re-think my

> position, but I work afternoons until 8pm. The pre-schools are

> morning programs here. I would rarely see my son because he would

> have to start going to bed early, and we wouldn't have the

mornings

> anymore. I am resisting this, but if there is research that shows

a

> relationship between kids interacting and speech improvement, I

> neeed to read it and think more deeply about what my husband is

> saying.

>

> Any thoughts? To be honest with you, I think my son prefers

playing

> by himself because his interests don't seem to be the same as most

> of the kids his age. The other boys at play group are playing

> superhero fight games, and he is always off by himself enacting a

> complex fire-fighting scenario that I guess is a boy's version of

> playing house on steroids. So, in my opinion, he would either be

> alone playing at pre-school, or he would be here in the mornings

> playing with me. We do so many fun things together...we do jigsaw

> puzzles, read lots of books, so searches on the internet, make

toys,

> build rockets, classify animals, write stories, do creative

> interpretation of music...that kind of thing. What would he be

> getting at a pre-school besides a few more fingerplays and access

to

> a different variety of toys and art supplies? OK, maybe he would

be

> challenged more physically...

>

> Anyone been through a similar decision who could comment?

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

When you factor in that you won't see him as much that is a concern.

If that had been my circumstance I likely would not have put my

daughter in nursery schoool. I can just tell you about our experience

with preschool.

I put my daughter in a local nursery school (she was 2 at the time so I

had no formal preschool's available). Where she goes has a little set

up for the younger kids, then there's a preschool and there's also a

before and after school program. She spends time with the kids her own

age but also gets to participate with the preschool kids in some of

their activities. In addition, the school age kids like to play with

the younger kids so she gets " fussed over " quite a bit and eats it up.

She goes 2 mornings a week from 8 until noon. (she also goes with me

to a developmental playgroup 2 mornings a week)

I set it up so that she eats breakfast with the other kids but I pick

her up in time for us to eat lunch together. The results were

astounding but not necessarily all speech related.

She was never great with self feeding, self care.... now she's great.

Watching other kids did wonders (she's an only child). She started

picking up more and more social skills, seemed to begin to understand

the concept of language (I say something, you say something), began

pretend play, etc. It has been a very positive experience. As a point

of comparison... the skills she picked up at nursery school occurred

within the first month. Developmental playgroup has been fun for her

but the only skills she has picked up involve learning the motions to

some songs and that took her 6 months. I often wonder if my being

there at playgroup causes her to think she doesn't have to figure out

how to do some things for herself. Not sure.

When it comes to apraxia, nursery school did not help that in the

slightest. What it did do was help her socially mature and reinforce

the concept of language. Not long after starting she was more willing

to try new things verbally. On the flip side.... although she has

never been teased to my knowledge it was through her attending nursery

school that I first started to get inklings that she figured out that

she was " different " somehow.

It's a mixed bag but kids with apraxia do not get " healed " through

nursery school, etc. Late talkers... maybe but not kids with apraxia.

Kids will, however, pick up some skills (some good, some bad) that they

may not have been able to grasp with only having adult input. Another

bad thing about preschool/nursery school/daycare is the illness ratio.

During our first 4 months we had multiple colds, stomach bugs, ear

infections, etc and some of these occurred at times that prevented us

from getting to speech therapy. So... those weeks I wondered if this

whole nursery school idea was a bad one.

Just my thoughts.... good luck.

Kris

On Sep 17, 2006, at 5:31 PM, wrote:

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

>

> I take my son to three different organized play groups that give us

> 2X per week interactions with other children. I am there to help

> teach my son sharing and cooperation skills. What would he learn

> about that at a pre-school with 15 kids per teacher? I am dubious.

>

> But, then my husband says it will get my 30-month-old son

> speaking...If that were really the case, then I would re-think my

> position, but I work afternoons until 8pm. The pre-schools are

> morning programs here. I would rarely see my son because he would

> have to start going to bed early, and we wouldn't have the mornings

> anymore. I am resisting this, but if there is research that shows a

> relationship between kids interacting and speech improvement, I

> neeed to read it and think more deeply about what my husband is

> saying.

>

> Any thoughts? To be honest with you, I think my son prefers playing

> by himself because his interests don't seem to be the same as most

> of the kids his age. The other boys at play group are playing

> superhero fight games, and he is always off by himself enacting a

> complex fire-fighting scenario that I guess is a boy's version of

> playing house on steroids. So, in my opinion, he would either be

> alone playing at pre-school, or he would be here in the mornings

> playing with me. We do so many fun things together...we do jigsaw

> puzzles, read lots of books, so searches on the internet, make toys,

> build rockets, classify animals, write stories, do creative

> interpretation of music...that kind of thing. What would he be

> getting at a pre-school besides a few more fingerplays and access to

> a different variety of toys and art supplies? OK, maybe he would be

> challenged more physically...

>

> Anyone been through a similar decision who could comment?

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

>

>

> Anyone been through a similar decision who could comment?

>

>

>

>

>

Hi .....I am no way an expert on this but wanted to comment on

what happened with my son. He was first dx pddnos and attended a

preschool class with autistic kids. He was much more advanced than

the other children there and his teacher also felt that an intergrated

or inclusion type preschool class would be better for him since he

wanted to be social....he was barely speaking back then...when he

started the new preschool with mostly typical kids, he did start

speaking much more!! the annuciation was not too good and that it when

it was suggested that he had apraxia. But preschool did help with

social play and he did start talking in complete sentences soon after.

Hope that helps alittle:) rita

[Guest guest]

,

I'm thinking along the same lines as you. I would keep my son home. I

don't think having other children his age around will really help that

much. If anything, its the 8/9 year old children (in my experience)

that encourage my son to be verbal. I really value what a mom/dad can

do at home with their own children- its a much more natural

environment for learning to happen. A montessory schools where I live

have a parent/child class on Saturdays. Its just 2 hours or so and the

parents are involved. Maybe something like that is something you and

your husband could agree on.

I have some non-mainstream views on educatation. My son is still only

2 years old but its things that I think and study about. I struggle

with some things with Infants and Toddlers becaues I get the feeling

their main purpose is simply to get kids ready for pre-school and

there is a big push that once they transition to EI at 3 they have to

go to pre-school. That just doesn't jive with my intentions for

Garrett's education. I'm hoping it won't be an uphill battle to get

him the services he needs as well as follow my gut.

-Dawn

>

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

[Guest guest]

,

I'm thinking along the same lines as you. I would keep my son home. I

don't think having other children his age around will really help that

much. If anything, its the 8/9 year old children (in my experience)

that encourage my son to be verbal. I really value what a mom/dad can

do at home with their own children- its a much more natural

environment for learning to happen. A montessory schools where I live

have a parent/child class on Saturdays. Its just 2 hours or so and the

parents are involved. Maybe something like that is something you and

your husband could agree on.

I have some non-mainstream views on educatation. My son is still only

2 years old but its things that I think and study about. I struggle

with some things with Infants and Toddlers becaues I get the feeling

their main purpose is simply to get kids ready for pre-school and

there is a big push that once they transition to EI at 3 they have to

go to pre-school. That just doesn't jive with my intentions for

Garrett's education. I'm hoping it won't be an uphill battle to get

him the services he needs as well as follow my gut.

-Dawn

>

> My husband is of the opinion that entering a pre-school will

> stimulate my son into speaking more. I believe that it will simply

> surround him with children who model bad language skills and

> frustrate him with situations that he cannot use communication

> skills to work through.

[Guest guest]

This was nice to read . My 30 old just started school two

mornings a week, and it's been tough on me! Lots of tears (some

even from him, lol). I'm not expecting him to miraculously start

talking, but I am hoping for some positive effects of peer pressure

to try new things and of course I'm hoping it will be a good social

experience. The transition has been tough though.

>

> Preschool will not " make " an apraxic child speak, contrary to the

> opinion of a lot of experts. These kids aren't being willful --

> it's a neurological problem.

>

> However, for us preschool was AWESOME!!! Kids at this age love to

> be with each other and can be very encouraging and motivating.

They

> inspire each other to give things a try, and this includes therapy

> in a group setting, projects that require difficult motor skills,

> etc. Everybody at my son's public preschool -- therapists,

> teachers, case managers, and me -- all agree that is a

model

> for the benefits of early intervention. Finding the right school

is

> essential, but a good one can really make a difference.

>

> As the kids develop some speaking ability, school gives them a

> chance to try it out and practice, practice, practice. Too much

> overmanagement by adults -- at school or at home -- can be

> detrimental. We all need to learn social communication, and the

> occasional stumbles are all part of the process.

>

> It's my experience that the kids are usually ready for school

before

> the parents, so pace yourself and don't do anything YOU aren't

ready

> for. You really need to be comfortable with the choice in order

to

> make it work for your child.

>

> Good luck!

> in NJ

>

[Guest guest]

This was nice to read . My 30 old just started school two

mornings a week, and it's been tough on me! Lots of tears (some

even from him, lol). I'm not expecting him to miraculously start

talking, but I am hoping for some positive effects of peer pressure

to try new things and of course I'm hoping it will be a good social

experience. The transition has been tough though.

>

> Preschool will not " make " an apraxic child speak, contrary to the

> opinion of a lot of experts. These kids aren't being willful --

> it's a neurological problem.

>

> However, for us preschool was AWESOME!!! Kids at this age love to

> be with each other and can be very encouraging and motivating.

They

> inspire each other to give things a try, and this includes therapy

> in a group setting, projects that require difficult motor skills,

> etc. Everybody at my son's public preschool -- therapists,

> teachers, case managers, and me -- all agree that is a

model

> for the benefits of early intervention. Finding the right school

is

> essential, but a good one can really make a difference.

>

> As the kids develop some speaking ability, school gives them a

> chance to try it out and practice, practice, practice. Too much

> overmanagement by adults -- at school or at home -- can be

> detrimental. We all need to learn social communication, and the

> occasional stumbles are all part of the process.

>

> It's my experience that the kids are usually ready for school

before

> the parents, so pace yourself and don't do anything YOU aren't

ready

> for. You really need to be comfortable with the choice in order

to

> make it work for your child.

>

> Good luck!

> in NJ

>