Guest guest Posted June 10, 2003 Report Share Posted June 10, 2003 Hi ...Alyssa is lucky to have such a tough mom...when is your baby due?You take care of yourself...am glad this school is working with you , it stinks that the lsd is so uncooperative..hope it all works out with as little as stress as possible....Debbi making things work Hi everyone; I don't want to vent the whole ugly story to you all, but something great happened today and I wanted to share, especially since this type of thing might end up being a helpful reference for someone else down the road... We have been going through a less than positive IEP process with our school district (re-eval etc. commenced this past february) re: arrangements for our high functioning daughter (alyssa) who will be starting kindergarden in the fall. Our LSD has taken the position that alyssa is not autistic and has offered no services other than 60 min. of small grp speech rx/wk. Our experts recommend to the contrary, and have spelled out continuing the home ABA program, including using a trained shadow in the classroom (we've been doing this in her preschool since january) to help alyssa with the transition and to learn the social/behavioral stuff she doesn't pick up on independently... We have been advised that mastering the social/behavioral skills this year will be critical for alyssa's being able to function independently in a regular kindergarden classroom, so the shadow issue has become a deal-breaker with the lsd. We would rather have shadows and remove them as alyssa demonstrates to us that she has mastered these skills than wait and see what happens -- especially since we (and our experts) know that she won't do fine without the extra support.... Legal issues are being addressed (that's another agenda and story, I'll share it later) by my husband who is now also alyssa's attorney. So I've been talking to some private schools (all within "reasonable" driving distance from our home) re: whether they would be open to enrolling alyssa in their kindergarden classroom and let me bring in my ABA trained shadows to provide the necessary support for alyssa's unique needs (due to PDD-NOS). I've been looking for classrooms that will be similar to that where she should be at in our lsd (about 20 kids, 1 teacher w/no aid). the 3 private schools I've observed all had kindergarden classrooms where there was a teacher and an aid, class sizes ranging from 9-20. Hillel Day School (yes, its a jewish school) has been open to this "dialogue" of mine. They've met with me, reviewed all the expert reports and evals I've given them, and have extensively discussed alyssa's current status with me. They've discussed alyssa's situation with our behavior therapist/ABA expert, too, at our request. Yesterday they (their lower school principal and admissions director) came to alyssa's preschool and observed alyssa in action in the classroom, and then sat in on our separate "staff" meeting (round table discussion re: alyssa by her teachers, shadow, behavior therapist & myself). When observations and conclusions were completed, the admissions director advised that she has discussed the morning observation with the lower school principal and that they are willing to take alyssa in (provisionally for next year, we'll see about 1st grade later), but that they're concerned about the liability issue of having my shadows in th Can I tell you how exciting this news is to this pregnant, hormonal lady? We still have to hammer out the details... But my life as I've been anticipating it for this fall, I think, just got easier & better for my daughter. Thanks for listening... Support Everyday Miracles by shopping online at IGIVE.COM, where a portion of every purchase is donated to this support network. Proceeds received will be used for a variety of functions, such as educational activities, therapy, famiy outings, etc. http://www.igive.com/EDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 11, 2003 Report Share Posted June 11, 2003 Hi Debbi; Baby's due July 3. I hope its puncutual (I'll have a parade going right by my house july fourth morning & would hate to be in labor with that going on.....). As it turns out, Adat Shalom Nursery & Kindergarden has made the same offer (to provide a ft staffer to shadow and be trained by our therapist), and will serve as our backup if things run offtrack with Hillel. So, we've got 2 private resources in our community that will work with parents to integrate the ABA program into the school classroom for our kids. Take care, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 11, 2003 Report Share Posted June 11, 2003 , That's really interesting. Noah's just finished going to Adat Shalom (he's been there for two years). Meredith > Hi Debbi; > > Baby's due July 3. I hope its puncutual (I'll have a parade going right by > my house july fourth morning & would hate to be in labor with that going > on.....). As it turns out, Adat Shalom Nursery & Kindergarden has made the same > offer (to provide a ft staffer to shadow and be trained by our therapist), and > will serve as our backup if things run offtrack with Hillel. So, we've got 2 > private resources in our community that will work with parents to integrate the > ABA program into the school classroom for our kids. > > Take care, > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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