Holding back from going on to Kindegarten in the fall???? Need opinions

[Guest guest]

My 4 year old, soon to be 5 year old Nate had a trach then was diagnosed with

Leukemia last summer. He started preschool when he was 3, went for 2 months,

then got the

trach, went for a couple of weeks last spring and he has been homebound ever

since.

I am so torn. I know he is a bright little boy, however, I'm not sure it's fair

to him to put him in Kindergarten this fall... wondering if we should repeat

another year of preschool.

Schaumburg IL Dist 54 is proposing he go to son to a special program with

inclusion in the morning with the reg Kindergarten and then therapies and small

groups in the afternoon.

We are going to observe within the next month..

I'm also scared to death of the kids who are not immunized due to " religious "

reasons or " beliefs " . I'm sorry if I offend anyone on this subject, but these

kids are going to put Nate at risk. All of Nate's immunizations in theory have

been wiped out by the chemo. Once he is off therapy, he will be getting them

all again.. when he is 7 in 2012. The children out there who don't have these

immunizations will put Nate at risk for contracting things like measels,

whooping cough, etc... you get the idea. Unfortunately these kids have healthy

immune systems... if Nate contracts one of these diseases it could take his

life...

This SUCKS!! Sorry, feeling very anxious right now...

Ok.. hit me with your best shot... all opinions greatly valued!!

[Guest guest]

I kept in preschool an extra year since he missed almost a whole year during treatment. It really is an individual decision, though. I understand about the fears about the diseases, but I did give the teachers and through them the parents in the room a letter about the risks to from communicable diseases esp. strep throat and chicken pox and really any other disease. We had a good experience of being informed when needed. Every school is different, of course.

Beth

[ ] Holding back from going on to Kindegarten in the fall???? Need opinions

My 4 year old, soon to be 5 year old Nate had a trach then was diagnosed with Leukemia last summer. He started preschool when he was 3, went for 2 months, then got thetrach, went for a couple of weeks last spring and he has been homebound eversince.I am so torn. I know he is a bright little boy, however, I'm not sure it's fairto him to put him in Kindergarten this fall... wondering if we should repeatanother year of preschool.Schaumburg IL Dist 54 is proposing he go to son to a special program with inclusion in the morning with the reg Kindergarten and then therapies and small groups in the afternoon.We are going to observe within the next month..I'm also scared to death of the kids who are not immunized due to "religious"reasons or "beliefs". I'm sorry if I offend anyone on this subject, but thesekids are going to put Nate at risk. All of Nate's immunizations in theory havebeen wiped out by the chemo. Once he is off therapy, he will be getting themall again.. when he is 7 in 2012. The children out there who don't have theseimmunizations will put Nate at risk for contracting things like measels,whooping cough, etc... you get the idea. Unfortunately these kids have healthyimmune systems... if Nate contracts one of these diseases it could take hislife...This SUCKS!! Sorry, feeling very anxious right now...Ok.. hit me with your best shot... all opinions greatly valued!!

[Guest guest]

One thing I have found over the years is to follow your instincts.

My exprience with the school system here in IN is that they really try to have the student move along the continum without hold backs. Most of their rational is that they will move along with their peerswho know them and they also try to avoid having a child much older who hits puberty with younger kids....blah, blah, blah. So if you are considering holding back, I think a great time to do it before kindergarten. You probably want to get Nate back in pre-school again to get used to the "shorter" day routine (if his immune system is ok). Sounds like his kindergarten will be a long "broken" up day.

Unfortunaetly, kids in a school environment are exposed to so much. Does Nate have AML or ALL and how much more therapy does he need?

Best of luck. These decisions are always so hard.

sp

From: taniabsn1 <taniabsn@...>Subject: [ ] Holding back from going on to Kindegarten in the fall???? Need opinions Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 7:57 PM

My 4 year old, soon to be 5 year old Nate had a trach then was diagnosed with Leukemia last summer. He started preschool when he was 3, went for 2 months, then got thetrach, went for a couple of weeks last spring and he has been homebound eversince.I am so torn. I know he is a bright little boy, however, I'm not sure it's fairto him to put him in Kindergarten this fall... wondering if we should repeatanother year of preschool.Schaumburg IL Dist 54 is proposing he go to son to a special program with inclusion in the morning with the reg Kindergarten and then therapies and small groups in the afternoon.We are going to observe within the next month..I'm also scared to death of the kids who are not immunized due to "religious"reasons or "beliefs". I'm sorry if I offend anyone on this subject, but thesekids are going to put Nate at risk. All of Nate's immunizations in theory havebeen

wiped out by the chemo. Once he is off therapy, he will be getting themall again.. when he is 7 in 2012. The children out there who don't have theseimmunizations will put Nate at risk for contracting things like measels,whooping cough, etc... you get the idea. Unfortunately these kids have healthyimmune systems... if Nate contracts one of these diseases it could take hislife...This SUCKS!! Sorry, feeling very anxious right now...Ok.. hit me with your best shot... all opinions greatly valued!!

[Guest guest]

:

We are in a hold right night waiting to start day 29 of DI. He has ALL and his

treatment will end November 2012. We should hit maintenance sometime this

spring and hopefully he will be allowed to go back to school. It scares me to

let him out of the house. I want to protect him, yet I want him to experience

life and be happy.

We are in study AALL0331 and he was an early responder, but in the standard arm

of things because of the DS. He has Pre B ALL>

>

>

> From: taniabsn1 <taniabsn@...>

> Subject: [ ] Holding back from going on to Kindegarten in the

fall???? Need opinions

>

> Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 7:57 PM

>

>

>  

>

>

>

> My 4 year old, soon to be 5 year old Nate had a trach then was diagnosed with

Leukemia last summer. He started preschool when he was 3, went for 2 months,

then got the

> trach, went for a couple of weeks last spring and he has been homebound ever

> since.

>

> I am so torn. I know he is a bright little boy, however, I'm not sure it's

fair

> to him to put him in Kindergarten this fall... wondering if we should repeat

> another year of preschool.

>

> Schaumburg IL Dist 54 is proposing he go to son to a special program

with inclusion in the morning with the reg Kindergarten and then therapies and

small groups in the afternoon.

>

> We are going to observe within the next month..

>

> I'm also scared to death of the kids who are not immunized due to " religious "

> reasons or " beliefs " . I'm sorry if I offend anyone on this subject, but these

> kids are going to put Nate at risk. All of Nate's immunizations in theory have

> been wiped out by the chemo. Once he is off therapy, he will be getting them

> all again.. when he is 7 in 2012. The children out there who don't have these

> immunizations will put Nate at risk for contracting things like measels,

> whooping cough, etc... you get the idea. Unfortunately these kids have healthy

> immune systems... if Nate contracts one of these diseases it could take his

> life...

>

> This SUCKS!! Sorry, feeling very anxious right now...

>

> Ok.. hit me with your best shot... all opinions greatly valued!!

>

[Guest guest]

Hi! I can relate to much of your email. First, I am originally from Chicago. However, I now live in San Diego. Our son, Adam, is going to also be turning 5 soon. He was diagnosed with ALL in April 2008 and is currently going through the maintenance phase. Adam also was a rapid responder. So, there are many similarities here. We are just a little bit ahead of where you are with treatment.Our biggest challenges have been with Adam getting a virus and then having to go in patient for about a week, to rule out a bacterial infection. He did give us a scare around the holidays, this past December, when his ANC dropped to almost 100. Then, for almost a month it wouldn't come up over 500. So, we had to test his bone marrow to be sure the leukemia hadn't returned. I never even considered that we would be talking about testing his bone marrow during maintenance. I guess I just wanted to believe that things were going in the right direction. Thankfully, after 3 long days of waiting, all was fine. Adam just seems to have a tough time getting back on track after having a virus.Our school district has provided a preschool teacher and speech teacher to do home visits. We are considering trying a summer school program to get him acclimated with going to school, seeing how his immune system holds up (less children and not during cold/flu season) and to enhance his social skills. All of this is in hopes of Adam being able to go to kindergarten in the Fall. Also, we plan to request an aid.I hope this helps.SharlaSent via BlackBerry from T-MobileFrom: "taniabsn1" <taniabsn@...>Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:57:06 -0000< >Subject: [ ] Holding back from going on to Kindegarten in the fall???? Need opinions My 4 year old, soon to be 5 year old Nate had a trach then was diagnosed with Leukemia last summer. He started preschool when he was 3, went for 2 months, then got thetrach, went for a couple of weeks last spring and he has been homebound eversince.I am so torn. I know he is a bright little boy, however, I'm not sure it's fairto him to put him in Kindergarten this fall... wondering if we should repeatanother year of preschool.Schaumburg IL Dist 54 is proposing he go to son to a special program with inclusion in the morning with the reg Kindergarten and then therapies and small groups in the afternoon.We are going to observe within the next month..I'm also scared to death of the kids who are not immunized due to " religious " reasons or " beliefs " . I'm sorry if I offend anyone on this subject, but thesekids are going to put Nate at risk. All of Nate's immunizations in theory havebeen wiped out by the chemo. Once he is off therapy, he will be getting themall again.. when he is 7 in 2012. The children out there who don't have theseimmunizations will put Nate at risk for contracting things like measels,whooping cough, etc... you get the idea. Unfortunately these kids have healthyimmune systems... if Nate contracts one of these diseases it could take hislife...This SUCKS!! Sorry, feeling very anxious right now...Ok.. hit me with your best shot... all opinions greatly valued!!

[Guest guest]

HiTrevor turned 5 in Oct and will hopefully start Kindergarten in the Fall also. We are about one year ahead of you in treatment. Diagnosed with ALL in July of '08 and hoping to finish at the end of 2011. This is Trevor's first year in preschool. He had a homebound teacher last year during his intensive treatments.I was told that for our school system Trevor would be able to start with partial days and work his way up to a full day. I would like to do another year of preschool also, but I think Trevor needs to move on. I agree that every child is different and it is good to go with your instincts. Thank you, Beth, for the

suggestion of writing a letter to the teacher and parents. I think we will do that for next year. Fortunately we've only had a couple of ER visits this winter, but no hospital stays.Best wishes in your decision.Dawn Bird From: taniabsn1 <taniabsn@...>Subject: [ ] Holding back from going on to Kindegarten in the fall???? Need opinions Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 5:57 PM

My 4 year old, soon to be 5 year old Nate had a trach then was diagnosed with Leukemia last summer. He started preschool when he was 3, went for 2 months, then got the

trach, went for a couple of weeks last spring and he has been homebound ever

since.

I am so torn. I know he is a bright little boy, however, I'm not sure it's fair

to him to put him in Kindergarten this fall... wondering if we should repeat

another year of preschool.

Schaumburg IL Dist 54 is proposing he go to son to a special program with inclusion in the morning with the reg Kindergarten and then therapies and small groups in the afternoon.

We are going to observe within the next month..

I'm also scared to death of the kids who are not immunized due to "religious"

reasons or "beliefs". I'm sorry if I offend anyone on this subject, but these

kids are going to put Nate at risk. All of Nate's immunizations in theory have

been wiped out by the chemo. Once he is off therapy, he will be getting them

all again.. when he is 7 in 2012. The children out there who don't have these

immunizations will put Nate at risk for contracting things like measels,

whooping cough, etc... you get the idea. Unfortunately these kids have healthy

immune systems... if Nate contracts one of these diseases it could take his

life...

This SUCKS!! Sorry, feeling very anxious right now...

Ok.. hit me with your best shot... all opinions greatly valued!!