My son will be three in January. He had some developmental testing and was very close to the "normal" range in most areas (speech is slow). He was going to start school in January, but now they think he would benefit from starting in September. I had found a school I was pretty happy with. It is a preschool for children with diabilities. I was happy because there are five children in his class and three teachers. I now found out that is probably not good. Two of the kids are very "severe" and the other two are not to where Willie is yet. Now his ECSE teacher thinks he should go to a school for "normal" three year olds. She wants him to learn from others not be the one teaching. I guess I see her point, but I really liked the school and teachers that were going to work with him. I was wondering if anyone had any advice about this. The only three year old programs around here are usually at churches. The closest ones are about 1/2 hour away. There don't seem to be alot of options.

Thanks for your advice.

Karen
Mom to Isaac 10, Maria 8, Molly 4, and Willie (DS) 30 months

Karen,

Don't you have the option of the public school system??? Here in Texas, when Kaitlyn turns 3 she will go to what they call the developmental center. I guess you would consider it a public pre-school.

I think I would have to agree that Willie needs to learn from others. If it's the public school that you are trying to avoid, have you considered checking into a "regular" daycare program?

Here in Louisiana when Courtney turned 3, she entered a non-catagorical preschool through the public school system. In her class there were 7 kids, 1 teacher, and 3 teacher aids. I personally believe that the environment and people our children are around have a large impact on how they act and learn. I noticed that the first year that she was in the class there were several severely delayed kids, and she seemed to regress a little. This past year, the children in the class had very little delays and she progressed by leaps and bounds. So where ever your child goes, see if they group all of the disabled children together or if they are grouped by abilities. I think inclusion is the best for our children, especially for my Courtney. I see her learning by imitating others. I don't know if this helped but I just wanted throw my 2 cents in.

I was told that Willie "wouldn't fit in" at our local public school. They have NEVER had a DS child. Imagine that! I'm from a town with about 300 people. The closest town with preschool has the "special" children in a separate school for preschool.

It sounds like the experienced members think he should go to another school. I'll have to go check them out.

Thanks for your input.

Karen

Sorry to hear that about your town's school. I would probably check into that "special" school anyways just to see how they run things. Do they catagorize the children and seperate them? How many kids to a class? How many teachers and aids to a class? It wouldn't hurt to look into it. Good luck!

Hello, Sorry I've been on vacation and haven't had a chance to 'catch up' on all of the posts.

My daughter has been in a program since she was born. It started with the home based therapy, which was run through our local First Steps program. At 19 months, she was transferred to their 'Toddler Program' which was in their building. At 3 she went into the School pre-school/Cooperative program.

I, too, live in an EXTREMELY rural area. My daughter is also the only child they've ever had with DS. It does not matter what the principal and teachers think about your child 'fitting in'. He has every right to attend this school. Is there a special education teacher at this school? Have you spoken with her?

When Kortney was in the school based pre school program it was horrible. They did NOTHING! NO painting, no working 'hands on', etc. The teacher was 'tenured' and really not interested in having to 'work' every day. I had several meetings with the faculty. Things changed very quickly. However, the following two years, I transferred her to our local Head Start program.

For me, I had NEVER, EVER considered Head Start. Nothing against anyone involved in the program. I just never thought of myself needing their services. Well I was totally wrong. The Head Start program was the best thing to happen to Kortney. The teacher and aides were wonderful. Even going as far to take Kortney to their homes for over nights and such. (Now I know that's rare.) I was so pleased with this program. Not to mention that these teachers and aides are 'trained' to deal with differently abled kids! That made me feel so much more comfortable!

I feel it is very important for our children to be around 'typical' kids from the beginning. They mimic what happens around them. I know my daughter has learned so much from her siblings and the kids in her class. It is much more important to me that she know how to behave during a movie, etc, than to figure fractions!

I would check out all of your resources that are available. You might check into the adult ARC services and such, that are in your area and they might be able to point you in another direction.

Good Luck and keep us posted!
Cindy

Think of it this way... when your son starts elementary school, wouldn't it be nice if he had already been in school with his classmates? Wouldn't it be great if they already knew him and were friendly with him? Wouldn't going into elementary school be less frightening if your son was going with kids that he already knows? Wouldn't it be great to get to meet some of the parents now, make friends with them and get them to know your son? Inclusion has so many virtues that if your son is ready for it you should definitely give it a try.

Wow, too many questions and too much to think about. I also agree with inclusion. I don't know if I want it for Willie at this time though. Our school district doesn't currently have any child needing special services under the age of four. I don't know if it would be best for Willie to be in a classroom with children way over his level. Next year he will be going to school here with "normal" children (I hope). The special school has seven three and four year olds. The faculty there believe he would thrive at their school. I just get so frustrated that everything seems to be a fight and a big one at that. Our school district's superintentent hasn't decided if they'll pay for Willie to go to another school district. They also won't try and get a program running for him. It kind of seems like a no win situation. Thanks for listening!