I was volunteering at Picture Day at Laurie's elementary school, so I was able to corner one of the special ed teachers and ask what they have to offer there. They do not have a self-contained class, all the kids who need special ed must be integrated, but may get a pull-out to the resource room for math and reading. The other option, if they are not able to be mainstreamed, is to go to BOCES or a private placement.

As much as I would love Kayla to be integrated, realistically I don't think she'll get there by Kindy. But, of course, my preference would be for Kayla to attend the local elementary school, at least through 1st or 2nd grade. BOCES is a 45 minute straight car ride, so you're looking at around 1 1/2 hours by bus. The local elementary is 15 minutes away.

Now, there are at least 6 kids who ride Kayla's bus to Easter Seals, 2 of which are in her severe special needs class. All the kids are in our school district (we only have 1 elem and 1 jr/sr school in our district) So there are AT LEAST 6 kids close in age who could possibly be put in a self-contained class.

I sent an email to our CSE Chair (Special Ed director) asking if this could be a possibility. How hard do you think I can realistically push it? I've no idea what sort of politics/budgeting/etc. would be involved in this, or even if my 2 year lead time is enough. The special ed teacher did say they USED to have a self-contained class there. But I guess with so much focus on integration, they did away with it.

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Ecki



MomMom of Kayla (Ds/Autism 4/5/04) and Laurie (PDD-NOS 7/12/01)

Our Blog - Opposite Kids
Kayla's Story http://www.ecki.com/kayla/

Perhaps you could convince the school to do a 6-2-1 self-contained class but the kids would need to be severely delayed.

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Tom

Dad to Beth (15) and Mikey (10 - Ds and PDD-NOS)
My Blog - Random Thinking


What a difference a haircut makes!

Well, at least I got a response:

Ecki,

Thank you for your thoughts on the matter. I will reserve comment on this until the spring when we have a better idea of what our specific needs are for the 08-09 school year.

Regards,

Bob.


So at least it might be a possibility.

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Ecki



MomMom of Kayla (Ds/Autism 4/5/04) and Laurie (PDD-NOS 7/12/01)

Our Blog - Opposite Kids
Kayla's Story http://www.ecki.com/kayla/

Well, I see just watch and see what your daughter will need in the future and start working on what would be appropriate for her. Legally they are offering the way it really should be... BUT... as an IEP and a plan for YOUR child, that might not be appropriate placement, so she may need something more restrictive to be appropriate. Only time will tell.

And don't worry about politics and budgets. They can tell you that and you can think that... but that has no bearing on what our children get on and IEP. They may TRY to manipulated as such, and believe me, they do... but it really has no bearing.

In CA and in IL Russell was bussed pretty far for his appropriate placement and I was ok with that. That was what he needed and I was pleased with the program both times. We tried a cross catagory/integrated type class our first year in IL and it did NOT work.. so we bussed him to a private school about 40 min away... it was WONDERFUL!

A.

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2007 St. Louis Buddy Walk Regan 14 (and a half), Russell 9 (and a half) DS, Autism, Visually Impaired, Reece 7.