I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else and if anyone has some advice on what my next step should be.....
I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter. She was diagnosed with autism about a year ago. Currently she gets 15 hours a week with a skills trainer, 1 hour a week speech therapy and 3 hours/month occupational therapy. We have been going through the assessment process with Dept. Of Education to get her into public preschool when she turns 3. (Early intervention services stop when she turns 3.) We have an eligiblity / iep meeting scheduled for later this month.
So I get a call from the school principal this morning (who I've never spoken to until now) letting me know that their preschool classes are now at capacity. But they have found placement for her at another school in the district. The problem I'm having is my son is currently in kindergarten at this one school. I don't want to have them going to different schools. I think it's important for them to stay together. Also Kaia is already used to this school environment since we are there everyday for my son.
I'm pretty upset about it. I have a call in to the principal to ask them if I can get her in next year.... I would rather have her wait to start for a few monthes if it means keeping the kids together at the same school. What are your thoughts?? Any suggestions??
See if you can keep your home services in place and have her put on the list for next year. that sounds good to me as long as you are ok with that, I would want my two kids at the same school too.Here there is a Grandfather clause, If a sibling is already in one school younger child can go to same school. our district is always changing boundries though.
I am hoping that I do not have the same problem. My dd turns three in July. I have called the school to schedule an appt, but they tell my my EI coordinator should be doing this. I told them I like to be on top of things . My son goes to this school and I hope dd gets to go to this preschool instead of the other school district. although its not far away at all, I just think it would be eaiser for her since she too is familiar with the school.! What state are you in?
Thanks for all the tips.... We live in hawaii. Just wanted to clarify something. Kaia turns 3 in Feb. That is when EI will stop so we'd like to get her into preschool. Hopefully the same school as my son. But if I can't do that in Feb. I thought I'd ask if I can get her a spot in the next school year, which starts in July (year round schedule here). So that is really only 5 monthes or so. I already talked to her current skills trainer and I might be able to work something out with her agency for services durning that time. I called the principal and left a message on Friday to ask about this but he didn't call back. I'm going to call Monday if I don't hear from him by 10 am.
I really hope this works out. She is so familiar with this school already. Even the preschool teacher I thought she was going to have. The prescool teacher had even said things like...."Oh it will be fun to have a girl in the class. Right now it's all boys. "
I thought, in the meantime I would get as much info on this other school as possible. I need to do a drive by at least. I have never even seen it although it isnt very far from here.
Leaving the current services in place after 3 years of age isn't an option unless the school system agrees to provide and pay for it. EI doesn't care what the child gets after they turn 3. So what EI is providing will stop no matter what.
This is a tough call. I would think about what you would do for that year as far as getting therapies and interventions and socialization. I don't think it would be a good idea to keep her out if you don't know how long the wait is and there aren't any other options for interventions during that time. To me, as hard is it would probably be on you (they probably won't know the difference) it's better for her to be getting interventions even if it is somewhere different than your son.
One thing that you can make sure happens are the transition services from EI to preschool. When you go to the IEP meeting in a few weeks, have them write up a transition plan that outlines the activities to be done to ensure smooth transition. For example, maybe coming to the class for an hour or so a day before offically starting. Before that, even coming to the school and walking down the halls, show her the lunch room, do this several times. Walk her to her door. Tell her about her new classroom. Things like that usually help.
Of course, the decesion is based on what your gut instinct tells you to do. You know your children and you know what you want for them. Those are just some things I would think about before keeping her at home until the spot is open.
Oh yeah, and if you do send her to the other school, make sure she gets on the list and will be the first one either moved in that class when a spot is open or ensure her spot for her 2nd year of preschool.
I have three children and they all go to different schools inside the same district so they all have the same days off.AND they also go on three different buses to school.And first i was a little scared having them go to different school but it is fine.one school is close to the apartment the other two are farther away.MY little girl started preschool at 3 years old and she loved riding the bus she also had a alot of fun in school I was so glad that i could find a school for her special needs.Now that explain about the year round school and being able to start the next school year in July, that wait probably wouldn't be as bad. But 5 months is still a long time with no services. 5 months at another school if she can then get into the one your son is in wouldn't be that long, though. I hope you can work something out with the place she gets services with now and then let her start the school you want her to go to in July. That would be ideal.