Hi,
I would say go and look at all the available placements with open mind with your child's strength's and weaknesses in mind. I do not live in your state. I felt I could help my Son better at home than what my local school system had to offer so I did intensive ABA at home. Now at 51/2 I have him in a private ABA setting, because I know this ABA has helped him a lot. He continues to do well. Further down the line, My decisions will be based on where my son is and what is being offered. Usually though the people who would be interacting with your child is the make or break in any program. Sometimes a bad system might have some wonderful people who go beyond the call of duty, where the system has set the expectation so low. You need to look for people with a can do, will do attitude who will motivate your child. Goodluck.
Concernedpa.
You need to learn how to properly advocate for your child by reading up on advocacy, especially at www.wrightslaw.com If he is doing well in his current placement, don't change anything. His IEP needs to be based on his progress. You also have to base it on Present Levels of Performance. So testing and observations will help you decide what to do next. If he's getting discrete trial, you'll have all kinds of data to make that decision with. Visit all possible placements for the future. The goal is to have him meet grade level/age level standards eventually. Only those who work with him, know the local options and know the child can determine that -- and that includes you. Working WITH the school should be your goal, not "fighting" as your first option.Hi- Im new to the boards and have a 3 yo son with a pdd-nos diagnosis. Hes currently in a preK program for special needs kids (25 hrs per week) with home ABA therapy (12 hrs per week) and am trying to decide what to do next year- private school for autistic kids where hell be immersed in therapy alll day, or keep him in the current program with an SEIT and continue home therapy (he does not currently have an SEIT with him). His major issues are joint attention, expressive language, initiating socially with peers and some minor sensory issues (gets hyper in situations with large groups of people). Hes pretty high functioning and am hopeful hell be in mainstream K. id love to hear stories from other moms on how you made the school decision and the pros/cons of that decision. I live in NJ and am fighting the school board for these services, but not sure if I should fight for the private school or keep him in his current setting so hell mainstream easier into the K classroom. thank youThanks for the replies! I have actually retained an attorney to help us through his and to get the most appropriate services for my son. Our developmental pediatrician reccomended one on one 40 hrs of ABA, 5 hrs of speech and 2 hours of OT per week. Currently his self contained preschool is offering no ABA (there are kids with several classifications in his class, no one on one and very little speech and OT). Ideally, my gut is telling me that I want my son around typical kids as much as possible, but he needs assistance to help him engage others. The two private schools I am looking at (which wed only be able to send my son to if we won our case) are self contained but have opportunities to for the students to be with typical kids throughout the day. The other option that I could fight for is to keep him in his current situation with his own ABA therapist at school to shadow him and then continue his home program after school.
My son is high-functioning but still has a ways to go before he could be considered as not showing any symptoms of the dx. We dream of getting him into mainstream kindergarten with no assistance. He is 3 now, and we have 2 years to accomplish this. Its so hard to know: Is the private school setting with 1:1 intensive therapy the better option or should I try to keep him in district so he'll assimilate better into their kindergarten?
If it's any consolation, I am struggling with the exact same issue. My son has progressed so wonderfully since this whole nightmare started (six months ago). Nonetheless, the district and some of his therapists are pushing unbelievably hard for a self contained class. The school I checked out practically made me feel like a child abused for even considering not going there. But, my gut and my son's current mainstream teacher along with his private (non-district) OT strongly feel we should keep him maintstream. It's a lot of pressure b/c you feel that every year, every month, indeed, every hour counts in this intervention. But, i'm going to trust my instincts that he cannot learn to function in mainstream if he's not there. Something like, you've got to be in it to win it, you know? ANd, i'm trying to remind myself that 15 years ago, this would have just been a kid who was a little geeky and shy... It's hard to connect to your gut, I know, but try to find it and follow it.