My own older sons loved their preschool experiences, so at first, I was pretty gung-ho about sending him. Some of y'all's comments have me wondering if I'm not being a wee bit overprotective of him!
In any event, he wouldn't be able to start preschool until August, so I will wait and see how he's doing once we get therapy going. If all goes well, I may well suck it up and send him, if he seems to be doing okay. *sigh* It's so hard to know what the right thing to do is, and I get the feeling that making the wrong decision in his case would have much worse consequences for him than for my NT boys.
Arrrghh! The pressure! LOL
Both boys started preschool at age 3.
My NT son went to a park district preschool 4x/week from 8:30 - 11:45.
My ASD son went to a special needs preschool from 8:30 - 2:30 (at age 3 he was in an autism class, at age 4 a cross-categorical class)
Both kids LOVED preschool. I'm so glad we started when we did. To me there was no question of readiness to go to preschool. I thought of preschool as somewhere they went to get ready for regular school.
I really wasn't overly concerned with academic readiness. I think the big thing preschool teaches the kids is the whole set of drills around school in general: how to separate from parents, sit in a circle, stand in a line, take turns, follow directions, transition between activities, interact with peers, and have a sense of indepependence. I think the fact that my ASD son had 2 solid years of preschool prior to entering kindergarten contributed greatly to his success this year.
Evie, I would get your home therapies in line first than add the preschool.
For those of you whose ASD kiddos have started pre-school, I have a question...what was it that made you feel as though your dc was "ready" for the experience? Did they have certain skills in place, or did you feel they would learn the skills they needed better in a pre-school environment, vice home therapy?
I am starting Jason on therapy here at home, and the SD has told me I can send him to pre-school whenever I feel he's ready. Well, goodness gracious, I really couldn't even begin to guess! Unless he really starts making some big strides quickly, I don't forsee him attending preschool until next fall, probably.
I mean, is it just a matter of pre-academic readiness? The ability to follow directions more often than not? Potty-training? I don't want to throw him into preschool without him being ready, but I don't want to hold him back because I have unrealistic expectations of what "ready" really means.
Any insights anyone is willing to share would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
If it's special ed preschool, then they can handle it. My daughters started at 3.0, and they were *not ready* by any means. Neither were reliably potty trained, Abigail had major meltdowns during transitions and could become so agitated that she would just scream incredibly loudly for 20-30 minutes, neither could follow instructions or answer questions. I felt ok sending them to the special ed preschool, because they teacher's were trained to deal with young kids like this, and Abigail had a 1:1 aid. If this is a spec. ed. placement - send him asap. we've onl;y ever done special-ed preschool, and I think it does help. I was hard to send them because really didn't think they were ready, but I think I was more worried about the teachers ;)Did the girls have any kind of therapy at home before going to school, fred? One of the reasons I decided not to send him right away was because he hasn't gotten any official interventions yet, and I am hoping that will make the transition to pre-k (yes, sped pre-k) a little easier for him. He's been at home with me since birth, and I can count on one hand the number of times he's been babysat.
I'm wondering if starting therapy at home first, to get him used to the routine would be helpful, since his teacher will be the same when/if he goes. Or, maybe I'm talking out my you-know-what, as usual! LOL
Your school district will evaluate your child and hopefully place him in anI sent my son to preschool the day after he turned three. I tried to prepare him as best I could....he met all his teachers beforehand, visited the school and playground and we had social stories at home about his school and school bus. It was the right decision for him. It took 3 months for him to get comfortable there, but I look at it like he got the headstart he needed. His NT sister will be starting preschool this fall and I'm sure it'll take her some time (NOT 3 months though) to adjust as well. Preschool has been a positive social experience so far and that is where he is needing serious help that I alone cannot provide.
[QUOTE=Linda11567]Well if I had had that choice I would have kept them home until the age of 4. My boys too had never been away from me, but when they hit 3 EI suddenly stopped and the school said send them to school or daycare. Or that's it they will not get services. So I believed them and sent them to school. It wasn't the ideal situation, and now they hate school. They went all day 5 days a week. Another mistake. It was way too much for kids who had never been away from home. If I had it to do over I would have done it very differently.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, everyone!
Linda, I was wondering about that myself, only the opposite. The pre-k here is only 2 1/2 hours per day, and I was wondering how in the world that would encompass all the therapy time he needs. All day every day would probably be too much, though, I agree, at least in my son's case. I'm sorry your boys had such a terrible experience. I read on another thread how hard it is for them to even drive by their old school!
*sigh*
At least this way, I have some flexibility when/if I am able to add additional therapy, too. I won't have to work around a daily school schedule. Right now, I'm looking to see what Medicaid will cover in terms of additional therapy. So far, all I've gotten is referrals to psychiatrists and the like. I'm probably going to have to pay out of pocket for additional speech therapy, and physical therapy too, since the SD thinks his motor skills are a plus. (When he can't kick a ball or jump?!)
This is really daunting! I guess it doesn't matter, then, where he is right now, but so far, the SD isn't disinclined to provide services at home rather than a school setting, so it's all rolling my way...for now.
ETA: for clarity: Jason hasn't started any therapy yet, but it should start sometime this week or next (waiting to hear today), so until I get it sorted out what therapy I can get/provide through Medicaid, all the therapy he will get is through the school district. I'm very apprehensive about the costs, but I guess we will find the money from somewhere...
[QUOTE=MamaKat]Your school district will evaluate your child and hopefully place him in an
appropriate school setting for your child, not the other way around.
Children do not have to be potty trained in special ed classes. There will be
an appropriate amount of support and supervision to help him grow. He will
most likey receive free therapies (OT, ST, PT....) This will all be decided at
your IEP (individualized educational plan)
Call your school district and ask to get him evaluated, this will get you on
the right path. Good Luck![/QUOTE]
Well, we already had the IEP last week, and I decided to keep him home for the time being, to get him used to the "work" of therapy (and hopefully make some inroads on potty training) before starting school. It's really up to me as to when, unless the SD has objections, but that is what I was told at the IEP meeting. I should have the draft sometime this week. I'm trying to figure out how to gauge his "readiness" for the classroom, so I have a goal to work towards.
[QUOTE=Evie]Did the girls have any kind of therapy at home before going to school, fred? One of the reasons I decided not to send him right away was because he hasn't gotten any official interventions yet, and I am hoping that will make the transition to pre-k (yes, sped pre-k) a little easier for him. He's been at home with me since birth, and I can count on one hand the number of times he's been babysat.
I'm wondering if starting therapy at home first, to get him used to the routine would be helpful, since his teacher will be the same when/if he goes. Or, maybe I'm talking out my you-know-what, as usual! LOL
[/QUOTE]
The girls had had no therapy when the started special ed preschool - we got a late start with recognizing that there was something seriously amiss, and didn't do EI.
I think the most helpful thing about special-ed preschool is it forces the kids to deal with transitions, other kids, other people telling them what to do - forces interaction, etc. A lot of progress with their ability to transition and their flexibility came from preschool, I think. Plus, they'll get therapy *there*, and in the classroom environment. Unless you've got a major ABA program going or something, I'd send him to school. I really think it helps getting our kids out of their rigid routine and helps them relinquish some control of the environment (though I don't know if your son is a big control kid, like mine are).
The school he will attend will consist of children on the spectrum between the ages of 3-6. It used to have children with other challenges, however due to the large number of DX's in our area recently, it will now consist soley of children on the spectrum. Liam will be brushed and given a deep pressure massage upon arrival. Circle time begins after that (based on floortime, I bleive). He will then have one hour of speech and one of occupational therapy.
We will be touring the school next weekend. Perhaps a tour of the school will be helpful for you.
I am terrified of sending him out into the world...yet terrified of not, ya know? Written rules should really provided for us, or a crystal ball. Hell, at this point, I might settle for a mood ring.
A mood ring! LOL That'd be great, wouldn't it?
Jason is not even CLOSE to being potty trained. No awareness of bodily functions that way, and he's mostly silent, so no speech, and he takes off dry diapers, and will sit in nasty ones. He's got three brothers, so I know he gets plenty of interaction that way, whether he likes it or not.
That said, I didn't discuss the specifics of the preschool with them, though I do know that it isn't comprised solely of ASD kids. I'm almost 110% certain his prek would be a far cry from the one your Liam is going to have...I'm green with envy, lol!
We checked out the public preschool program for Sarah and after one child with pdd was in it for 2 years and the teacher told me she made little progress...that was all I needed to know. We did in home ABA therapy full time and speech 2 hours a week for over 3 years. When she was ready for a kinderkids class at 4 years old we had 3 teachers with 8 nt kids and our ABA therapist to shadow her..by this time she was potty trained by prompting and she still got pretty much 1:1 instruction~she was in this class for 2 years...class was in the morn. 3x a week..ABA full time afterwards everyday...and kept the speech tx. up too privately because the school offered only 30 min. a week...Sarah had single words but that was it...the school services were an insult. 1:1 intensive therapy is best IMHO at least till they can speak fairly well and tolerate the atmosphere of school. Best of luck:)