Hi everyone. Adam is starting in a Teacch classroom tomorrow. I was wondering how many of you have had your children in a classroom like this. Also do you like the method? Do you not like the method? I would like to hear all the experiences that you have had with this. Thanks and wish us luck!!
Karrie
Hi Karrie I personally don't know to much about the Teaach method but I do know that they use it for kids on the spectrum, my aunt is an aide in a class room that uses this method but the kids she works with are older kids. Most of them are considered low functioning non verbal. I could ask her more about it, I do know that the little girl she is an aide to has severe agression and uses picture communication. I don't know how much progress they have made with her the last time I had talked to my aunt she hadn't made much but she is just her aide not her teacher. Sorry I don't know much more about it.
Nita
Nita,
You just made me realize something. I just ASSUMED that the children in his class would be 3 and 4 years old. OMG. I'm not sure how I would feel with him being in a class with much older children mainly because of behavior issues. An older child could hurt my son a lot easier than a child of his own age. I was already geared up to have to deal with bites, hits, etc...because i think things like that happen when you put children together but I wasn't thinking of the possiblilitiy of those children out weighing him and towering over him. Also...the whole point of preschool other than educational of course for me would be socializing with children of his own age group. I will just have to see what happens tomorrow. I hate that I didn't even ask at his IEP. Why didnt' I think of this???
Karrie
Karrie I am so not trying to scare the h*ll out of you but the class room that my aunt works in is here in my school district and it was one of the options for Nick but as soon as I heard that they had mixed ages I said absolutely not!!!! I would rather send him an hour away to get the ABA with kids his age level. Now I don't know how they do it in your school district because I am in NY but I would deffinetley see what age groups are in his class. We are a small school disrict so I think what they do is take the kids who are non verbal who still have toileting issues and who have severe agression and put them in one class room with alot of aides to help out....this is what I gathered from my aunt, because she has commented on Nick and how much he is progressing she says it is a good thing I said no to the class room she works in. Like I said I am not trying to scare you at all we are in different states so things here could be way different than they are where you are. Let me know what you find out.
Nita
I am SO glad things were off to a good start this morning! Please do keep us updated!
Well...we dropped him off this morning and it really was quite pleasant. The oldest child in the class is 6 years old so that's not bad. We came in the room and he was so excited! He was there once before for the IEP meeting (it was held in his class) so he was familiar with it. He ran right for the kids first and said "HI...I'm Adam". THen he ran and went to play with toys he seen on the shelf. The teacher then told us that after a couple of weeks of him getting used to this class they will have to do something for his social other than this particular classroom. SHe mentioned him going to the special ed pre-K room for half a day so that he can be around more social children and then doing the rest of the day in her class. She said that this will be necessary due to the fact that all the children in the class are pretty much non-verbal except one and this one particular child's language is not as well developed as Adams. There were a lot of aids in there with the teacher. I told him goodbye and i would be back later to get him. He cried but not like meltdown cry so that is good. I'm sitting here and I really don't know what to do with myself..LOL Big Adam and I decided that we are going about 15 mins early when we pick him up and we are going to peek in the window at him to see how he is doing..LOL Anyway...I will update when I get him back home.
Karrie
Karrie, know that I'll be thinking of you and Adam today. I'm sure he'll have a great day and he sounds as if he was off to a great start. you and the hubby should take the time alone to work on your..... JUMPING JACKS !!!!! please let us know how everything went.
Nita
Ok...we are back!!
Over all he did great!!! Considering this was his first day!! I anticipate tommorrow morning being bad though when he realizes that this will be every day..LOL Anyway we went and picked him up. His teacher and all his aids kept going on about how smart he is and how well he talks..etc. Made me feel good. His teacher said that after I left he cried though for about an hour and then started saying...I miss mommy...I miss home...I miss daddy. etc. After that though she said he did fine and tried to interact with the kids and did good coloring etc. They start the visual schedule tomorrow so she is hoping that it will help with him understanding time and when it's time to go etc so that maybe he won't be so upset. When he seen daddy he went nuts crying and then he seen me and pushed daddy out of the way and really started bawling and made me pick him up. He ran right to his backpack and said, "get my backpack...going home"..LOL He fell asleep on the way home and is still sleeping so i imagine that it will be a long night over here with such a late nap. I'm sure that it is going to take some time for him to get used to this but I do feel so much better now knowing what to expect etc. I really missed him today and it's good to have him home...even if he is sleeping.LOL Thanks for all the support you guys!!!
Karrie
Hey Karrie Glad to hear overall it went well! Awesome job!!! maybe if he has a hard time leaving to go to school you can use The teachers miss you the friends in the classroom miss you etc. Especially if you can get some names of kids in the class he seems to want to play with or names of favorite toys. LOL Good Luck!