Need advice (Where to put my son in fall) | Autism PDD

Difficult choice. Is your child going to go full time? If not then both could work.

But looking at my experiences, if the teacher is a decent fit, and preschool is part time, I would select the neighborhood school, and continue ABA on the off days, b/c your energy is a valuable resource!!! 

But, if you are planning to continue the ABA at the present location during the school year and have full time preschool- won't taking him there, plus taking him to the neighborhood preschool increase your workload?  If that is the case I would then go to preschool at the ABA location, b/c it would be less work for you.

Thank you everyone for your replies.  He would continue ABA at home and the preschool would be part time.  I'm leaning towards the neighborhood school.   I'm going to talk to the ABA staff to see their thoughts.   We drove to a school last winter that was 40 minutes away (different school than either one of these) and it was difficult but that was only twice a week.  I would love for him to go somewhere close.  But want to do what's best for him.  Such a difficult decision. 

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.  You've all helped me a lot!

 

I would go with choice 2 with a very good shadow aide/therapist. If you
have typical kids who will model good behavior that is a plus. You may even
be able to do play dates at home with the ABA therapist. Being close is nice
it they get sick etc.

We did a preschool with our therapist/shadow for 2 years part time and ABA after school as well as private speech.  I would go crazy personally if she was 45+ minutes away from me!

The teacher makes ALL the difference in the world as well as good communications with you on what your child needs..frequent meetings throughout year to make sure he is progressing and mastering skills.  Our school is 2 blocks away and I was still a worry wart!  They are many things the school can do to make it successful for him especially if the teacher is willing:) Best of luck...Follow your heart:) 

I'm going to push for my son to go to our neighborhood kindergarten next
year. I think it's important that he have a sense of community here. I'd love
for him to become at least familiar with other kids and families who live near
us. I want to walk him to school . That said, he is in a collaborative
program right now, starting pre-K in the fall. I think it has been wonderful
for him, but I might not think that if he had to spend 1.5 or more hours
traveling. (ours, unbelievably, is 6 blocks from our home) It seems like a
long day for such a young kiddo.

If his main issues are language and social---go to the neighborhood school. He will have an IEP there and you can decide what to put on it---SLP, social skills class, etc.

It will also be familiar to him the next year. He will probably have some of the same kids in his K class the next year also.

Don't forget that what's good for you is also good for your son.  Spending 45 minutes in traffic each way is THREE HOURS a day, presuming you have to do two round trips.  That's a lot of time that could be spent otherwise -- such as interacting with your children, de-stressing, getting chores and errands done, etc.  A stressed out mom with too much to do and not enough time is not ideal for any child, let alone child with autism.  And your son spending an hour and a half in the car everyday is not the most stimulating -- or safe -- environment for him.

Like you said, the neighborhood school also has the plus making an easier transition to kindergarten, and it might even be possible for his pre-K aide to continue as his aide in Kindergarten.

If you get a good vibe from teachers and leadership at your neighborhood school, I'd go with that.

Good luck, no matter what you choose.

i think the neighborhood school sounds great, w/ a shadow.  for the farther school, you mention that there would be multiple students with ASD.  would they be sharing support?? because that never works out well...in my experience anyway

My son is 5.  We are not starting him in Kindergarten until he's 6.  He just started some type of ABA/RDI treatment.  He started this summer.  We have two choices on where to send him in the fall. 

Choice 1 - They have an inclusion preschool program at his ABA program.  22 typical kids and 3 ASD kids (ages 2 1/2 to 5). 

The plus would be that it's at the site with all the therapists.  They would take him to the typical Kindergarten which is on site to have him get used to the Kindergarten atmosphere.  The minus is it's 45 minutes away from our house in traffic.  And I"m sure traffic will just get worse during the winter.  Also my daughter (3) is ASD as well and is starting to receive services and I feel like it's lost time having her travel with us (which she will have to). 

Choice 2 - A prekindergarten class at our neighborhood school which he will attend in the fall for Kindergarten.   He will have an aide with him to help him work on his issues.  The plus of this school is it's two minutes from our home.  It's at our neighborhood school so he'll be used to going to the school when he's supposed to start next year for Kindergarten.  Kids in the class may go to his Kindergarten in 08.  

My son's main issues at this point are social and language, which I guess go hand in hand.  He wants to be social but just doesn't know how. 

 

So do I go with the inclusion class that would probably prepare him more or go for the pre-K class that will help him in other ways and help our family not having to travel so far?

Thanks for any insight! 

i like the idea personally of the school down the street, i mean, if i was his age i would feel a ton better about just knowing im within walking distance of mom and dad house, plus u avoid the whole traffic thing plus he has an aid to help him with school work while being forced almost to interact with kids his own age in the school setting, jeeze... he sounds like he has it good at around that age i had to travel over a half hr to school and i received no aid, we had extra staff for our class, but the socailization thing, although difficult and took many, many years to get down, i did it without help, just being introduced to that environment my whole life, as much as theripy helps, just being their and being forced to interact could help to, i just wonder how much time and hardship theripy cuts away as opposed to a kid (who like i was in the past) had to learn it all on my own...

ramble..........

good luck...I can see the plusses and minuses of each place.
In my experience it is the teacher that makes the difference. Someone
who provides a structure but is flexible herself.( I had horrible
experiences with teachers who felt structure equaled rigidity.) A teacher
who is tuned into what is going on in class and can come up with out of
the box solutions for our out of the box kids. Do you know who his
teachers would be - what do you think about them?

Will he still be getting ABA at home if he goes to the neighborhood school?

Having an aide is definitely going to help your son in the neighborhoold school...maybe you can start him there and see how it goes...if it doesn't seem to be working as well as you want, maybe you can switch schools later down the road.

My son has a hour and a half bus ride there AND back, but it is worth it. The one with the most support is the one I'd go with.
Copyright Autism-PDD.net