Private therapy vs. school sys preschool | Autism PDD

Hi Everyone,

My 3 y/o son was diagnosed with Dev. Dysphasia and Sensory issues. Unfortunately that diagnosis put us in a huge grievance with insurance and currently he is in School System preschool evaluation.

The evaluation has taken 2 months. I joined an advocacy group and found that they are not in compliance with IDEA laws etc. Also my son's preschool teacher quit and left no recommendations regarding his assessment!!!

My husband wants to pull him out, have us work more hours and hire private therapy to pay since our insurance is currently denying claims.

If you pulled your child out of this sytem, please take a moment to let me know why and how it worked out for you. Or if you have had a similar experience, did you tough it out in the school system?

Thanks,

Sherri

I like a shadow aide in the typical preschool setting with outside private
therapy mix. If your child has some skills to be able to attend at school,
a trained therapist as a shadow is a great idea. My child has been taught at
an early age to learn by imitation, if your child is the same then she would
benefit from peers who model appropriate speech and behaviors.

Oh gosh, I know what you mean. Some programs seem to care so much about their pre-set program running just the way they have set it up than acomodating the child.

Concernedpa.

The preschool placement that my SD always offered were not the best for my
son. We had ABA by a NPA before he was three and so we continued with it.
At three, their preschool would have been a total waste of time for my son.
Up until last year, we had been ultimately successful in getting the SD to pay
for his ABA. We were able to prove that ABA worked for him and had
assessments prior to ABA and after to show such gains. WE were lucky that
we heard the phrase "he is a different child" several times. If you can handle
it financially go hire a special education attorney in your area for a consult.
See how the rulings in your area are going. Then decide to litigate or and
pay for your therapies privately. BE picky about private therapy as well.

IMHO, if you can afford it, get your ds supplemental therapy. You can let him go to school for limited hours for the social skill and the opportunity to learn to function away from you. If the school system is providing subpar therapy, you should try to find a way to get good quality therapy while you iron out things with the SD. I was in the same shoes, it took too much out of us emotionally trying to appeal to our SD. We just opt out. Hopefully there will be better offering later down the line. We were not going to waste our ds' time while some people take the time to catch up to the present. Our child is our primary focus. We had to either move to another district or pay privately. For now our only option is to pay privately for quality. I hope things work out well for you and your ds.

Concernedpa.

Thanks for the responses!

Oddly enough he is also enrolled part-time in a NT preschool, private, and his teacher there has been going great strides to research his speech issues and help him. He loves it there! As far as the SD preschool, he still hasn't warmed up in 2 months.

Mainly I think because they don't allow the parents to walk their child into the classroom. We have to leave them at the front door while one or two teachers stand in the hall and direct them through the school halls - he's three. They claim it encourages independence but for him it seems to foster insecurity.

But that's a whole other episode ;)

sher211239395.4028240741

We visited the preschool~ppcd classroom for our dd with our BCBA and she wasnt impressed..we had been doing in home private ABA for about 6 months at the time and she was progressing slowly but still progressing...

I remember a little girl with pdd was in the classroom for 2 years and the teacher stated she hadnt progressed too much and was still very zoned out and no eye contact or engageing with others. I decided to keep doing the in home ABA with our dd and it was the best thing we could do for her..she needed 1:1 intervention for at least 30 hours a week and the school could no way do this for her.

We did this for 3 years before getting her in mainstreamed kindergarten last year with no problems whatsoever..by this time she was academically way ahead of peers and able to learn and transition like her peers..her social was behind so we had her in a ABA playgroup for 2 years and she is generalizing play/social skills in first grade and doing amazing..a completely different child!

If you can do this I feel it is best~IMHO... but just doing a few hours after school and perhaps on the weekend would help tremendously.

Best of luck to you:)