First Day Of PPCD - Not A School Question Hi there, PPCD?  I'm sorry I don't know what that is.  But if your child is beginning a preschool/daycare situation the best advise I can give you is to be alert about how your child is feeling about things in general.  A bad placement does affect children, and you see it in their behavior.  I recommend touring the facility and observing you child without being seen.  I also recommend if you don't think something is right, go with your gut. I took several facilities before I found the right one for my son and then he thrived.  One place my child actually bit 5 children-they never called me but boy were they angry with me when I came to pick up-but WTH, after  biting the first child why weren't they watching him?  So a few times I would come to pick up at a different time, observe what was going on with all the kids and I saw all kinds of stuff that was pretty bad-I complained and pulled him from there. PPCD= Preschool Program for Children with Disabilites. Make sure the teacher has a daily communication system in place. Many teachers use communication notebooks, where the parent and teacher or therapists can write notes to each other about the day, ask questions, and exchange information. Some teachers use preprinted daily sheets where they circle the activities the child did that day, indicate the child's mood, and note any problems. Other teachers communicate by e-mail. And some use a combination of methods. Staying in frequent communication with the teacher, aide, and therapists is vital to understanding what is happening in school on a day to day basis. Also, what is the adult:child ratio in the classroom? My son's class has 12 students (8 special needs, 4 typical) with a teacher and two aides. There is also a therapist in the room almost every day. This means there are a lot of adults to keep an eye on things. My son has been going to our school district's special needs preschool for 2 years and still has a hard time transitioning during drop-off. This comes and goes in phases. For weeks he will do fine at drop-off, then he will start having melt-downs during this times. But once he gets into the classroom and the daily routine starts, he does fine and enjoys the school day.   OurFamilyIsHis-- I would suggest trying daily communication with his new PPCD teacher. Request that a note be filled out each day to let you know how he did, what happened, etc. Every classroom I've ever worked in, I've done this for ALL of my students regardless of whether it's in their IEP or not. I fill out a daily sheet (that I created) that just gives the parents a run down of their child's day. I expect that if I am providing care to their child for eight hours of the day, I can let them know how it went. I make notes on how they did with their IEP goals, bathroom information (diapers needed, pull ups needed, send extra clothes, had an accident, etc.), behavior notes (positive and negative), things that need to be sent in or returned to school, etc. It's just a quick form that I check some boxes on (ate a lot, ate a little, had an accident, visited the nurse, etc.) and then provide some anecdotal notes. I think this type of thing would be helpful for you, especially as your son begins PPCD. Also, most classrooms have observation hours, where you can come observe your child. I would recommend observing your child to see how the environment fits him. This will be helpful with the transition as well, because you'll be able to see some of the things in his environment, techniques they use, things he's able to do, etc. and be consistent with them (if you agree with them) in your home as well. Good luck to you! PM me if you're interested in seeing a copy of the daily communication sheets I've done for kiddos in my classes. This isn't really a school question, but pertains to his going to school. He starts PPCD today. My son is 3 years old and has receptive and expressive language delays. This means he can't tell me things like a normal needs child can. My concern is, well, if something should happen to him, he can't tell me. What types of safeguards do you put into place for your child in this type of situation? Another hard part is, he has a pattern of being fine with leaving me for a while, then one day, weeks into something, he's hysterical and doesn't want to go and so on. The meltdowns happen and life is horrible. I have never given in, we always use our transition techniques, we keep him focused and heading towards wherever it is we are going. But I started thinking, how do I decide when it's his normal ASD stuff and if it's something bigger, like someone's being mean to him, doing something to him or so on and this is his only way of telling me?
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