1/2 day vs. full day Kindergarten | Autism PDD
Early next month I will need to sign up my twins for Kindergarten. My daughter is NT, and my son is HFA. This year he's enrolled in both an S.E. pre-school 4 mornings per week, and a private (NT) pre-school 3 afternoons a week. During the times he isn't in school, he's either attending private ST, or engaged in ABA therapy. So, for all intents and purposes, he's receiving full day programming at the moment. My dd only attends the private pre-school.
His IEP team feels he should be enrolled in a regular Kindergarten class next year, with supports from the Learning Resource Center as needed (the S.E. teacher oversees the LCR and works directly with your child based on the IEP). Our SD offers both 1/2 day and full-day Kindergarten. Since the state only funds the 1/2 day program, parents who enroll their child full-day must pay an additional 0 per month. In addition, the second half of the day is really considered "glorified child-care" so if your child needs added support, etc (such as a 1:1 aide), they don't qualify for the program (the SD has a separate self-contained program for kids that fall into that category). There is really no difference in the curriculm for the 1/2 day versus full day programs. The kids simply have more time to work on projects, etc, one additional recess, and lunch.
So, I'm having to decide which route to take. On the one hand, my ds is currently receiving full-time programming, so I believe he can handle it. The biggest difference is that he gets to come home between schools, have a little down time (1/2 hour), then lunch. I think he can handle being at school all day, but am not 100% sure since we've never tried this before. The advantages to having him go all day include a slower pace, more social interaction and time to get to know the other kids, and more opportunities to be exposed to peer models. If he only goes 1/2 day I'm going to have to come up with activities to fill his and his sister's afternoon, as I simply can't have them sitting around the house bored out of their mind driving each other and me crazy). These activities could easily end up costing the same amount of money as the Kindergarten tuition when all is said and done.
Have any of you with kids on the spectrum enrolled your child in a full-day mainstream Kindergarten? What was your experience? Was your child able to handle it? If you only went with a 1/2 day program, what types of activities did you do the other part of the day to keep your child occupied?
Kindergarten round-up is in 2 weeks, so I'm going to need to make a decision soon.
I have twins in K this year. Both go half-day. My district didn't offer full day so I didn't have a choice, although for the next school year they will offer it as a pilot program that is tuition based (i.e. parents pay extra for full day).
Prior to K, my son C was in a full day early childhood program and I had the same concerns you did about K being less hours. Of course every kid is different, but for C the half-day program is more than enough school right now. In the early childhood program, which was regualar school day of 8:30 - 2:30, C was in smaller class (8 kids) with other special needs kids and a slower pace. Mainstream kindergarten is a whole different ballgame. The effort it takes my little guy to keep up is tremendous. He has an aide, and gets speech, OT, etc., but the faster pace of the K classroom and the greater expectations of performance requires him to work much harder than he had to do in pre-K. He really likes school and gets off the bus with a smile, but he is completely exhausted. As soon as he walks in the door he climbs on the couch and sits in front of the TV for 30 mintues to just relax.
K is in the morning and the kids are home by noon. On Monday afternoons the kids go to gymnastics for an hour. On Tuesdays C has private speech and OT. On Thursdays, the kids go to the library for free story hour. Wed and Fri are free days and they typically go to the pool on those days and/or arrange playdates with other kids in their classes, which are great for helping C with his social skills. From Sept - Dec the kids took "junior carpentry" through the park district, who provided a helper (high school kid) for C in the class. I still shudder at the thought of a room full of 5-6 year olds with hammers! The boys also do t-ball and soccer.
So far this is working for us, and it turns out my fears regarding the reduction in school hours turned out to be unfounded, but every kid is different. I would highly recommend going to observe both programs. Good luck, it isn't an easy decision.
If you can afford the extra tuition for your kids, I would say go that route. Here is why. If the school district thinks this is the most least restrictive setting vs. being in a self contained classroom, then your son more than likely needs more socially and academically than he would get in the self contained classroom. Before you make a decesion, I would observe both placements so that you can see what each enviornment is like. The self contained class might have much more low functioning kids in it and might defeat the purpose. I once had a classroom that was self contained and only a small number of those kids were verbal. Therefore, they only had a few to interact with and no typical peers at all.
I am a little like Andrew's Mom in not quite understanding how they can charge you for services offered in a public school, but I guess they can since they are doing it. Surely this is something that would be caught in state monitoring if it weren't the case. So I guess basically what you are saying is that what they offer school wise only happens the first part of the day. The second half of the day is not funded my the state or federal gov't and therefore the money has to come from somewhere. So parents pay to send there kids to that session. I have never heard of this kind of set up, but like I said, I guess it's legal.
Before you make your decesion, just be sure to know what you are getting him into either way. The only way to know this is through observing those settings and get a look at what kinds of activities and programs are put into place.
Also, I thought that you and I were in the same state but I might be wrong. Are your children in private school or public school. I was not aware that my state only required 1/2 day K. I know that in my state K is not mandatory, but usually when a child doesn't start school until 6, they end up going through the K program in the school because unless the K they did go to (like private church school) prepared them for 1st grade objectives in today's public school, they still need that year of K. But I had no idea only 1/2 day was mandatory. I have lived in this state all my life and been in many schools during both my degrees and in teaching and never heard of such. But the school couldn't away with something this large if it were wrong.
One more thing, if they aren't offering anything but 1/2 day, then they aren't offering something that is individualized. Half day K might work for a NT kiddo, but what about your son's specific needs. If you can prove it that what they offer during that half day is not appropriate for his needs, you could get something else. But what I am not sure of.
When you talk to your SE director, ask her about individualized programs. What do they do for kids with special needs who can't get those needs met in 1/2 a day but who are not low enough for the self contained classroom. Don't mention everything he is doing now or that you have to have him doing something for a full day. Go at it from the point of view of indivdualization and appropriate. The kicker is what is appropriate? I would think that if he is only at school for 3 to 3 1/2 hours a day and is receiving related services some of that time, when will he have time to meet all his objectives in other areas.
Keep us informed. This is interesting. But I am afraid you have your work cut out for you with this one.
I apologize, but I am confused. It is accepted as fact by most experts that young children with autism need aggressive early intervention and all day school programs. Unless your state law says otherwise, I would think that you could enroll your child with HFA in an all day kindergarten program and have specific afternoon IEP goals if this is where the problem lies. The IEP is the most important thing here. You should not have to pay additional money. Am I missing something?
My son is in the regional public school autism program here in Southeastern VA. He has 5 full days per week of pre-K. The ratio is two students to one teacher/aide. He is 5 and will continue in this program but move into the all day kindergarten in September.
Perhaps you should consult with a child advocate to see what all of your options are. Good luck!
The state only requires the SD to provide Kindergarten 1/2. The full dayprogram is really designed for NT kids and is optional for parents if they
wish to pay for the additional portion. They do have a full day program
(free) for kids with autism, but it's in a self-contained classroom, with kids
of various disabilities. They do not have a specific full-day autism program.
The rub here is the fact my son is one of those tweeneers......he's too high
functioning to be in the self-contained classroom, but probably needs to the
added school time in the mainstream classroom.
I'm going to call the Director of S.E. and discuss this further with her. In my
SD getting services for higher-functioning kids has always been a struggle.
They fail to recognize that these kids still possess core deficits that must be
treated in a similiar fashion to kids with more obvious issues.
My oldest did his 1st yr of K 1/2 day second yr of K full day I have to say that it was TOO much for him and he would completely fall apart when I got home.
Right now he goes to 2 full days of school with aid
2 days of homeschool and 1 1/2 day of school with aid along with private speech and OT and a 1/2 hr at the piublic school in the resource room.
He seems to handle this I don't see him at this time going to 5 days a week but this is just my son. I do think full day is best for most
shenom ... I would definitely look into the specifics as to what is required in your state. I know it varies. I had my son enrolled in the half day program where I live and I was shocked to see my son crying when I picked him up. They told me that he was fine until I came to get him. I wasn't sure what the problem was so I thought maybe he wasn't ready to come home yet. He seemed so stressed out and couldn't tell me why. I toiled over it because the town only offered the half day program and the rest would also have to come from my pocket. The gave my son OT and ST but other than that he only got what everyone else did. I ended up having to move to a different town to get him in a full day program. This too is a main stream education program. My story may not be as uplifting as many others but my son really did make progress from being with the same people for the full day and not as many transitions really helped him to not get over stimulated he could really get one solit routine down. I loved the progress of his kidnergarten year. Although there were other reasons that I had moved my son to a different town I will say the benifits that I have seen from the solid day has really helped. I wish you the best of luck on your decision and don't forget that the school is still responsible to pay for the full day program if you can show them that he will benifit from it. You are not entitled to pay for the education that your child is entitled to... FAPE... and if a full day is apropriate and they want your child in the mainstream I can't see what the problem would be. Sorry to add in like that but just that some people don't realize that fact.
attending is exactly as your described. Most of the kids are pretty
disabled, with limited vocabulary. My son is quite high functioning. In
fact, at the community-based preschool he attends (all NT kids), he's
doing so well he really doesn't even needs his therapists there with him
any longer. He recently tested in the low-range of average for his age for
language, and has no behavioral issues at school. He is complaint,
follows directions, raises his hands during circle time to answer questions
(with appropriate responses), and for all intents and purposes blends in
extremely well. His greatest deficit by far continues to be social.
The school district offers two full day programs. One is designed for NT
kids, and requires parents to pay tuition for the additional 1/2 day. This
is because the state only funds the first 1/2 of the day. They offer the
second half as an accomodation for parents (many parents like this,
particularly if they work). The other full-day program for S.E. kids places
them predominately in the self-contained classroom with pull-outs
throughout the day for interaction with NT kids. My son is simply too
high-functioning to be placed in a self-contained program, and would
not get the social exposure he really needs at this point. By the way, it's
not mandated in my state that any child attend Kindergarten. However,
the state is required to offer it for at least 1/2 the day free to parents
(make sense).
krisys - I really appreciate your response because it's very representative
of my situation. If I opted for a 1/2 day program, I would do exactly what
you are doing with your boys in the afternoon.....enroll them in some
extra-curricular activities, schedule playdates, etc. So, it would give my
son (and dd), the opportunity to "just be kids" for a little while longer. At
this point I'm just trying to determine if having my son in a full day
program would provide the additional social and academic time he might
need, or if he would simply become so exhausted and tired that any
benefits would be negated because of this.
Full day programming is exhausting for a 5 year-old. But, I don't want to
deny him this if in fact it would really help address his social needs.
That's why I'm really interested in hearing from other parents who have
placed there ASD kids in a full-day fully mainstreamed Kindergarten. If I
determine this is the appropriate placement for him, then it's my belief
the SD needs to be providing it FREE of charge for my son as part of his
FAPE. "School policy" is negated by IDEA, and an individual education
plan, simply means that. But, before I push on this issue, I first need to
decide within myself if this is truly what my son needs. Would hate to go
to the wall with them on something like this, then decide 5 months down
the road, "whoops, I was wrong, my son can't handle full day so let's just
go with 1/2 day". Decisions, decisions. 
Afert reading this thread it is making really think what is best for my
son.. He is 3 1/2 and in a self contanied pre-school disabled program
at our public school.. He goes 2 1/2 hours 5 days a week.. i have been
fighting with the school since day one to get more services for him..
They do have a all day program and i have thought about asking them
this for september.. But the more i read the more i think.. My son has
been diagnosed with PDD but the school is not taking that they say he
does not show those signs when he is there.. So there is my fight.. He
gets speech and pt and i am fighting for ot i had a outside eval on him
and it really shows he is delayed so i am waiting to hear i also just
asked for a funcational behavior assesment on him and still waiting to
see what they say.. I really think he would benefit from a all day
program.. when he turns 4 in the summer and goes back in the fall he
will be in a afternnon class not morning and again only 21/2 hours each
day.. I feel he needs more.. How do i go about fighting this..
Anyadvice..
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