Feeling Blue

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2003
Feeling Blue
2
Tue, 08-02-2005 - 5:45pm

Earlier this week I posted trying to decide between reg. ed and spec. ed. I was leaning toward reg. ed. preschool 4x week and that option just FELL THROUGH. I feel so upset, angry, confused, etc.

The preschool that I think would be accomodating enough for DS was going to have one teacher do two classes (a Mon. Wed. class and a Tues. Thurs. class). I was going to send DS to both....he's have one teacher with various classmates each day. Now the preschool has had to put a different teacher in each class, and I am afraid it would be confusing for him to have two different teachers.

I can opt to have him go 3x or 4x to our spec. ed preschool, but it isn't great. If I do that, I will "have to" request that his speech take place at home as our home based therapist is outstanding...the core of our program....don't want to lose her. I just don't feel satisfied with this program. It is satisfactory but not excellent.

I could do 2x a week at spec. ed schol and 2x week regular, but the spec. ed staff feels that would not be best.....they said go one way or the other.

I guess the big issue is that there is not an option I feel completely satisfied with right now and I am a perfectionist and I want my son to have the optimal environment for his development. How maddening!
Chrissy

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2003
In reply to: ttcabg
Tue, 08-02-2005 - 9:57pm

(((Chrissy)))

~ Chelsea
Avatar for dublindee02
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: ttcabg
Wed, 08-03-2005 - 4:04pm

Hmmm, this is a difficult decision. My ds has been in reg preschool the whole time as his dx only came recently and we are getting ready for kindergarden now. We also live in a very mediocre district where you really have to have huge speech deficits to get services, (even my best friend's ds who's 2 years old is NOT speaking much at all yet only gets speech 1-2 times permonth. I am slowly working on her to get private speech as well). I didn't even go near childfind with my 2nd ds and his speech issues and went private all the way. Anyhoo, I have to say I feel that despite some very difficult times and adjustments (mainly due to under educated teachers) he has definitely benefitted more from the reg preschool over the spec-ed. His social deficits are still a big deal and our biggest issue there was his temper and frustration levels. Something that is attributed to his bipolar dx, not necessarily the asd. But he has had very positive experiences with NT kids as a result, and let's face it, if 1 in 6 kids are somewhere on an ld or asd spectrum, then 5 out of 6 aren't.

I used to teach private K-8 school and we had a lot of dx and undx asd spectrum kids, and even though socialising was a pianful experience for some of them, I think they still in the end benefitted from that environment. Actually it wasn't until 6-8th grade that the nastiness appeared in relation to this; for the most part the spectrum kids were protected and treated almost as someone to stick up for by the other kids-(however, in middle school children are a different beast).

How long will your ds be in the preschool; half day or full? If he's close to kindergarden age, (4 or 5) having two teachers may be a bonus as he will have specials for sure even in kindergarden, music, PE, etc. At the end of the day your instincts are the best, and trying something new is definitely hard, as we all worry about failure, but honestly, living in my district even if I had the option I would never have allowed my ds into the spec-ed preschool- way too crummy.

Sorry for the rambling, hope it helps,

Dee (Liam bp/pdd-nos/sid)