Malcolm school change
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| Fri, 12-09-2005 - 8:27am |
So we have made the decision to try moving Malcolm to more challenging school, still small classes and private for dwvelopmental delays but a mix of very high-functioning kids. His current school is all ASD kids, many of them more challenged in communication and academics, although all bright. We are still having very mixed emotions, but Malcolm has made so much progress socially and emotionally that everyone agrees it is time for him to have more challenge. We are particularly interested in the new school (also old : he went there for K and 1) because they are a much more rigorous school academically and Malcolm is really gifted in academics, so he has been really drumming his heels in academics at ASD school.
We also have the down-the-road challenge of finding him appropriate middle and high school placements, and this challenging school does open more doors as to who will accept him. Sad thing is ASD school kids have a very rough time finding middle school placement currently, because of intolerable lack of programming available... World must change.
If I could really have my wish, these 2 schools would be melded!!! We will continue to work with ASD school psychologist who is an RDI consultant, and he will still hang out with his pals from ASD school on weekends, which he always did before anyways. He does have a few friends at this new school as well, and he is very close with the teachers and therapists from before.
BOE has new process for changing schools (even more silly and complicated) so we don't yet know how long until change, could be fast or really slow, but we have gotten in touch with all the powers that be and they are all on board to try to help facilatate this change. Sure helps to be in a school district a long time so you know who to call immediately so as not to waste time!!!
In the meantime, we have tons of snow today so this weekend we are going skiing in PA! Woo-hoo!
Sara
ilovemalcolm

Sara,
Sounds like it will be good for Malcolm to change schools. I wish we had options where I live. But Nathan seems to be doing alright in public school so far. We don't live in a real big city, so things are a bit different from where you live. I know that our local autism society is trying to start a school of their own. But things are moving very slowly. And I don't even know what they will have to offer, once they get the school up and running. Otherwise, we just have public or private schools. And the private schools cost alot of money, and no services are offered there for special needs kids.
I did watch the Today show this morning...and I did think of you! I saw all of that snow coming down. Hope you have fun skiing! We haven't got anymore snow yet, but it's been real cold. In the teens and low 20's!!! bbrrrrrrrr!!!
michelle
wow! that sounds great for Malcolm! hope it goes smoothly and you have adequate time to get him ready for the move. good luck!
betsy
Hi Michelle,
Well, as I have mentioned here, ASD kids are not properly accomodated in NYC public schools, the entire special ed. system seems unable to really function in public schools unless you have a real lucky kid who can just deal with minimal support, and we have just been extremely lucky to be able to keep him out of there. We do wish that appropriate inclusion would be possible here. The class sizes alone here are too much for Malcolm's sensory issues, 21 kids if lucky, more like 25 - 29 in inclusion rooms...
We might have a pretty good argument for placing Malcolm in a small private mainstream school, keeping services and fighting the Board of Ed. to COVER the private school as well. I have heard of a few have have managed it, and Malcolm might really be a candidate for winning such a case; should his father and I have the financial, emotional and spiritual wherewithal to go through such a battle. In our minds, we are actually building his skills towards the possibility of inclusion in the future, should we be able to find a place that would be appropriate! But I am clear that part of Malcolm's situation is he is doing so well that it makes it hard for him to be included, even his special ed teachers often *forget* in the face of such a bright, expressive, funny kid, that he's not a neurotypical boy...
I do know that even when a child is attending a private school, the Board of Ed should be required to provide services, FYI. I am glad to hear of Nathan doing well in first grade, always makes me wish we could move where there would be good inclusion, but we do love our City and our businesses are here, well, this is home...
Thanks for answering me back, and stay toasty,
Sara
ilovemalcolm
Sara,
Good luck ith the BOE process and the transition. I know this was a very tough decision for you, and I applaud you for taking it. Does it feel better now that the decision is *made* or have you goign into worrying-about-the transition overdrive?
Have fun skiing. I as afriad for awhile yesterday morning that I might get stuck in the city. A colleague of mine asked "how far away do you live?" "About fifty miles". "Yep. Too far to ski..." LOL.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Sara,
That sounds really great for Malcolm. I know you were thinking about this switch a while back but I bet it feels good to make a decisions. When will you know when the change can take place? Do you have an IEP meeting set up already?
I understand the middle school problem, lol. We are already thinking about which program Mike will go to in middle school. At his IEP last week the speech path. said "This may be a bit early, but are there any thoughts on middle school", the teacher giggled and answered "No it isn't early, we have been talking about it most of the year already!"
It is a scary decision because there is no appropriate placement in district for Mike either which likely means private SN school but we don't have a lot of choices. There are basically 2 or 3 and only 1 is close enough for him to manage the commute.
Best of luck!
Renee
Dear Renee, Paula, Betsy,
AUGH computer nuked long, thoughtful reply I had written. Anyways, gist of it was, yup, I'm really happy to have made the decision. Process of decision was long and complicated, but both these schools are fabulous and the care put into making the decision by both schools is leaving us confident in rightness of decision and with great admiration for the amazing professionalism, expertise and dedication of the leadership and staff of both schools. We will happily move him, weeping to leave!
BOE and NYS have come up with new procedures that could be a nightmare, but everyone including BOE officials seem to be leaping into action to make switch happen smoothly and easily (possibly quickly bypassing these procedures, shhhh). We will NOT have IEP meeting, but a review, in Jan. not yet set but will be soon. Actually this could even be arranged before Holidays, we'll see.
Middle school, gasp. We will start investigating more about options as the ink dries on transition papers, 2 and half years is not long off. There ARE schools, some in CT, NJ, many of which would not be funded and would require suing BOE for partial reimbursement, I am NOT ready to start thinking about THAT yet! I am actually hoping we have a month after Holidays to help Malcolm make the switch, but he really seems OK with making the change so probably however this goes will be groovy.
Lucky you people, getting shorter version of my previous long-windedness LOL.
Sara