I just enrolled my 3 year old in a special ed head start. They say they have the tools and resources for him. My husband was in special ed because he was hyper active and now he is a doctor. He is afraid however, that if my son goes to special ed, he will always be labeled and may not recieve the best education available to him. My husband didn't and had to work really hard to catch up in college.
Quoting badgermom2012:
Honestly, IDK what kind of advice to give you. It really depends on your son and what's available in your school district. My school district is horrible so I homeschool.
My husband really wants me to homeschool, but my son loves his preschool and all his friends. Plus he is an only child so I would hate for him to be with me all day while his friends are in school
My goal is for my son to be mainstreamed by kindergarden and honestly, i see a future full of advance classess and AP and IB for him.
The advice I have is the same I give myself, which is just to stay on top of it, you know?
That aside, I always have to remind myself and the ladies on this board remind me, to encourage him to his best and praise all accomplishments and never to compare our kids -- whether they be NT or ASD.
my son is in special ed thats how he gets his therapies, i would give it a try, it doesn't mean hell always be in special ed
I think most parents are not aware of their rights or the laws when it comes to special education. It makes you feel more in control, at least it does to me.
There are some laws that are put in place in schools.
There is LRE (least restrictive environment) and this means they will include him in whatever activities that least restrict his involvement in the classroom(s).
There is FAPE, Free And Appropriate Education. This means it is supposed to be Free and also appropriate supports/services for them.
My son is actually mainstreamed and while my son will have autism for the rest of his life, he is doing incredibly well. He is in regular 1st grade this year.
As your child gets older you can monitor how he is doing and have him switched to regular ed. part time or full time if he can handle it. Make sure your school district is flexible from year to year or term to term. Special education is a lot different now a days than it used to be. See if your school district has the kids in the special ed. room regularly evaluated to increase their work level as needed. Every school district is different, so I would ask lots of questions. If you are not happy with how things are going be vocal and request changes with the help of an educational advocate if needed.
As far as homeschooling, I believe every child and family situation is different. We homeschooled preschool lessons for our son at ages 2-3. He had Mommy and Me activities within the community at that time as well. At age 4 he did three half days at preschool and the rest of his time at home.
In Kindergarten my son went to public school five half days a week. He was in a regular ed. class for both prek and Kindergarten, because he did not have his dx yet. In first grade he had his Asperger's dx. and was in regular ed. with a one on one support person half the day. In second grade he got his LD dx. and received more special ed. help, but continued to be mainstreamed with a helper part of the day. He really learned a lot that year. It was great! Each year we evaluate and place him where he seems to be doing best for each subject. He is also evaluated throughout the year as well and adjustments in his schedule are made.
I personally did not want to homeschool elementary school, because my child has so many social skills problems and I wanted him to learn how to get along with other kids and grownups. Our neighborhood had no kids and none of my friends had kids. In preschool we had community events for younger kids to attend, but they did not have these programs for elementary aged kids in my town. In elementary school, once my child had his dx., he had a wrap around helper (TSS) three hours a day just for him. She attended things like recess and lunch and some classes with him. She worked exclusively with my son teaching him how to play with the other kids, make conversations, handle conflict, push to try new things with other kids, regulate his emotions, self motivate, handle executive functioning skills, and so on. He had this intense social instruction with other kids every day. His TSS helped him at his level so he was pushed, but also given breaks when he became overwhelmed. (His TSS did not work for the school district. She was there specifically for his social skills training and paid for by the state medical assistance program.) He continued to have TSS from grades 1-4. In grade 5 he no longer needed TSS. Now he is in grade 6.
My child has had ups and downs in school due to his behavior and learning problems. No year has been easy, but I feel he has learned a tremendous amount both educationally and academically.
For us a public school mainstreamed education has worked well. I do wish my son had his dx in Kindergarten so he had been able to be in a special ed. room that year. Regular ed. Kindergarten was so hard for him and he still has bad memories from it, because he had no dx. and no extra help. (He had been to a counselor, but that counselor was not very good and we did not get help until we tried a new counselor half way through Kindergarten.)
While my son was at school, I was free to give extra attention to my younger child before she started school. Later, after she started school I was available to be a classroom volunteer for both my kids classrooms. I also am available during the day to meet with my son's therapists, advocate, teachers, behavioral service coordinator, attend evaluation meetings, attend Autism workshops, clean the house, prepare social skills lessons and activity ideas for my kids, and study about Autism. I also try to do some things unrelated to Autism during the day so I am refreshed for when my son gets off the school bus and needs all of my attention.
I know some people for whom homeschooling is a perfect fit.
Try to do what seems best for you and your child from year to year and remember every situation is different. I personally feel there is more than one great way to help our kids. It has a lot to do with trail and error and just seeing what works best for our specific child and family situation from year to year. I wish you the best of luck and hope you and your child have a great year!
Special ed before grade 1 is not going to put your child substantially behind, IMO. Although it does depend on the school system's approach. However, once you get into the elementary school grades, special ed classes do not move as fast as the mainstream classes. My son was mainstreamed in the middle of second grade, and even at that point, there was an awful lot of catching up to do--it took him a good six months to get up to speed, and that included me working with him one on one for about two hours every afternoon after school.
In the beginning of seventh grade, my son was placed in the special ed class and I went for one day. The math was learning to count money, which was a skill DS had learned in third grade. The reading exercises were done with texts at about a first or second grade level. I got him out of that class very quickly and back into mainstream classes, which were more suitable for him. The point of this is that in second grade, there was about a 6-9 month gap between the academics of the SPED class and the mainstream class, but by seventh grade, the gap has widened to 3-4 years. I don't see how any of the seventh graders are going to catch up, so they are kind of stuck.
It depends on how much of what's going on with your son is learning delays and how much is behavioral. A lot of SPED classes focus on behavior issues first, learning second, which is appropriate, but over time, it makes it close to impossible for a child to get out of the sped class and into the mainstream.
For now, maybe it's good to let them focus on behavior at school and you do some work with him at home on academics, see how he's doing in a year or two and then make a decision about what kind of class is going to do the best for him.
Sometimes I feel DD will never be able to be on her own :( (accidentally posted in another group as well)
- mom-mom10
on Aug. 28, 2012 at 3:37 PM