special needs preschool

[Jemi]

hi, my son has been attending a special needs preschool through our public school. He attends one day a week for one hour he's went 5 times, with my ABA aid. He is not doing well with this, Kane is very high functioning and I think he is more confused and scared by the behaviors going on in the classroom, I am switching to a "typical" preschool in march, I feel like he might be regressing to the behaviors of the special needs preschool, if things go well in the "typical" preschool i am pulling him out of the special needs one. What does anyone else think. Has anyone else experienced this. My other concern is the school system has no idea how to deal with autistic children, me and my ABA girl are telling them how to deal with kane. Can anyone give me some pointers or thoughts. Thanks Jemi

[Lisa S]

Hi Jemi,
I saw your home page. Kane is adorable! He has come so far since he was a baby.

I'm sorry, I know that this is not what you want to hear and I could be wrong, but my guess is that the typical preschool will be an even worse fit for Kane than the special needs preschool. Special needs preschools usually have more adults per child. These adults have more training and experience in special needs children. It is not that surprising that they are looking for guidance on how to meet Kane's unique needs. Kane has autism, but that does not mean that he is just like every other child who has autism. They may be expert teachers, but you are the expert about Kane and the ABA you have been doing that has helped him so much. This is an opportunity to educate them about Kane, autism and ABA.

My daughter, Catherine has a significant medical history like Kane does. She attended a special needs preschool for two years. They helped her a lot. Her school was two hours per day, and either two or four days per week. Because she needed so much speech and occupational therapy, she went four days per week. One hour per week doesn't sound like very much. Is he getting any therapy from the school district? Did you have him evaluated by Child Find?
Lisa

[Jemi]

Hi lisa, I know exactly what you are saying. Yes, Kane gets speech, OT, early childhood intervention that comes to the house from the school once a month, they are not real good about doing the one day a month. We also hired our own private speech therapist that comes 2 times a month she is doing remarkable things.
Yes, child find has evalutated that is where the school system comes in, it has been a nightmare trying to just get the services we have now. They were coming in 3 years ago during foster care and then when Kane started walking and doing so well, they were like Jemi look how good he's doing, you should be happy with that. No way, they stopped coming for about a year and then after the adoption we had more rights. We don't like the word no and do not settle for less. They think I am a pain. haha

The special needs preschool has only 2 staff to 8 kids and my ABA girl goes only with Kane one on one.
The "typical" one has 4 staff to 10 and My ABA girl with Kane, we don't start till March 10th so I can let you Know how things go.
Today he went to the special needs preschool and cried and had a tantrum before we even left the house because I picked up his book bag and we had went through it all morning that he was going to school, schedule board, pec's pic's the works he was fine until that book bag.
Noise sends Kane crazy and there is alot of screaming at the school that causes him trouble to. Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know how it goes in March. Jemi

[Pamela]

Hello. I am a mother of a little girl named Carly who is autistic. She attended a "regular" preschool as that was the only option here. But I would also like to add that this would have been the only option for us. She is now in grade 2 and is with her peers all day doing the same work. She has an aide except for gym and music she goes on her own. I would worry that she would pick up other odd behaviour in a special program where there are other children with their own special needs. But I also want to add that she picked up a few odd things from watching "normal" kids too! Good luck, Carly is also high functioning.

[Lisa S]

Hi Pamela,
Welcome! It sounds like Carly is doing well in school. It is great she can be mainstreamed so much and do so well. Catherine is eight and is in the third grade. She does grade-level work, but it is modified. She hates writing and she is not very good at it yet, so someone scribes for her most of the time. Math is her best subject. She spends most of her time in a special education classroom, where she has a full-time paraprofessional. She is having more children come into the room where she works and she is doing fairly well dealing with the change. She and one of her paras go to specials together with her typical classmates.

[Jemi]

Hi, we started the "typical" preschool March 10th Kane did wonderful, the attention is the most difficult. But he did well for the first week. We also started stratterra, and the hyperactivity is 50 % less i really do think that this and the vitmains have helped him greatly. I am not a "med" person and was holding off, but... you get deperate and it is working. He seemed to attach to the long blonde haired girls which is what moms hair is haha. We will see what this week brings. Jemi

[Jemi]

O :-)
Hi again, Kane has been going to a typical preschool twice a day since March 10th. We have went 11 times. I stayed with him for 2 sessions 12:30 to 3:30 I then started to fade out 25 minutes the first time. After only the 7 visit I actually came home and did not stay in town it is 11 miles from us. My husband is now picking Kane up and I am dropping him off. He is doing great, but... it is the school and the teachers!!! He is talking more his speech has improved drastically, and he has had no aggression.
May 1, they had their first preschool program. He did ok.
He walked in with the group did 3 of the songs and then... spotted mom. he was figety but he did make it. He came to me and then did not return my goal was one song so we did well. There were over 100 people and he was totally freaked out with all the new faces but he managed.
We video taped it to see the difference in June, they will have another one.

He also is still attending the special needs preschool one day a week.
It is through our local public school system. and it is a joke, we are not returning next year.
My ABA aid attends with him, and the teachers told her he can not just hang out with the peer mods kids, she needs to help him interact with the special needs kids, because he is one. WHAT?????????? Needless to say it did not go over well with her or me. They also told her when Kane tells her goodbye or to go away so he can be independent. is not appropriate, because when he does need her help she is in the corner on the other side of the room and it is distraction to the other students when he goes to her for help. I DON'T THINK SO. INDEPENDENCE IS OUR GOAL!!!!
95% of the reasons Kane is doing so well in the typical preschool is the brain thoughts of the teachers, it is not just a job is is a child!!!!!
Jemi
FYI: I have noticed on my website stats that some of you have been using my web site, thanks for the interest and support, check it out I have be updating and upgradeing www.autismkanesworld.zoomshare.com tons of new infor, and helpful links.