Is your child mainstreamed?
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Does your child attend public school, private school, autism-specific school, or is your child homeschooled?
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Permalink Reply by NanLT on
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My son was in nursery when we first picked up that something was not quite right. In fact, the day that I approached his nursery teacher to ask her if she had noticed some peculiarities, she wanted to ask me the same question.
He is now in year one at the same school. All of the teachers from the Head down have always been fully supportive and bend over backwards at times to make sure he gets all the help that he needs. An ASD specialist for the local education authority observes in the classroom once a term and makes recommendations to help them improve things for him. They sorted out an IEP for him from the moment we started questioning, and let me know that whatever happened in the diagnosis process, they would continue to work with him as they were doing.
My youngest son is now in nursery and we are awaiting referral for an assessment. The SENCO has already put an IEP in place for him.
When I hear about how unhelpful some schools can be for kids with Aspergers, it makes me want to hug the head teacher at their school.
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Permalink Reply by Robin Hartman on -
My son is mainstreamed but he has the help of some pretty phenominal special needs teachers. However, I am worried now that he's starting 1st grade and that special needs teacher is not at his new elementary school. And, my little one will be at school all day instead of half days of kindergarten. But at least my husband is intering at the elementary school for his social work program.
I considered homeschooling but I worry that since my little one's difficulties are socially based and I couldn't give him the amount of socialization he needs. Plus, I have such a tender heart that I would let him get away with things which could effect his development. His special needs teacher was so great and would require him to ask other kids for help and start conversation on his own even though he would get so frustrated with his speech. But it worked. I don't think I could let him get frustrated like that. He's done great around other kids and I think they have taught him through example. I still worry about bullying. The horror stories on the news scare me. As long as I'm always his advocate, I feel he will always be safe.
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Permalink Reply by Aimee on -
We're mainstreamed. My family is lucky to live in a fantastic school district with abundant resources.
My Bryn (now 7) started in the preschool disabled (PRIDE) program when he was three - prior to his diagnosis. I had him evaluated primarily because he had an odd grip when coloring. The program helped him enormously - and identified other issues. In fact, they sent him for his developmental evaluation at one of the state's top hospitals, and that's how we got our DX.
Bryn has an August birthday, so his child study team recommended he wait a year prior to starting Kindergarten. They gave him an additional year in the PRIDE program to better prepare him for Kindergarten.
When he started, by some amazing stroke of luck, his dynamic, fantastic and astoundingly energetic PRIDE teacher decided to move up to teach Kindergarten...and somehow, we ended up having her for a third year. Because of her extensive experience working with special needs kids, Bryn had an amazingly successful year in Kindergarten.
The downside was that Janice, his teacher, was able to mitigate so much of his need for OT that the child study team decided he didn't need it anymore. So, it took a little work to get that back in his IEP...but we're back on track now.
At the end of first grade, Bryn came home with a nearly perfect report card and a completely appropriate IEP.
He's had a few problems socially, but he's soooo nice that he generally does well, and the friends he has are great kids who really look out for him. He's even in camp without an aid this summer. (But I do call regularly to make sure he's doing OK!)
My three year old son, in my opinion, is not as high functioning as Bryn. He'll start PRIDE in the fall, but I'm curious to see what his diagnosis is when we have his evaluation next week. I'm not 100% sure we'll be able to mainstream, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
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