Plano ISD Pre-K or stick with Primrose for a 4 year old with mild Speech Delay (Early: daycare, elementary school)

[ddavid1101]

Hi all,

Looking for experiences from families that have been in the same situation that have tried PISD Pre-K and has a child with mild speech delay.

Background:

Our soon to be 4 year old was diagnosed with speech delay almost two years ago. He was behind about a 6mo to a year on expressive. Since being diagnosed, we have constantly been working with two sets of speech pathologist. First group was with private SLP + ECI program SLP for a year or so totaling about 2 hours a week. This was followed by PISD Communications Class at Plano ISD Isaacs Early Childhood School for 3 hours a week with an SLP and class max of 4 kids along with 1 hour a week remotely with Vanderbilt KidTalk Research program (which we love and is extremely hands on and all about teaching the parent "how to fish") SLP where its one on one with the same parent present.

His speech has improve considerably, now meeting most PISD/ARD targets but met most standards by age based on some standardized testing done every 3 months with KidTalk. There's definitely room to catchup and improve.

He's also been going to daycare for the past year at Primrose which he is learning a lot. Next year, he has the option of continuing with the PISD Communication's class, or go PISD Pre-K with pull out service with SLP.

What was your experience with PISD Pre-K? Was it beneficial for your kids development? More so than a great Primrose school? Any thoughts? Experiences? Suggestions?

[Pinkett]

I was in the same situation but with FISD. The moment I found out my child qualified for free pre-K at FISD, I pulled my child out from private Montessori. Public schools have big budget and require licensed therapists and teachers. While Montessori will give social interaction to your child, it doesn’t addresses the need to correct speech. My child started at 3 yr of age at FISD speech program and now in KG and thriving. You’ll never know that he once used to have speech delay.

The private pre k is also not free and do not have specialized teachers.

Edited to add, my child when going to private pre k was also getting private therapy. Add the cost of both and running around from one place to another, it just didn’t make sense.

[ddavid1101]

Originally Posted by Pinkett

I was in the same situation but with FISD. The moment I found out my child qualified for free pre-K at FISD, I pulled my child out from private Montessori. Public schools have big budget and require licensed therapists and teachers. While Montessori will give social interaction to your child, it doesn’t addresses the need to correct speech. My child started at 3 yr of age at FISD speech program and now in KG and thriving. You’ll never know that he once used to have speech delay.

The private pre k is also not free and do not have specialized teachers.

Edited to add, my child when going to private pre k was also getting private therapy. Add the cost of both and running around from one place to another, it just didn’t make sense.

We would still be enrolled in PISD speech program. if we stick to Primrose, we would still do 1.5 hr drop in sessions at PISD which is what we are doing now. So either way, we will continue with speech probably forever or till he's ahead of the pack.

We did take our 9 year old to PreK4 at Catholic school for 1 year as I wanted to test it out since it cost the same as Primrose. We loved it but didnt want a whole 1/5 of the day on religion as we are not religious. But we loved the content and the teacher. It was in my opinion slightly better than say PISD K, but better than primrose. Really got him ready for K since technically he was already in a proper school.

I think we are leaning more towards PreK. We would save a ton a year. At least 15-18K. Isaac spends 17K a year per kid, the closer PreK PISD school spends 9K as its just a normal elementary school.

I want to just check the make up of the PreK at Isaacs. That was the only concern our SLP from Kidtalk said. She felt that any ISD is better than daycare as they are degreed, sometimes with masters and trained for Special Ed, speech etc. no daycare will have such qualifications and experience. But her only concern is the make up of the class. Our kid has progress so much that in reality, if the ISD reevaluated him for speech, he may no longer qualify (minimum 6 mo delay). So to advance/grow, he would need to in class with more advanced kids to interact with and not with kids that are more delayed or have other special needs. Her suggestion was to determine the make up of a typical class. That was her only and main deal breaker.

I'm going to try to get more info on the PreK program and the make up etc. But we are definitely now leaning towards it.

[TheOverdog]

I don't have any experience with speech delay specifically (or PISD PreK), but with other learning disabilities it's my opinion that PISD is great for the top students but not great for the delayed or for those with learning disabilities. Getting a 501c or whatever it's called is somewhat difficult, many things recommended by doctors for remediation won't necessarily be followed closely, extra teaching/tutoring in school is difficult to arrange, and kids will pass elementary school at least without meeting standards.

If you have the funds, keep them in private until they are at least 'average'.

[Aggielina]

Originally Posted by ddavid1101

I want to just check the make up of the PreK at Isaacs. That was the only concern our SLP from Kidtalk said. She felt that any ISD is better than daycare as they are degreed, sometimes with masters and trained for Special Ed, speech etc. no daycare will have such qualifications and experience. But her only concern is the make up of the class. Our kid has progress so much that in reality, if the ISD reevaluated him for speech, he may no longer qualify (minimum 6 mo delay). So to advance/grow, he would need to in class with more advanced kids to interact with and not with kids that are more delayed or have other special needs. Her suggestion was to determine the make up of a typical class. That was her only and main deal breaker.

How does your child qualify for PreK? My child has a borderline severe speech articulation disorder and he didn't qualify for PreK just because of his speech disorder. We did the Small Talk classes while he was a preschooler. I don't know the ends and outs of the special ed evaluations, etc., but I think they get formally evaluated once a year. My other child just "graduated" from speech because he is doing so well, so they do get removed if the services are no longer necessary. I didn't protest because I agreed.

I'd be surprised if the school would give you information about the composition of the PreK class. Honestly, though, I wouldn't worry too much about being around "advanced" kids. At this age I believe they just need to be around other kids to learn to socialize, to learn the basics of ABCs and counting, and to have an exposure to books. In my experience observing the peers of my children, expensive preKs are a waste of money. My main concern about the preK, if I were you, is if most of the kids will be ESL.

[ddavid1101]

We qualified due to ESL.

[Aggielina]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

I don't have any experience with speech delay specifically (or PISD PreK), but with other learning disabilities it's my opinion that PISD is great for the top students but not great for the delayed or for those with learning disabilities. Getting a 501c or whatever it's called is somewhat difficult, many things recommended by doctors for remediation won't necessarily be followed closely, extra teaching/tutoring in school is difficult to arrange, and kids will pass elementary school at least without meeting standards.

If you have the funds, keep them in private until they are at least 'average'.

I can't speak to PISD, but we're in RISD and this hasn't been my experience at all. I've had no trouble getting evaluations. I as a parent had to request it because for some reason they don't tend to listen to the teacher's recommedation that a child be evaluated. But when I did, the district was all guns blazing to do it. My child receives services in three different areas every week, from SLPs, dyslexia interventionists, and OT for his pencil control. He also receives accommodations in the classroom. I doubt he'd receive anywhere near this amount of attention at a private school unless he was at someplace like Shelton.

[Aggielina]

Originally Posted by ddavid1101

We qualified due to ESL.

Then I suppose if a majority of the kids are ESL then that wouldn't be a problem! It would for us!

[TheOverdog]

I can't speak to PISD, but we're in RISD and this hasn't been my experience at all.

I think some districts are far better than others, but it's a fairly rare case, so it's not talked about much. My friends who moved to Lovejoy are having a much easier time with their daughter's dyslexia.

[Pinkett]

How does a child qualifies for free pre-K?? Let me answer that. You’ll need to call PISD special education and ask them that your child needs to be evaluated due to speech delay ( or whatever other reason) or ESL. They’ll give you information, maybe an email with some forms to fill out and then you’ll get an appointment for evaluation. Once they determine that your child does indeed qualifies for special education, he’ll be admitted to the program. Pre-k is free only for children who qualify based on PISD criteria. Please google Plano ISD Early Childhood programs.

To the OP, I see no real benefit of exhausting the child running from one program to another. All the services including regular education will be provided to him at PISD. It’s should be a full day program at PISD at age 4. If it’s like FISD, they follow elementary school schedule which is very exhausting already for a four year old. Individual services are provided based on child’s need otherwise they have regular class like setup with Math, English etc.

And to another poster who said kid may not do so well at PISD. I believe if the child is otherwise well, smart etc and only has some minor speech delay, he’ll be fine. My experience is with FISD. My son had speech delay and he has been going to FISD since he was 3 and he got extensive speech therapy. His speech is perfect however he is still in FISD speech program because they want to be sure that of there is any room for improvement, they’ll do it. And unless you have a personal experience, I believe what you have said is just not true. PISD specifically has one of the best special education program.