Transition to Kindergarten (autism, functioning, mental, developmental)
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We had our IEP meeting for the transition to kindergarten yesterday. I have to say that I think it went very well! I hear so many people complaining about their IEP teams and having a hard time with their meetings, but I feel like things generally go very smoothly for us.
The new team at the elementary school seems very on-the-ball. We don't know her teacher assignment yet, but a representative kindergarten teacher came to the meeting, as well as a representative from the EC classroom (EC= Exceptional Children = what we call special ed here). The speech therapist and OT were there as well. The PT couldn't come, but was available by phone when we had a question for her. All of the players seemed to work well together, and even chimed in on things that weren't necessarily in their own domains. I feel really good about the team.
We were able to get pretty much everything that we wanted from the meeting. We had been asking for them to give her OT for a while, and now they have agreed to that. They added a PT goal that I asked for after calling the PT by phone to ask her about it. They added academic goals that I tried to get at our last meeting 3 months ago, but couldn't get until now. They also approved of our idea to have her go to all 3 days of staggered entry instead of just the typical 1 day, which would basically give her the first day of school 3 times in a row for reinforcement.
They want to start her off with a lot of pull-out time to the EC room, which was not what I expected. I thought they would push someone in instead, but they explained that at least for now they want to see how she will do in a smaller group for that work. So she is going to have 30 minutes each for reading, writing, and math in the EC room 4 days per week. And on top of that she has 1 PT, 1 OT, and 2 speech per week. So while that does seem like a lot of time out of her classroom, I do agree that it is a good plan for now and we can re-assess later.
Kindergarten starts in just 6 weeks for us (year-round school) and we are excited! Not that I think our developmental day preschool experience has been bad, but I think that the level of service she will get in elementary school will be even better, based on this meeting.
We had our IEP meeting for the transition to kindergarten yesterday. I have to say that I think it went very well! I hear so many people complaining about their IEP teams and having a hard time with their meetings, but I feel like things generally go very smoothly for us.
The new team at the elementary school seems very on-the-ball. We don't know her teacher assignment yet, but a representative kindergarten teacher came to the meeting, as well as a representative from the EC classroom (EC= Exceptional Children = what we call special ed here). The speech therapist and OT were there as well. The PT couldn't come, but was available by phone when we had a question for her. All of the players seemed to work well together, and even chimed in on things that weren't necessarily in their own domains. I feel really good about the team.
We were able to get pretty much everything that we wanted from the meeting. We had been asking for them to give her OT for a while, and now they have agreed to that. They added a PT goal that I asked for after calling the PT by phone to ask her about it. They added academic goals that I tried to get at our last meeting 3 months ago, but couldn't get until now. They also approved of our idea to have her go to all 3 days of staggered entry instead of just the typical 1 day, which would basically give her the first day of school 3 times in a row for reinforcement.
They want to start her off with a lot of pull-out time to the EC room, which was not what I expected. I thought they would push someone in instead, but they explained that at least for now they want to see how she will do in a smaller group for that work. So she is going to have 30 minutes each for reading, writing, and math in the EC room 4 days per week. And on top of that she has 1 PT, 1 OT, and 2 speech per week. So while that does seem like a lot of time out of her classroom, I do agree that it is a good plan for now and we can re-assess later.
Kindergarten starts in just 6 weeks for us (year-round school) and we are excited! Not that I think our developmental day preschool experience has been bad, but I think that the level of service she will get in elementary school will be even better, based on this meeting.
Thank you for sharing. I am so glad that everything worked out well for your child.
Probably the reason that you hear so much about IEP meetings that do not go well or do not end up the way that parents want them to end up is just because all of the many, many happy parents don't mention that they are happy so you only hear from the very few unhappy parents.
Yes, this is very true. Most of the parents of my students who had IEP's were very happy with the process. The few who were not, were either unsupportive of their child being in spec ed or wanted too much. ( maybe they wanted a 1-1 aide full day for a highly functioning child with autism etc...)
That is a lot of pull out, but not unheard of. OT and PT usually fades away gradually, and speech services can fluctuate to be more or less as time goes on. Sometimes speech is increased before kids transition to middle school, especially if they are close to mastering their goals.
If you are in Mebane, NC, I would understand the pull out. I moved from WI to NC and was a regular ed, then special ed teacher and mom to child w/ Down syndrome. NC is not very good at the push in. Granted, it is more costly when you can pull a whole group of kids from different classes and put them in one room with one teacher.
Be aware of how her pull-out sessions are. I say this because:
When I taught in WI, I pulled out one grade for on subject at a time to give small group, individualized instruction.
When I moved to NC, I was required to pull out 3 grades for 3 different subjects at the same time. (think 4th grade math, 3rd grade reading, and kindergarten writing, all at the same time)
Do you think they got the quality small group instruction they so desperately needed in that situation? No. And parents wanted more pull out for kids that would have done much better staying in the regular ed class. Stay on top of what they are doing and HOW they are doing it.
Yes, we are in NC. I will check out how the pull-out schedule works. It is all new to me, so I don't really know a lot about the logistics of the things that you mention yet.
Yes, we are in NC. I will check out how the pull-out schedule works. It is all new to me, so I don't really know a lot about the logistics of the things that you mention yet.
Of course, pull out may vary from district to district, school to school, and even year to year within the same school (for example, one year there are significantly more students with significantly more severe needs and the next year may be much different). Just focus on your child and how they are meeting her needs. It sounds like the school has planned a great program.
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