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Kindergarten planning
Mar. 4th, 2008 01:33 pmAfter the recent fiasco during which I nearly neglected to get my son registered for kindergarten at all (my confusion about what CPSE would tell the district, which apparently is absolutely nothing), I decided to go to the parents' meeting about special education/disability options in the district, just in case there was useful information there for me.
As expected, this was mostly for families with kindergarteners likely to move into specific special programs. Many of the parents there were anxiously awaiting details of a new integrated classroom being put into one of the schools, or to hear how the programs have changed in the last few years (apparently, a lot.) Apparently, if you have an autistic or low-to-medium functioning child, this is the place in this half of the county to live -- this school district has 4 different programs for kids functioning at different levels.
I did learn a few things directly relevant to our situation.
-Although there's no special ed program in the actual school Rhys will be going to, he can get all his related services (speech, PT, OT) on-site. They'll probably be in small groups of 2-4 kids rather than one-on-one like he's been getting at the preschool level. The school does have a services coordinator, with whom I chatted after the meeting some.
-The district has no programming or anything for gifted kids at the early elementary level. In particular, unlike in some districts, there's no way to get enrichment stuff on an IEP< and definitely not on an intergrated IEP with the disability stuff.
-Various people in the system have suggested writing a letter to the school highlighting Rhys' reading level in particular, before screening happens in 2 weeks, so they don't miss it in the screening. I wish I knew more about how to phrase this right to start on a good foot with the school.
*fuss fuss*
As expected, this was mostly for families with kindergarteners likely to move into specific special programs. Many of the parents there were anxiously awaiting details of a new integrated classroom being put into one of the schools, or to hear how the programs have changed in the last few years (apparently, a lot.) Apparently, if you have an autistic or low-to-medium functioning child, this is the place in this half of the county to live -- this school district has 4 different programs for kids functioning at different levels.
I did learn a few things directly relevant to our situation.
-Although there's no special ed program in the actual school Rhys will be going to, he can get all his related services (speech, PT, OT) on-site. They'll probably be in small groups of 2-4 kids rather than one-on-one like he's been getting at the preschool level. The school does have a services coordinator, with whom I chatted after the meeting some.
-The district has no programming or anything for gifted kids at the early elementary level. In particular, unlike in some districts, there's no way to get enrichment stuff on an IEP< and definitely not on an intergrated IEP with the disability stuff.
-Various people in the system have suggested writing a letter to the school highlighting Rhys' reading level in particular, before screening happens in 2 weeks, so they don't miss it in the screening. I wish I knew more about how to phrase this right to start on a good foot with the school.
*fuss fuss*
