But nevertheless this is a huge transition for him, because this is the year he moves from a special ed classroom to a mainstream classroom. In the special ed classroom, the teachers have special ed training, activities are usually designed with accomodations for developmental delay already built in, help for "life skills" things like feeding and bathroom breaks is readily available, the student teacher ratio is in the single digits, and there are therapists and one-on-ones and nurses frequently in and out of the classroom as well. In the mainstream classroom, all these "extras" will not be provided except as we negotiate with the school.
There are potentially lots of positives about moving Josh into mainstream: he will see the role modeling and hopefully form friendships with developmentally typical peers, and he will be asked to do more challenging activities and more independent acting during the school day. These things can really cause growth. It will also help us to see if there are areas where we have been underestimating what he is capable of, and if so, let him show his stuff.
At the same time, we want to provide him with enough support as he makes this transition that we are setting him up for success. The number one thing I'm worried about with this change is the huge leap in student teacher ratio. His current class has one adult for every 6 kids, and next year's class will have one teacher for 30+ students. He still needs a little extra help with almost everything and it would be tremendously helpful to have another adult or two in the classroom. The school will "wrap around" with supportive services - speech therapy (40 min/wk), occupational therapy (90 min/wk), resource (individual academic help)(90 min/wk), and accomodations for feeding and bathroom - but these things still leave most hours of most days where he will be going it alone. The school's solution to this issue is to place him in the same class with another student who has a one-on-one aide, and this aide can also informally keep an eye on Joshua as he needs help throughout the day. This might work great, or it might not work well at all, but hopefully we will know within the first few weeks whether this is a sustainable set-up.
We will have his annual IEP meeting a few weeks into the school year, and that will be my chance to hear how things are going, request additional accomodations if needed (and pull out the lawyer card if the school isn't cooperating), think about a different classroom if really needed, etc. There's another class in the district that does have many of the special ed supports listed above, and Josh would be eligible for it, but we would rather keep him at his current school, where he is thriving, and let him get to know the classmates he will spend elementary school with, rather than sending him out of zone for one year and thing bring him back a year later as a stranger to the other kids.
(I have to say, as we wade through all these options of classrooms and accomodations and services, that I am SO grateful that we are living in the United States in 2016. I know that kids with special needs in other parts of the world do not have these kinds of options to make their education work well, and I know that parents of kids with special needs of previous generations had to fight tooth and nail for things that are now just a laundry list of options for my child. I'm very thankful that we have so many resources in our public education system.)
We would really appreciate prayers for this whole transition:
- That between the teacher and special ed case manager and me, that we figure out the right level of accomodations so that Josh is appropriately supported, and that we can work well as a team as the school year goes on.
- That his class has nice kids, and that he makes good friends.
- That this informally shared one-on-one aide situation works great rather than being a total disaster.
- That his adjustment is smooth and the new classroom is a really positive thing for Josh.
- And finally, for the IEP meeting on Friday, where we put all these details on paper!
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Zoey turns 4 this summer, so we have also started thinking about school for her. She will likely start kindergarten in the fall of 2017 (though with an August birthday, we have some flexibility to hold her back a year if we need to, but at this point there would be no reason to do that), so this coming year is the natural year to think about preschool.
In some ways, it's been a lot lower pressure thinking about her early childhood education, because it feels like she will probably be fine no matter what route we choose. On the other hand, it can feel a little overwhelming choosing from the wide range of preschools out there. (Waldorf? Montessori? Play based or academic focused? Christian or secular? Homeschool? Unschool? etc. etc. etc.)
We toured a few preschools and did a little research, and in the end our decision was to keep her home with me for one more year. The reasons are: #1) she loves and prefers being at home and #2) I think the early years should mostly be about building up feelings of emotional security / love, working on moral character / manners, lots of time for free play / exploration / hands on experiences, and lots of time outside. There are preschools that do an excellent job of all this, but they have huge wait lists and huge price tags, and meanwhile, i'm going to be stay at home next year anyway. This means I'm really going to need to step up my arts and crafts game! We also got some workbooks and I'm hoping to teach her the basics of writing letters, using scissors, reading readiness, etc.
It's a little funny to send our first child to three years of max schedule preschool and keep our second child at home until kindergarten, but I think it suits each of their needs and personalities best. If anybody has tips on either of these situations, please let me know!
