Anyone done a peer model preschool?

[Anonymous]

We have an opportunity to send DD to a peer model preschool. She would be one of the peer model students. We are not in DC anymore but I don't know anyone who has done a peer model program here.

Anyone have experience with this type of model? What did you like? How did you children do? Would you do it again?

Deciding between this peer model preschool and more of a hippy, Montessori vibe and I am so torn!

[Anonymous]

My son did it several years ago. He was the youngest and one of two peer models in a special education preschool class. It was fabulous, and I would highly recommend it. The opportunity to be in a class of 8 students with a highly trained teacher and 2 assistants was one I will always value immensely. My son had fun and learned something new everyday.

[Anonymous]

DD is our middle and she is super verbal but can be bossy and 4 years old. One of my hopes is she gets better at socializing and playing with other kids and I worry that she will get bossier being around non verbal or less verbal kids. Is that a crazy fear?

[Anonymous]

You don’t choose peer model for the increase in social skills

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t choose peer model for the increase in social skills

Can you say more about this? Wouldn't learning to share, cooperate, listen patiently, be kind, consider others, include others, take turns .... all be something that peer model students would be modeling and working on? My understanding was that it was neurotypical peers along side students who had IEPs for different needs, so the peer students would be modeling and practicing those behaviors along with their peers. Why wouldn't that increase their social skills.

Maybe I misunderstand the model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t choose peer model for the increase in social skills

Can you say more about this? Wouldn't learning to share, cooperate, listen patiently, be kind, consider others, include others, take turns .... all be something that peer model students would be modeling and working on? My understanding was that it was neurotypical peers along side students who had IEPs for different needs, so the peer students would be modeling and practicing those behaviors along with their peers. Why wouldn't that increase their social skills.

Maybe I misunderstand the model.

PP, you’ve got it right. The poster you were quoting has me a wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t choose peer model for the increase in social skills

Can you say more about this? Wouldn't learning to share, cooperate, listen patiently, be kind, consider others, include others, take turns .... all be something that peer model students would be modeling and working on? My understanding was that it was neurotypical peers along side students who had IEPs for different needs, so the peer students would be modeling and practicing those behaviors along with their peers. Why wouldn't that increase their social skills.

Maybe I misunderstand the model.

PP, you’ve got it right. The poster you were quoting has me a wrong.

+1 There is likely to be much more explicit emphasis on social learning to benefit the kids who need it, so your child is likely to get more social learning in this sense. I agree also that it should teach being patient and kind and less judgmental. Perhaps more of the spontaneous, typical interactions with peers might be different, but I don't necessarily think that would be bad. I probably wouldn't send my NT kid to a situation like this because he already experiences that atmosphere at home with his ND brother, but I would send a kid if no one in the family were ND.

[Anonymous]

We loved our experience with our kids being peers. The class was small, two trained teachers, and so many of the "special ed strategies" are applicable to NT preschoolers. My kids learned independence and how to interact with people who were outwardly different from them, and also loved going to school. Because of the pandemic, we did not get to send DC3 to the same school and we did not love the preschool experience they got with a daycare center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t choose peer model for the increase in social skills

Can you say more about this? Wouldn't learning to share, cooperate, listen patiently, be kind, consider others, include others, take turns .... all be something that peer model students would be modeling and working on? My understanding was that it was neurotypical peers along side students who had IEPs for different needs, so the peer students would be modeling and practicing those behaviors along with their peers. Why wouldn't that increase their social skills.

Maybe I misunderstand the model.

PP, you’ve got it right. The poster you were quoting has me a wrong.

+1 There is likely to be much more explicit emphasis on social learning to benefit the kids who need it, so your child is likely to get more social learning in this sense. I agree also that it should teach being patient and kind and less judgmental. Perhaps more of the spontaneous, typical interactions with peers might be different, but I don't necessarily think that would be bad. I probably wouldn't send my NT kid to a situation like this because he already experiences that atmosphere at home with his ND brother, but I would send a kid if no one in the family were ND.

I would suggest the same, for the same reasons.

[Anonymous]

We have never done peer model preschool but with regards to Montessori, I know many kids do really well there but I have learned it is not a great option for anxious kids or children that need lots of practice with social skills, because Montessori focuses on individualized learning and can also be quite rigid with regards to how materials are used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is our middle and she is super verbal but can be bossy and 4 years old. One of my hopes is she gets better at socializing and playing with other kids and I worry that she will get bossier being around non verbal or less verbal kids. Is that a crazy fear?

Would the other kids be non-verbal? In many places, the kids with the most significant needs are in a self-contained classroom and only kids with more minor needs are in an inclusion classroom. When my autistic child was in PK, she was incredibly bossy -- it was the way she dealt with anxiety and not understanding how the world worked. So if your daughter was in class with mine, they would both need to learn to be more flexible.