Full-Day Preschool Needed for DC with SN - MoCo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are overestimating the amount of religious learning that goes on even in church affiliated preschools. My youngest is in an explicitly Christian oriented preschool and has never learned to cross himself or that Jesus is the Lord. What does your contact at infants and toddlers recommend? We are in infants and toddlers for a speech delay, and our speech pathologist had good advice about the types of environments that would and would not be a good fit.

I get what OP is saying. We were in a church preschool for two and I was volunteering and one teacher, clueless kept demanding my child do prayer hands (not his teacher) and kept trying to force him. I walked in and told her we do not do prayer hands in our home and he's Jewish so he does not understand what you are talking about. They didn't do a lot of religion but it also depending on the teacher. Some very religious teachers pushed it more than others. The director was great about it. I was not ok with my child as he got older being taught that (exposed, yes as others believe but not taught it as our belief).

Of course, but theOP is ruling out any religious preschool without looking into the degree to which they incorporate religion into the classroom. Considering that he has needs that are notoriously hard to address in a mainstream preschool setting, I think she should be a little bit more open to different options and then rule them out one by one if they are too religious

She's just saying she does not want an overly religious school. That's reasonable and most probably would not take her child since its a non-issue. If child was just speech delayed, you could find a mainstream but with the behavioral stuff, most mainstream in less she pays for an aide are not going to accept her child as they many not be able to keep the other kids "safe." The behavior is the primary issue, speech the secondary issue, her (him) wanting to go back to work/full-time next, and then the religion. Her best option is a special needs school, which I doubt she wants.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We want to reiterate that we have the option of keeping a parent at home with our DS when he's not at PEP. If we didn't have the option of having a parent stay at home, then we may have considered options outside of our religious comfort zone.

Our child has been to a mainstream Jewish preschool and wasn't threatened with being kicked out while he was there because they saw his behaviors as mild. It wasn't the best fit for him structurally, though. While he was there, he picked up a lot of Jewish customs, prayers, and songs we weren't expecting him to pick up and has been very demanding about them inside and outside of our home. (His religious speech is superior to his general English language skills.) We were very surprised that was the case, which is why we're very sensitive to what he would be taught religiously in school.

[Anonymous]

How about Maddux?
http://www.ivymount.org/Maddux.cfm

[Anonymous]

Good luck with ... everything, OP. Oy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We want to reiterate that we have the option of keeping a parent at home with our DS when he's not at PEP. If we didn't have the option of having a parent stay at home, then we may have considered options outside of our religious comfort zone.

Our child has been to a mainstream Jewish preschool and wasn't threatened with being kicked out while he was there because they saw his behaviors as mild. It wasn't the best fit for him structurally, though. While he was there, he picked up a lot of Jewish customs, prayers, and songs we weren't expecting him to pick up and has been very demanding about them inside and outside of our home. (His religious speech is superior to his general English language skills.) We were very surprised that was the case, which is why we're very sensitive to what he would be taught religiously in school.

Religious speech may be more of scripting where he learns it and can say the same thing over and over again. I wouldn't consider that true speech but a good start to his speech progression. If your child was doing ok at that preschool, go back. It may not be the best, but its probably much better than most of your other options, sadly.

[Anonymous]

LEAP at U of MD would not be a good option. I pulled my kid out after a semester there, in part because I was somewhat surprised how little they were able to deal with any behavioral issues at all, despite the fact that lots of kids with speech delays act out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LEAP at U of MD would not be a good option. I pulled my kid out after a semester there, in part because I was somewhat surprised how little they were able to deal with any behavioral issues at all, despite the fact that lots of kids with speech delays act out.

It depends on the behavioral issues. Crying and meltdowns they can generally handle, but hitting, biting, being disruptive, no they cannot. Mild behavioral problems are normal, but not all language delayed kids act out. They are a language training program for the adult students for speech, not behavioral problems.

[Anonymous]

Director of a preschool program here - the problem with PEP is that they don't always transport children to/from the program - so you'd have to figure out how to get your child from PEP to full day preschool program. And teachers can't walk children to bus stops, etc because I need my teachers in their classroom or on their break getting ready to go back to their classroom for the other teacher to take a break....

Also, finding a full day program with 3 or 4 yr olds in MoCo with only 10-12 children will be really hard to find - a half day nursery school might have that few children, but a full day program won't because it's not financially feasible when we're paying teachers full time, which includes paying for health care benefits, etc.

So I'd also say focus on doing the PEP program and also some additional speech therapy for one more year, in hopes of doing something different that last year before kindergarten begins.

Alternatively, if you could switch PEP to afternoons, then you could do a half-day nursery school from 9 to 12, take your child home for lunch, then go to PEP. That might be possible as your child is 3 or 4 years old and doesn't nap. But that's not a full time solution, you'd still need to have someone home to do all the transporting, but at least you'd be getting the mainstreamed socialization - and if you do that, you might have better luck finding a really small class size because nursery schools often are smaller class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LEAP at U of MD would not be a good option. I pulled my kid out after a semester there, in part because I was somewhat surprised how little they were able to deal with any behavioral issues at all, despite the fact that lots of kids with speech delays act out.

It depends on the behavioral issues. Crying and meltdowns they can generally handle, but hitting, biting, being disruptive, no they cannot. Mild behavioral problems are normal, but not all language delayed kids act out. They are a language training program for the adult students for speech, not behavioral problems.

Actually it was mostly crying and missing mom. Anxiety was a component of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LEAP at U of MD would not be a good option. I pulled my kid out after a semester there, in part because I was somewhat surprised how little they were able to deal with any behavioral issues at all, despite the fact that lots of kids with speech delays act out.

It depends on the behavioral issues. Crying and meltdowns they can generally handle, but hitting, biting, being disruptive, no they cannot. Mild behavioral problems are normal, but not all language delayed kids act out. They are a language training program for the adult students for speech, not behavioral problems.

Actually it was mostly crying and missing mom. Anxiety was a component of it.

It usually takes kids a few weeks to adjust, and after that, its a bit extreme. Its not the right program for all kids but great if it fits your child's needs.

[Anonymous]

Are you planning to do itinerant PEP services at the preschool or PEP in the pm and have the kid bused each way to the care center? The later is what I would recommend (the consensus on the SN board is that it's higher quality than itinerant). If that's the case you need to figure out your PEP location and search fro your daycare in that cluster due to the transpo issues. Have you looked at Maddux? They have before and after care with the MCCA on the same property. There's also Karasik and Easter Seals in Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

PP here. Sorry. Just saw that you are probably not doing PEP Classic. Are you sure you will be in the am again? PEP-C? Inc? In that case nursery schools are going to be out for the most part. If you can have a parent at home, and get PEP I'd probably just spend the remaining time doing private therapy, social skills groups, etc. PEP by itself is not enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Director of a preschool program here - the problem with PEP is that they don't always transport children to/from the program - so you'd have to figure out how to get your child from PEP to full day preschool program. And teachers can't walk children to bus stops, etc because I need my teachers in their classroom or on their break getting ready to go back to their classroom for the other teacher to take a break....

Also, finding a full day program with 3 or 4 yr olds in MoCo with only 10-12 children will be really hard to find - a half day nursery school might have that few children, but a full day program won't because it's not financially feasible when we're paying teachers full time, which includes paying for health care benefits, etc.

So I'd also say focus on doing the PEP program and also some additional speech therapy for one more year, in hopes of doing something different that last year before kindergarten begins.

Alternatively, if you could switch PEP to afternoons, then you could do a half-day nursery school from 9 to 12, take your child home for lunch, then go to PEP. That might be possible as your child is 3 or 4 years old and doesn't nap. But that's not a full time solution, you'd still need to have someone home to do all the transporting, but at least you'd be getting the mainstreamed socialization - and if you do that, you might have better luck finding a really small class size because nursery schools often are smaller class sizes.

OP here. Thanks for your great insights!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. Sorry. Just saw that you are probably not doing PEP Classic. Are you sure you will be in the am again? PEP-C? Inc? In that case nursery schools are going to be out for the most part. If you can have a parent at home, and get PEP I'd probably just spend the remaining time doing private therapy, social skills groups, etc. PEP by itself is not enough.

We're in PEP Classic and we're going to get it again next year. We realize that if our DS "graduates" to PILOT that many more preschool programs would be willing to accept him, especially if his behavior improves over this school year.

We're very blessed this year with his PEP class because it has the ratios of an INC class with the curriculum of Classic, so he's getting 10 hours each week of almost individual attention using an age-appropriate preschool curriculum.

There's only one PM option for 3-year-olds who qualify for Classic in our area, but the bus schedule may allow him to attend that program. He's still napping in the afternoons, but I would expect he'll drop the nap by next school year. MCPS probably won't discuss next year's options with us until May or June, so there's lots of time to figure out whether the PM Classic option would be appropriate.

[Anonymous]

This is 20:09 and also an SN board veteran. Is your kid going to be 3 or 4 next year? The typical set up for Classic is AM for 3yr olds and PM for 4s. The placement team will not take a nap schedule into consideration. We had a kid who had fatigue issues and brought letters from physicians when the team wanted to put my kid in a program that included some afternoon hours. Kids in Pilot have very, very few needs and to the untrained eye are indistinguishable from typical kids. It sounds like your kid is more involved than that. The transition planning starts in Feb usually and nursery and daycares on the calendar year do enrollments in January for the next year. I encourage you to get started getting information now. You really don't have that much time. That doesn't even factor in ones with a waitlist. You need to call and tour now. Unless you do find find one catering to kids with SNs you are better off doing as much private therapy as you can. It's difficult to fit it in timewise once the kid is in school full-time.