Yu Ying and Special Needs

[Anonymous]

Wondering if anyone has a SN child at Yu Ying and how receptive and accommodating they are.

Our child was recently diagnosed after being admitted. DC will be receiving private therapy but we want to make sure the teachers and administration are aware and know how to deal with it in the classroom as well.

[Anonymous]

If you are willing to share the SN of your student, the responses may be more relevant. Or at least the category of need (e.g., hearing, speech, physical, ADD, spectrum).

I am a YY parent, of regular needs child, and have seen a variety of apparently appropriate accomodations, but my perspective is limited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are willing to share the SN of your student, the responses may be more relevant. Or at least the category of need (e.g., hearing, speech, physical, ADD, spectrum).

I am a YY parent, of regular needs child, and have seen a variety of apparently appropriate accomodations, but my perspective is limited.

OP: Speech. There is a strong family history so it wasn't a surprise. The good part is we know a lot about it including most of the leading researchers and are aware of the problems that can occur in the classroom. We were thinking about setting up a meeting with the school and specifically with the teachers so they will know how to deal with it.

[Anonymous]

15:16 back, my child in K has one diagnostic session with a YY speech therapist, contract worker who came in for the number of hours needed each week. Most professionals (including this speech therapist) who heard my child speak thought, normal, will grow out of it. Child has. Concerned family members thought child should be assessed.

I think the Chinese has helped develop speech, as child comes home and tells me how to pronounce Chinese words in detail, including shape of mouth, emphasis of vowels, etc. However, worth asking whether given your particular child's need this would be good / bad / neutral. Chinese teachers spend a lot of time on correct pronounciation, and if that is a hard type of activity, it might lead to more frustration for your child than another class room setting. Again, for my normal but lisping slightly longer than most, child, I think Chinese has helped.

Definitely call the school.

[Anonymous]

My child will be coming into Yu Ying with a Speech diagnosis as well. I have talked a bit to the Special Education team and feel pretty confident that DC's needs will be met. What is your specific worry OP?

[Anonymous]

OP: My DH has the same problem and has memories of teachers getting annoyed and angry at him. Also, we want to prevent teachers trying to "help" by telling him to slow down, relax. DC is ambidextrous, part of the problem, and we want to prevent teachers from encouraging handedness.

Did you get a chance to meet with the Special Education Team? I wish they, teachers, would meet with families before they entered school like some preK programs. Oh well...

[Anonymous]

Hi OP,
Post your question in the special needs forum. You'll get some advice on your rights/responsibilities as the parent of a newly diagnosed child and new public school special needs parent. Tons of us have been there/done that! No need to reinvent the wheel.

Basically with an outside diagnosis, the school will need to meet to evaluate your child and to accommodate him/her and also provide services if appropriate. This will be in a written IEP. Here's a link to a manual on parent involvement in the IEP process: http://www.lambpcs.org/lamb.parent.handbook.pdf

You can call for a meeting of the IEP team (teachers, spec ed person, speech therapist, parents) at any time. You can have it changed, etc. Anyway, hopefully at YY you will be able to work as a team with the school and support the child (instead of fighting with them). Most good charters have a pretty good handle on special ed so I have high hopes for your experience.

p.s. don't be afraid of the second language and special ed -- spec needs kids go to immersion schools all over the city and do fine. They have reading/writing/speech tc. special needs. Sometimes outside therapists will try to warn you away from educational models (immersion or montessori or whatever) based on their own biases toward what they know or experienced. My friend has two speech-related special needs kids and a number of therapists told her to get them out of the bilingual school. She didn't listen and the kids are now bilingual and doing well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP,
Post your question in the special needs forum. You'll get some advice on your rights/responsibilities as the parent of a newly diagnosed child and new public school special needs parent. Tons of us have been there/done that! No need to reinvent the wheel.

Basically with an outside diagnosis, the school will need to meet to evaluate your child and to accommodate him/her and also provide services if appropriate. This will be in a written IEP. Here's a link to a manual on parent involvement in the IEP process: http://www.lambpcs.org/lamb.parent.handbook.pdf

You can call for a meeting of the IEP team (teachers, spec ed person, speech therapist, parents) at any time. You can have it changed, etc. Anyway, hopefully at YY you will be able to work as a team with the school and support the child (instead of fighting with them). Most good charters have a pretty good handle on special ed so I have high hopes for your experience.

p.s. don't be afraid of the second language and special ed -- spec needs kids go to immersion schools all over the city and do fine. They have reading/writing/speech tc. special needs. Sometimes outside therapists will try to warn you away from educational models (immersion or montessori or whatever) based on their own biases toward what they know or experienced. My friend has two speech-related special needs kids and a number of therapists told her to get them out of the bilingual school. She didn't listen and the kids are now bilingual and doing well.

OP, you won't have to worry about this. YY's special education team is very highly regarded. The current head of special education is a professor of special ed at GMU and is designing a state-of-the-art team. You're fortunate to have gotten into such a great program!

[Anonymous]

I know of speech and language issues in kids at the school. There are also kids on the spectrum, kids with hearing loss, fine motor delays, and the usual ADHD stuff. Some get OT, some counseling, others speech pathologists- whatever is needed. The special ed team is fabulously responsive and will make sure all appropriate interventions are in place. There are designated special ed teachers assigned to each grade, so he or she really gets to know all of the kids and how they are functioning in the classroom as well as with any pull-out services. (though that last statement is more global because those teachers aren't involved in therapy sessions)

[Anonymous]

OP: Thanks for the help. Really appreciate it. I'm going to ask my child's therapy to get a package together for the school and present it to the IEP team when I meet with them.

[Anonymous]

My child has special needs for a behavior disorder. Yu Ying accomodates appropriately. Took a while for proper classroom management, but now he fits right in and is learning just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child has special needs for a behavior disorder. Yu Ying accomodates appropriately. Took a while for proper classroom management, but now he fits right in and is learning just fine.

OP: Did you ask for a IEP or just 504 accommodations? Our DC would qualify for an IEP but we don't want any therapy through the school so we are leaning toward a 504 but I've heard it's harder to enforce. Anyone else?

[Anonymous]

If your child's speech issue is likely to make learning to read more difficult (this is fairly common), I personally would not do Chinese immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child's speech issue is likely to make learning to read more difficult (this is fairly common), I personally would not do Chinese immersion.

Speech issue does not affect reading. Child started reading in English on his own at two. Sorry I can't be more specific but don't want to out ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Your child may be able to sight read (memorize the way words look to read them) but eventually everyone needs to develop decoding skills and these are the skills that are often impacted by speech issues.