Montgomery County CAPP program and Naps

[Anonymous]

Hi All. My 3.5 yr old is starting the CAPP program this fall (we are new to the area). He still takes a healthy nap - generally from 1:30-4:30/5pm each day. He also sleeps well, with or without it. I will say that without it - he can be a beast - and typically has to go down an hour or more early, and his ASD issues are far more outrageous without a nap.

We just found out the CAPP program doesn't allow a nap. It's full day - so for those of you who have been in a similar situation, how did your little one handle it? Did you just put them down earlier for awhile?

[Anonymous]

Though my kid isn't autistic we faced a similar issue for PEP placement when we transitioned from Infants and Toddlers. His team wanted to place him in a program with a lot of afternoon hours. I disagreed for many reasons, one of them naps. He had fatigue issues caused in part by a medical condition. I came armed to the IEP meeting with an advocate and a doctor's note. We prevailed and got the morning only program. For the afternoon PEP the next year I was told that kids could rest in the classroom if they needed to. You might be able to work something out with the classroom teacher. That being said, I would not agree to a placement that deprived my kid of needed sleep. I assume you looked at PEP Inc as a placement possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Though my kid isn't autistic we faced a similar issue for PEP placement when we transitioned from Infants and Toddlers. His team wanted to place him in a program with a lot of afternoon hours. I disagreed for many reasons, one of them naps. He had fatigue issues caused in part by a medical condition. I came armed to the IEP meeting with an advocate and a doctor's note. We prevailed and got the morning only program. For the afternoon PEP the next year I was told that kids could rest in the classroom if they needed to. You might be able to work something out with the classroom teacher. That being said, I would not agree to a placement that deprived my kid of needed sleep. I assume you looked at PEP Inc as a placement possibility.

We were in a similar situation but my child made the transition and I felt it was worth it. The additional classroom hours benefited her tremendously. The kids do adjust.

[Anonymous]

CAPP is an all day program. PEP classes have a different structure than the CAPP program (CAPP is 1 on 1).

If CAPP has been recommended, I would take the placement and just let your child go to bed earlier. He will likely drop naps soon anyways at that age.

I have to admit, I'm extremely jealous.. my asd son quit napping at 2 years old and then would only sleep about 9 hours a night.. it was brutal!!

[Anonymous]

My child was in CAPP and their no-nap policy was very tough for us. My child didn't sleep well at night due to GI pain and, as we later discovered, due to seizures during sleep. The school expressed no concern or empathy and I think we were labeled as bad parents because our kid was always late since we let him sleep in. I don't need to tell you how important it is for our kids to get enough sleep, but I think this is especially true if they are special needs. This is when the body detoxes, and when the brain consolidates memory. Knowing what I now know, I would added language to the IEP that allowed for daily naps. Having said that, my child did adjust to the long day in the second year of CAPP and did even better in kindergarten.