Supposed to start K next year - in PEP this year

[Anonymous]

PEP has been great, and I WISH we had qualified at 3 or had another year. My son has made so nuch progress. BUT, I want another year of preschool before K. He is very immature in many ways and I think could use it for all purposes. I know people have asked this before, but what are the options? Issues are manifold. One, find a school. We had a horrible awful time at a regular pre K at 3. I am not even sure there is a preschool that is a good fit. I could hire a full time tutor. Two, what happens with the IEP? Hmmmm. Three, is it worth it? My kid is going to have issues throughout his schooling (severe ADHD, worried about LDs - he has a "benign" seizure disorder associated with them). PEP teacher says ready for K, but I am deeply and inherently suspicious. She also always tells me things are great when we often have trouble at home and at private therapies. He is not getting any speech or OT in his IEP right now, either. What am I pushing for for K? So many questions, I am sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PEP has been great, and I WISH we had qualified at 3 or had another year. My son has made so nuch progress. BUT, I want another year of preschool before K. He is very immature in many ways and I think could use it for all purposes. I know people have asked this before, but what are the options? Issues are manifold. One, find a school. We had a horrible awful time at a regular pre K at 3. I am not even sure there is a preschool that is a good fit. I could hire a full time tutor. Two, what happens with the IEP? Hmmmm. Three, is it worth it? My kid is going to have issues throughout his schooling (severe ADHD, worried about LDs - he has a "benign" seizure disorder associated with them). PEP teacher says ready for K, but I am deeply and inherently suspicious. She also always tells me things are great when we often have trouble at home and at private therapies. He is not getting any speech or OT in his IEP right now, either. What am I pushing for for K? So many questions, I am sorry.[/quote


When is your DS's birthday? Close to cut off?

[Anonymous]

Nope, in January, so not close to cut off. He is also very tall and large for his age, always in 100 percentile.

[Anonymous]

Our son was exactly the same last year. Do you get private therapies? We chose to leave the MCPS system and go private. It is expensive (Transitional K program, plus we provide shadows trained by his ABA therapist, and he attends ABA outside school for 3 hours a week, and private OT 1 hour a week).

I toured the Diener School yesterday and was very impressed. It sounds like it may be kind of what you are looking for if private is an option.

You can "waive" K in the MCPS system and keep the IEP for when/if you want to return to MCPS. The IEP team should explain everything to you.

[Anonymous]

I have done similar thinking related to my child. I think he's more mildly affected than yours (only saying this to be accurate) but still have concerns about social/behavioral and focus issues. One argument I have found persuasive is that unless you are replacing K with a high-quality program where they will be working on skills, it's not clear that redshirting is that helpful. If you redshirt and just stay in a preschool that is not working on skills, it's not clear that the passage of time alone will bring improvements. This is a skills-based, vs maturity-based, conception.

Assuming that the child is cognitively on track, the ideal would be to start K on time, as long as the K program could differentiate to meet his needs.

My son is also big, and I also consider whether being so much bigger than the other kids would have a poor social impact.

I found this paper really helpful: https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200309/DelayingKEntry.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have done similar thinking related to my child. I think he's more mildly affected than yours (only saying this to be accurate) but still have concerns about social/behavioral and focus issues. One argument I have found persuasive is that unless you are replacing K with a high-quality program where they will be working on skills, it's not clear that redshirting is that helpful. If you redshirt and just stay in a preschool that is not working on skills, it's not clear that the passage of time alone will bring improvements. This is a skills-based, vs maturity-based, conception.

Assuming that the child is cognitively on track, the ideal would be to start K on time, as long as the K program could differentiate to meet his needs.

My son is also big, and I also consider whether being so much bigger than the other kids would have a poor social impact.

I found this paper really helpful: https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200309/DelayingKEntry.pdf

That is what I want to do. Also, we are not actually getting any services under our IEP right now other than being in PEP and I don't think we will get speech next year, or even OT which is crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have done similar thinking related to my child. I think he's more mildly affected than yours (only saying this to be accurate) but still have concerns about social/behavioral and focus issues. One argument I have found persuasive is that unless you are replacing K with a high-quality program where they will be working on skills, it's not clear that redshirting is that helpful. If you redshirt and just stay in a preschool that is not working on skills, it's not clear that the passage of time alone will bring improvements. This is a skills-based, vs maturity-based, conception.

Assuming that the child is cognitively on track, the ideal would be to start K on time, as long as the K program could differentiate to meet his needs.

My son is also big, and I also consider whether being so much bigger than the other kids would have a poor social impact.

I found this paper really helpful: https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200309/DelayingKEntry.pdf

That is what I want to do. Also, we are not actually getting any services under our IEP right now other than being in PEP and I don't think we will get speech next year, or even OT which is crazy.

Is there any such program, is really my question.

[Anonymous]

Hi there! My son did PEP when he was 4. It was a great program but there is really nothing that MCPS offers for kids who are at grade level but who have special needs that make mainstream difficult.

You have to present "data" to show that your child needs a more supportive environment than his homeschool for K. Meaning, you have to take your assessments from doctors and therapists and present them to the IEP team. Otherwise, the only thing you have is their assessment of your child's educational impact and progress. And it seems like the teacher thinks everything is hunky-dory. I would get to an OT and SPL for assessments now to submit if you would like support in public for next year.

You could go private. My child is at Maddux. The kids in the class seem to be mostly ADHD and/or mild ASDs. The school does well with kids who need some academic support bc of their attention issues. And great social learning curriculum.

[Anonymous]

We have assessments from both an OT and an SLP. He is in low average range for both but needs help. I guess we just keep doing private for those things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have done similar thinking related to my child. I think he's more mildly affected than yours (only saying this to be accurate) but still have concerns about social/behavioral and focus issues. One argument I have found persuasive is that unless you are replacing K with a high-quality program where they will be working on skills, it's not clear that redshirting is that helpful. If you redshirt and just stay in a preschool that is not working on skills, it's not clear that the passage of time alone will bring improvements. This is a skills-based, vs maturity-based, conception.

Assuming that the child is cognitively on track, the ideal would be to start K on time, as long as the K program could differentiate to meet his needs.

My son is also big, and I also consider whether being so much bigger than the other kids would have a poor social impact.

I found this paper really helpful: https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200309/DelayingKEntry.pdf

That is what I want to do. Also, we are not actually getting any services under our IEP right now other than being in PEP and I don't think we will get speech next year, or even OT which is crazy.

Is there any such program, is really my question.

Well in theory, K with an IEP is supposed to be how they differentiate to teach him skills. It is bit of a leap of faith, I understand, especially if you had a bad experience in public PK3 before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have done similar thinking related to my child. I think he's more mildly affected than yours (only saying this to be accurate) but still have concerns about social/behavioral and focus issues. One argument I have found persuasive is that unless you are replacing K with a high-quality program where they will be working on skills, it's not clear that redshirting is that helpful. If you redshirt and just stay in a preschool that is not working on skills, it's not clear that the passage of time alone will bring improvements. This is a skills-based, vs maturity-based, conception.

Assuming that the child is cognitively on track, the ideal would be to start K on time, as long as the K program could differentiate to meet his needs.

My son is also big, and I also consider whether being so much bigger than the other kids would have a poor social impact.

I found this paper really helpful: https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200309/DelayingKEntry.pdf

That is what I want to do. Also, we are not actually getting any services under our IEP right now other than being in PEP and I don't think we will get speech next year, or even OT which is crazy.

Is there any such program, is really my question.

Well in theory, K with an IEP is supposed to be how they differentiate to teach him skills. It is bit of a leap of faith, I understand, especially if you had a bad experience in public PK3 before.

I guess, yeah. I am not sure how that is really going to work for him. I guess we will see. His teacher even said something about dropping the IEP! I think she is a little out of touch with how impacted he is.

[Anonymous]

Did you submit your private evals? Do you have a developmental pediatrician who sees your child? You should submit all those private reports to the IEP team ASAP.

[Anonymous]

My DS is in 3rd grade now but I remember when he was leaving PEP NONE OF THE PARENTS felt their kids were ready for Kindergarten. Not one. All of them wanted to convince PEP to give kids an extra year.

OP, my advice is to try kindergarten. See how it works. And I don't just mean a few days or weeks, give it the fall. If it truly means your child cannot adjust, then go private or consider a school like Diener. But don't decide in January of the final year of PEP that the following September your child won't be able to handle Kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is in 3rd grade now but I remember when he was leaving PEP NONE OF THE PARENTS felt their kids were ready for Kindergarten. Not one. All of them wanted to convince PEP to give kids an extra year.

OP, my advice is to try kindergarten. See how it works. And I don't just mean a few days or weeks, give it the fall. If it truly means your child cannot adjust, then go private or consider a school like Diener. But don't decide in January of the final year of PEP that the following September your child won't be able to handle Kindergarten.

This is the best advice given. At 4.5 my child looked like they needed an extra year but come 5, he was clearly ready for more academics and something different than he was in. We pushed ahead and I think the stronger academics and programing were very helpful as he thrived that year. I would try K. and if it doesn't work out, then if you can afford it go private for a few years. Other option is to do a private K. We did that and it helped with the smaller classes/more attention. Kid can change a lot between now and September.

[Anonymous]

Where are you? If you have concerns, I would wait. We did a red shirt year at a SN preschool and it was a good decision. K was still hard even after that.