Reply to New HFA diagnosis, pull out from current preschool & consider special-need preschool?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My 3 year old boy has global developmental delay (expressive & receptive language, cognitive delay, and minor social-emotional delay) since he was 2 year old, and I have put him in a regular preschool for six months already. He is friendly & loves to play with adults/kids, willing to participate in every classroom activities, but sometimes has some disruptive behaviors (e.g. not sitting at circle time, fight toys with other kids, doing his own things as a weirdo, eat really slow at mealtime etc). Good thing that the preschool teacher (non special-need trained) & director have been accommodating & we have been trying to work on those behaviors as goals. He is happy being there, and he is talking a little bit more and playing more interactively with other kids in his classroom. He is also in PEP program that school bus come pick him up/drop him off from this preschool, and we also supplement him with outside private speech therapies.

Here is the question, he is just recently diagnosed with HFA a week ago, and I have notified his current preschool already. They are fine with it because my boy's behavior is not too disruptive, and[b] the director/his teachers are also surprised with the diagnosis too. [/b]My boy greet them every day when he sees them at school with hug & words like "Hi!", "Bye", "I love you"!. He is a sweet boy. They say he acts like a normal kids just on the naughty side sometimes, and with language delay. However, I have been suspicious of him autistic long time ago because he has some repetitive behaviors, loves abc/numbers, and speech delay. I am surprised with HFA diagnosis because I thought HFA kids have no language delay problem.

With HFA diagnosis, does that mean I should consider putting him at a special-need preschool with more supports, eg. Karasik, Ivymount etc because they have more expertise & supports? He is learning in current preschool, and he loves it.  Even he is learning at his own rate (slower than other average kids), but I see progress over time, trying to catching up a bit. I hesitate to change his preschool because he loves it there & I am satisfied with the current preschool, but I am also concerned that maybe special-need preschool may help/support him more even though I hear mixed reviews about those special-need preschool (strict enrollment, some teachers/directors are not that nice/accommodating, and many kids with different special needs are sometimes put in the same classroom). What factors should I consider? Thanks![/quote]

As the parent of a child who had global delays, I'd be wary of this diagnosis and proceed cautiously.

I'd keep him in the preschool he's happy in for now, and I'd get a better handle on what's available. For my son, I did a special ed preschool through the public schools half of the day, and a regular preschool he liked the other half days.

Also, I'd look at the testing results and find out if they did a non-verbal IQ test, and what my child's receptive language level is. It's hard for a child with little receptive language to participate fully. They simply don't understand the instructions.

My DC did much better being around peers. He learned by watching others, and you don't get those peer models in a segregated classroom.

Most every study says children do better in an inclusive setting.

[/quote]

Yes- this is good advice. However don’t take so much comfort in the testing errors that you don’t reassess later. Our son couldn’t do the testing either when he was little and he seemed bright, but he does in fact have significant cognitive issues that he will not outgrow. Maybe try again around 4 or 5?[/quote]

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