Reply to Best school for a child who is smart, but has SEVERE motor delays?

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Best school for a child who is smart, but has SEVERE motor delays?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It sounds like you are in FCPS, but I'd echo the PPs if you were willing to move to MD. Forest Knolls and Bethesda Elementary are both committed to full inclusion and specialize in kids with only physical disabilities.  There are other programs for kids who also have cognitive differences.

Or...just call the Office of Special Education where you live and ask. I can't imagine they don't have a program for kids with physical disabilities and no other issues. [/quote]

BE isn't full inclusion.[/quote]

We are at Bethesda Elementary and there are children with a similar level of need. It is my understanding that BE accepts disabled children from neighboring elementary schools because they are a center and have the specialized staff and equipment (wheelchairs, treadmill, special exercise bikes, and probably other things in classrooms that I have not seen). I do not know how large the catchment area is for BE.

From personal experience, I have found that children with special needs are often thought of as wanting in the top story. My son, after years of having his special needs met wonderfully at BE, was finally recognized to be gifted as well, and moved on to a middle school program for gifted and learning disabled children. It was hard work persuading the teachers and special educators to see beyond his motor, verbal and other disabilities, even though they were all decent, intelligent people. I know there have been physically disabled children in the program, although the ones I know were all ambulatory and verbal. Your son is only 4, I'm sure he will catch up and might benefit from such a program.

Please call MCPS special ed and they will answer your questions. 
One final thing - you are your child's best educator. Homeschooling is always an option. We nearly went there after a couple of difficult years.
[/quote]

Thank you!!! It sounds like you really understand where I'm coming from. And your post gives me a lot of hope for the future. It's been so hard to get everyone to see what I and my husband know to be true about him. Even the grandparents who saw him often didn't think he understood much for the longest time. His fine motor makes signing difficult, so signs  don't always look like what people who know ASL and/or familiar with little ones signing expect.  But once you know what you're seeing with him, you realize he is very consistent. His classroom teacher was a total sweetheart, but it took half a year for them to pick up on some of his communications, and until he yelled out, "Mama!" when she asked the class to think of words that start with M, I don't think she even thought he was paying attention to her lessons. It's like I finally had everyone on the same page and had to move. I went into into the process a little naively last year. I don't want to make the same mistake when I get him started here. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics