Reply to Fighting school district re: FAPE and LRE for preschooler. Anyone experienced this?

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Reply to "Fighting school district re: FAPE and LRE for preschooler. Anyone experienced this?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Honestly, in my 5 years on this journey (sounds trite) the biggest bill of goods I've been sold is typical peer exposure.  It is the least important thing for my kid and in some circumstances, detrimental.  That being said, at that age I fought the school system for other things with an advocate.  You would then move to a lawyer.    [/quote]

I have a 12 yo and I tend to disagree. It is very hard to get some kids back into an inclusive classroom once they have been isolated in a Special ed only class.[/quote]
I agree 100%.
Schools, especially FCPS, does what is most convenient for them and not what's in the best interest of the child. Placement is something that can have lifelong implications. We are fighting for an inclusive setting as well.[/quote]

There is plenty of time for inclusion when the child gets to kindergarten and beyond.[/quote]
Sure, throw them in segregated preschools only with SN kids during a crucial development stage of 2+ years, and then deal with the consequences in elementary. Winning strategy.  :roll: [/quote]

[b]Is you concern that a three year old won't be able to observe and copy the social behaviors of typically developing peers? [/b]Or is a concern about academic skills or academic precursors? I'm not being sarcastic. I'm really trying to understand the crux of your argument. We have so many different options for children 3-5 here that quite a few kids with or without SN enter K having never had academics or long term peer group interaction. Surely they don't all have terrible consequences upon entering a typical K classroom?[/quote]

Yes. DC's goals are primarily social and pragmatic communication (getting peers' attention, following their lead in structured activities, playing cooperatively, participating in circle time, etc.) I have no academic concerns yet. Expressive and receptive language scores are good. DC can read and do basic addition and subtraction already.

I toured the dev preschool. The kids are pretty severely disabled, with severe social and adaptive impairments. It seemed that the teachers were mostly struggling to keep them alive and safe. In just 15 minutes I saw a kid lash out twice and smacking peers, hard. One was rocking and hitting his head against the wall. There didn't seem to be children with milder impairments (say a speech delay or HFA). I didn't hear a single child utter a sentence the whole time I was there. The BCBA said DC will very likely regress significantly in such an environment.

The district has Head Start AND community preschools; although there are a few kids with IEP in these preschools, they won't let my child in because we can't demonstrate financial need, FAPE and LRE be damned.[/quote]

You have to decide if you are pragmatic and/or idealistic.

The pragmatic thing is for you to place your child in a part day private preschool now.  Concentrate on what you can get from your local school system and then supplement the rest yourself.  IME, children with milder impairments like you suggest (HFA and speech delay) do fine in a more structured academic preschool where the teachers are trained ECE professionals.  I haven't seen children with milder issues have aides with them in preschools- those are for children with more severe issues.  I would avoid the preschools that are co-ops or have one trained lead teacher and several other adults (usually mothers).  A regular preschool will be doing many of the things that your child with HFA needs (sharing, learning to sit in a circle, taking turns...).  I can guarantee that there will be a few other undiagnosed HFA kids there because at that stage many are still within the "behavioral norm".

You can tap into the vast network of parents of autism. They are the best organized group of parents out there. They are very well organized nationally, regionally and usually locally.  If there is no local group, you can be the one that starts one.  Once it is up and going you can meet with your local school board, administration....... to create relationships and work for change.  This is where the change is happening in Virginia and FCPS at the moment (where we live, there are also groups that cover NOVA too). Groups of parents coming together,comparing notes, developing a strategy, prioritizing, developing and keeping relationships..... It is a long haul kind of thing where parents are working to move the bar incrementally every year.  Hiring a lawyer and suing is the last arrow used in the quiver, not the first.

Change is slow, even with a lawsuit you will need to figure out what is the best thing for your child and do it privately if the school system refuses in the mean time.  Your child will be well out of preschool before it is resolved.  This is the strategy we used for our son.  We fought hard for what we could get and supplemented the rest privately.  We have seen change as our DC has moved through the school system and we have confirmation from the students "downstream" that things have improved.  Their parents are working to move the ball further down the field.

My advice is to try to look around as see what is reality and push from there.  You will stress yourself out and burn out too early if you try to make everything the way "it should be".  I wish you strength, perseverance and serenity in the coming years.  [/quote]

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