Anonymous wrote:
OP - Have you had an evaluation from a developmental pediatrician as to what the root cause of lack of meeting milestones in gross and fine motor skills indicates in terms of any specific condition? How much PT and OT has your DS received in the early years? Is it "hand-on" or this new "coaching crap".?
Has anyone given you a prognosis?

If you have been told that he needs the hours of PT, OT and Speech that St. Coletta might be able to offer him, why not consider trying it for one year and supplementing the basic preschool level academics. The school is almost year-round so there woukd be little loss of skill. One year there might be the best opportunity to see progress or not and adjust your expectations on mobility etc. If DS makes gains, then you coukd consider a second year there and then go into a more local or recommended school. If the amount of therapy there is paying off, then you might pay for an enrichment teacher or even a tutor to work on language arts and math skills.

Check to see how much PT, OT and Speech other school districts would offer and in what setting and to meet what goals? Your DS has severe motor delays which if St Coketta's might best address, consider it as DS is young and has time to then be in a more academic environment. If he uses a wheel chair the school and play ground is compltely accessible. I know of the school from a daughter who worked there years ago. I also had daughter with very low tone who who benefitted from PT, OT, Speech and AdaptivevPE as years ago public schools followed the "medical model" of therapies, but that is no longer the case.

I also can say that the Easter Seal day care center is an inclusive setting because two children of a college girl,I used,to have doing things with my youngest has kids enrolled there for that specific reason. In any case there is no need to rush into kindergarten at age 5. YourvDS may well benefit from two years in a good setting if he is making progress. In any case helping him to find a consistent communication system to be able to relate what he knows might be the most important focus.

Anonymous wrote:

OP - Interesting that St. Colletta School admission is based on a lottery system so your focus really just needs to be on the best place for services for a child with physical disabilities and language limitations and strong cognitive skills. You have probably found the web site for Forest Knowles.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/special-education/programs-services/physical-disabilities.aspx

In FCPS system it would seem that there is no specialized program for this low incidence population in elementary school and therefore, it is doubtful that the level of services could be as consistent as that offered in the MCPS program because these students will benefit most from therapists across all disciplines who are trained and experienced in the needed skills.

Anonymous wrote:

OP - Interesting that St. Colletta School admission is based on a lottery system so your focus really just needs to be on the best place for services for a child with physical disabilities and language limitations and strong cognitive skills. You have probably found the web site for Forest Knowles.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/special-education/programs-services/physical-disabilities.aspx

In FCPS system it would seem that there is no specialized program for this low incidence population in elementary school and therefore, it is doubtful that the level of services could be as consistent as that offered in the MCPS program because these students will benefit most from therapists across all disciplines who are trained and experienced in the needed skills.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does he communicate?

He has some words and signs, and he has an AAC iPad. His understanding is age level. I thought the AAC would motivate him to use his hands more, but ironically, he attempts to speak the words more to avoid using it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

BE isn't full inclusion.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

BE isn't full inclusion.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

BE isn't full inclusion.

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.

BE has many students with disabilities, including kids in the school community based program who often have a combination of sever motor issues and intellectual disabilities. However, these kids spend a significant amount of their school day receiving instruction outside the general ed classroom. Therefore the program is not full inclusion, it's partial inclusion.

That isn't to say that it's not a good school, or that it doesn't do partial inclusion well. I was the one who wrote that it wasn't full inclusion, and I merely wanted to be accurate.

I know kids with significant needs at both BE and Forest Knolls, The latter is much closer to a full inclusion model.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just moved from out of state. Does anyone have a child similar to mine? Where do they go to school? He is 4 years old. Cannot crawl or walk, fine motor is so delayed he cannot self feed, but is otherwise smart? He knows his colors and letters, for example. He enjoyed the preschool through our school district last year, but as he gets older, I get worried about the lack of progress with fine motor. Our last school didn't really address self help skills, despite being in his IEP. It was way more academic than I was expecting. Will FCPS be the same? I'm starting to wonder despite the apparent intelligence, I need to think about places like St. Coletta's. At least for a year or two while he still has a lot of brain plasticity and can make a lot of progress in OT and learning those skills.

Where do you live?

St. Coletta's is not for kids who don't also have intellectual deficits.

In MD or Virginia the public preschool options will be part time. You can and probably should find private services for the other days to work on what the child isn't getting enough of in school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

BE isn't full inclusion.

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.