Navigating Through the School Disctrict Part II

Article first published as Navigating Through the School District on Technorati.

How Do You know What the Best Choice Is?

Nothing about parenthood has been as easy as I thought it would be from conception, to birth and now to school choices. Lucas and Riley are currently enrolled in a private preschool two days a week for 4 hours a day. Now that they are turning 3, we are looking at moving into the school district and out of the home therapy sessions through our local regional center.

Sounds easy enough – not so… When a child has been working with the Early Start program like through our regional center it is free until they are 3 and then all services end. You are then turned over to your local school district. The school district tests your child in a variety of areas including, but not limited to:

·        Speech and Language

·        Education

·        Adaptive Physical Education

·        Psychology – testing for Autism, Aspergers, PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified)

·       Occupational Therapy – testing for sensory type needs, eating problems, or fine motor skills

All of these tests are done to help create a full picture of your child. Once these are completed the parents and the school district meet for what is called an IEP (Individualized Education Planning) meeting. It is two hours. Our IEP meetings for Lucas and Riley are next week so information is based upon what we have been told by the school district. The meeting is two hours per child. The first hour goes over the results from the testing. The second hour is directed towards coming up with a plan for that child for the following year.

So Here is Where it Gets Tricky

We only have one child with Autism. There is a large chance that only one of our two children will be eligible for continued services after the age of 3.  Or, they both may be eligible, but Lucas may be place into a classroom environment and Riley just has one or two services.

So the questions I ask myself and others daily (or multiple times a day):

• Do I separate the twins for school?
• Do I try to keep Lucas in a private school part time and overlap classes with Riley at their current school? Maybe Lucas can get the benefits of both schools.
• Will placing my children in the school district program hinder them more than help them in the future? Lucas is high functioning and is already succeeding in a regular classroom setting with some help.

What are My Options?

The truth is, we don’t really know what all of our options are because we don’t know how our kids tested, I can only guess. But, then again 3 months ago I thought both of my kids were going to test out of the system and there wouldn’t be any “options” for us. Now we have more questions and choices due to Lucas’ Autism diagnosis.

Based on what I know about how my kids have tested – which isn’t much - and just knowing their abilities this is how I foresee it breaking down:

• Lucas in a classroom with the school district full/part time
• If with the District part time, remains in his current school the remainder of the time
• Or Lucas remains at current school without going into the district and we look into classroom aides – I have heard this can be expensive
• Riley remains at current school and has some sessions at the school district but is not put into a class room
• Or, Riley tests out of the program
• The only way for Riley to be placed in a classroom setting  at the school district without a diagnosis at the age of 3 is for him to need at least 3 areas of help such as Speech and Language, Adaptive PE, and Occupational Therapy
• At the age of 4 Riley would be eligible as a Peer Role Model in a classroom within the school district with Lucas as long as Riley had no current problems, needed no further therapies and passed the districts tests

So the Question Remains

How do we know what is best for our children? At this point mine are so young, and as we move forwardwith the school district I still can’t help but wonder if that is the right place for Lucas and Riley part time or full time. Will they be ok if I separate them at such a young age? I want, like any parent wants, to give them the best education possible!

What Would or Have You Done?

Pros /Cons to Placing a Child in the School District?