our school district is starting special classroom

[BeckyScott]

Next year DS is getting transferred to a new school. (again) They are starting up two classrooms where the "spectrum kids" will be for part of the day. There's been enough of an increase here, but it's not a big enough town to do a whole magnet school.

He will still be in a regular classroom most of the day, but there will be 2 spectrum rooms with dedicated staff that have plenty of autism training. The kids will spend part of the day in there in groups, working on social stories, language, etc. The kids that are multiple disabilities or ED aren't going to those rooms for the most part, or at least that's not how they have it planned. They're still working on the whole thing, just got it approved like last week. I think it's going to work out well for us, if I'm understanding it correctly.

The only stinky part is that of course it's not the school we're at right now, and so DS and brother will both transfer yet again. I feel bad that oldest DS keeps getting moved around to accomodate his brother, but next year will be the last year of that, as he will be headed to middle school and they'll be at different schools for the rest of their little careers.

Does anyone have their kids in a similar set-up? I know they did some touring in bigger cities close to us, to model how their rooms worked.

My big concern is that for the past 3 years DS has been in a regular classroom with a para. Pulled out for therapies during the day, or sometimes the SLP does push-in with him. He doesn't hang in the resource room very much, like 1/2 hour a day. The flip side is, though, we haven't done therapy outside of school (like ABA for example) so he hasn't gotten any "extra" and it seems like now that will happen. The SpEd coordinator said we didn't need to re-do the IEP though, so his % outside of the regular classroom isn't changing, I guess? I'm a bit confused about that. I am thinking what's really going on, is the total time he's out of the classroom, instead of him hanging in the SLP room or hanging in the OT's office, instead he'll be in this spectrum classroom with other kids and the therapists will be there, along with a regular teacher and paras. Or something like that. Does anyone do anything like this, that could give me some ideas for what to expect?

 

[bookwormde]

Of course you have to “sign off” on this change in placement (moving schools is definitely a change in placement if he is in his “standard pattern school”. Technically they have to supply the same “level of service” in current LRE as they are offing in this “special situation” (just difficult to get implemented without process).
Only you can make the benefit analysis. If they are really offering wide-ranging non-academic curriculum supports (with at least 25% if the school time dedicated to this) and better visual curriculum supports with highly trained staff then if may be of great benefit. You always have the right to invoke LRE in the future and have this level of service moved to a more general environment (with a fight).

We have a “spectrum” school in our county, which does some good work especially at the more challenging end of the spectrum. It is also helpful initially if a there has been a late diagnosis or lack of “support” for children elsewhere on the spectrum. The only problem is that they fail to let the parents know that they have the right to have the same services in the general education LRE environment.

bookwormde

 

[BeckyScott]

I think what they're doing is putting the less challenging kids in there, at least for now. There's only 18 and I know there are more kids in-district on the spectrum. I'm thinking their logic is to get the higher-functioning kids to a point where they won't need support, or not as much support, along with the lack of resources within the community. The BD/ED kids are at a different school, I suspect (although not for sure) that the more severe kids with behavior issues will be headed there. I already brought that up, as DS imitates behavior, and it's always a concern of mine to have him in a situation where he has the chance to imitate behaviors we don't want.

I'm also looking forward to it because the opportunity should be there for me to connect with other parents. Currently, of course, we're scattered all over the school district. I am amazed at how little the community did for Autism Awareness Month, and I guess I learned my lesson- next year I'll need to step up to the plate on that.

I didn't show any resistance to transferring him, so I don't know what they would have done had I not wanted him moved. They started talking about it and I got my happy-happy face (I really need to work on that). I know I have the right to keep him at his current school, but at the same time, the other school will have the staff with the extra training. Instead of a regular SLP, it will be an SLP with more autism-specific training, etc. So there will be definate advantages to that school vs a general school. Our school district has only had an autism specialist for 2 years now, so there is real progress happening.

I don't think that they've ever had anyone really question placement that way, I don't know if no one has ever bothered to fight it, or what. But the ED classroom has always been at one school, and all the kids with hearing impairments are at one school. That's just what they "do", and honestly I was a little surprised when DS started kindergarten that there wasn't anything like that for autism.

I will be dropping him off and picking him up daily, plus staying as involved as I can with volunteering. He has the option to ride the bus, but the sibling can't ride, so that's completely useless, I've always done the pick-up so I can check in with the teacher daily. I also think that being involved in this whole thing from the very beginning will give us the opportunity to be a part of the evolution of the program.

 

[bookwormde]

You definitely have to do what is best for your child. It is just important that you know the options. There are lots of districts that do things a certain way just because it it’s the way they have always done things. It is my understanding that the feds are actively pushing the states to do LRE audits so at some point they will probably ask you to do the formal paperwork.

We have both an active autism and aspergers parents support groups in our area, so you might think of forming one. It is a great place to vent and share ideas and “notes”.

bookwormde

 

[I Love Pluto]

I like what's happening in "spectrum" schools. I think this is a good decision for your son.

I am concerned, however, that your other son is forced to change schools as well. Can't he stay at his current school? I realize that this means two Back to School nights, two concerts, two of everything. But - I wonder if your other son is agreeing to this move because he thinks that's what you want to hear. Talk with him. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[BeckyScott]

Older son can stay at the current school, it's up to us to decide.

But it's a huge hassle, as you pointed out. All the elementary schools start and let out at the exact same time, and I can't be in two places at once. It would be especially problematic on early out days, or if they let school out early because of bad weather. Plus class parties which I always go to, that sort of thing. After next year they'll be at two different schools anyway for a while, when he starts middle school, and then the mess will really begin. Starting in fall of 09 we will have k-4 in the elementary schools, 5-6 at the middle school, 7-8-9 at the junior high, 10-11-12 at the high school. So some years they'll be at the same school, like one in 7th and one in 9th, some years they'll be at two different schools.

It isn't such a big deal to oldest DS because as it is, he is with new classmates every year. Like the school they're at now, there are 3 classes in his grade level. The next year they'll switch all the kids around so he'll only be with 1/3 of the kids from the year before. Etc etc. If you were at the same school for 6 years, I suppose eventually you'd know everyone. On top of that, they re-drew the lines last year for the schools and many kids got switched to different schools anyway. It's sort of a mess. The "new" school he should already know several kids anyway, from when they re-drew the lines and those kids got transferred there. He's gone to that school for summer school before, so he's familiar with it. It's wierd for me, because I went K-6 with the exact same group of kids, but both of them seem to think it's perfectly normal to be with new kids every year.

I'm sure he's saying it's okay because he knows that's the "right" answer, but I also think that as he gets older he's starting to understand better how his brother isn't typical and that as a family, sometimes we don't do things the way everyone else does. It's a tough call. He needs to be a normal kid, but at the same time he needs to be taught advocacy. But I digress....

 

[I Love Pluto]

BeckyScott - It sounds to me that you have two wonderful sons!