Kindergarten Question
My daughter has had all of her evaluations completed by the school district and we have met with her team to go over the reports. We will be having the formal IEP meeting next week. They are recommending that she do a 1/2 day fully included in the typical Kindergarten class with support, and 1/2 day in learning support class where they will reinforce everything they are teaching in the regular class, and she will have her therapies during this time. This is really exactly what we want, but the problem is that this is not at her home elementary school. They said she can be fully included in the regular K class at our home school, but she will have to get all of her therapies pushed into the half day that she is there and it will only be half day. I visited both schools and I really loved the home school – the principal was very nice and the school itself is newer and very nice. There are many reasons why I want her in her home school, (siblings will be attending there, neighborhood kids will go there etc…) but I don’t want to sacrifice her having less services. They said that many kids do the full day Kindergarten at the other school and then return to first grade at their home schools. But there is no guarantee, and I am afraid that if I let her start K at the other school, I will have to fight to get her back into her home school. They would like me to make a decision as to where we want her to go, so that they can determine which special ed. teacher will lead the IEP team (different ones at different schools). I am very torn and would really appreciate some feedback. Also, I am not even sure we will start her in K in the fall (she doesn’t turn 5 until June) – we may likely decide just to have her do another year of preschool. They said she could always go this year and then repeat K the next year so that is another option we are considering too. Thank you in advance for any advice you could share!
Are siblings already at the neighborhood school? If not, I would probably do the other school, then bring her back to the neighborhood school next year and repeat K there! I would much rather repeat K than preschool! I think she will get much more out of that. Good luck!
By law, the first place the IEP team will consider will be the general classroom in the neighborhood school your child would attend if your child did not have a disability (or where his or her siblings would attend).
I just went through this in my daughter’s IEP meeting to plan for kindergarten next year. She will go to Radnor, just like her siblings. Radnor does not offer a full day of kindergarten, but they did offer it to my daughter and we took it because she needs it. This is her LRE and free and appropriate public education in her neighborhood school. She will be in the regular ed class with therapies both pushed in and pulled out. She will be in the same classroom in am and pm and will thus have an opportunity to repeat and practice her skills with her peers.
PaTTAN has some great resources, such as this one on LRE: http://www.pattan.net/category/Resources/PaTTAN%20Publications/Browse/Single/?id=4dc09560cd69f9ac7f830000
or this one for parents: http://www.pattan.net/category/Resources/PaTTAN%20Publications/Browse/Single/?id=4dc09560cd69f9ac7f9f0000
or this one on special education facts:
http://www.pattan.net/category/Resources/PaTTAN%20Publications/Browse/Single/?id=4f4fbd168b0332ac3f000002
You can always try to get an advocate through the ARC or a Parent Consultant through Pennsylvania’s Education for All Coalition, Inc. http://www.paedforall.org
Good luck to you!
—Jen Schrad
My daughter just finished her second year of K. The first time was at Gwyn-Nor the second time at her home school G. Nash. I believe the second year helped her prepare for first grade. greatly. But there are no guarantees your child will be able to repeat (if necessary) K, North Penn will try to avoid this if they can. I believe your home school shuould be your first choice, if they don’t offer Special Ed suggest (fight) for her to go to both AM and PM at her home school. She will get all the reinforcement she could possibly need as well as her therapies. Good luck.
Our SD also is half day KG (Hatboro Horsham) and we were also offered half general ed. and half special ed. combination of the day ( not in his home school).
My son finally is finishing KG this year at his home school fully included. We opted for Extended Day. It is a one hour after school program for kids who need reinforcement in skills learnt. This is a mix of kids who may not have an IEP necessarily, but are a little behind. So it worked out well as he did the Extended Day part also with some of his peers in a group. Some of his therapies were done during this time and the rest were push in.
We had to go back and forth with our SD a lot and sometimes the task looked impossible but it all worked out in the end.
Remember that the parents are a big part of the whole decision making process and you can suggest and fight for what you think would be the best option for your child.
- Anita
the Law says they have to provide the services in your home school – the earlier you can get your child with the friends they will follow along with the better. Fight for inclusion every step of the way – it has helped our daughter so much – she is in the middle school now with many from her kindergarden class and they are wonderful with her.