so we had our CPSE meeting for Josh – and the upshot of it all is that he won’t be going to ECEC. I’m disappointed, to say the least. However, we have to try the “least restrictive environment” first, and that will be at a preschool program down the road from Pineview. I wasn’t overly impressed on our visit – for a program that is supposed to run from 9 to 11:30, i didn’t see a whole lot happening at 9 other than just kids getting dropped off and playing with toys.
however, the decision was ultimately not up to me, and so this is what we are trying first, with a report and re-evaluation of the situation at the end of November. Josh will be in a class of 10-12 kids (as opposed to the 8-10 kids that the CPSE Chair said would be there) with a special ed teacher and a regular preschool teacher, and 4 30-minute sessions of speech therapy every week. I hope that this will be just what he needs. I have no doubt that he’s smart and capable of learning – i just want to make sure that he’s really getting what is right for him!
edited to add:
after re-reading this post, i feel like a bit of a heel. (hey that rhymed) We did pray that the best situation for Josh would be what we ended up with, and who am i to doubt the hand of the Almighty at work?!
Penny
Bummer! I hope the other option works out though.
Moose
I hope it does work out. Sounds like he’s going to get a lot of sessions with the speech therapist, which should help tremendously. If not, always remember that you can disagree, and that disagreement does carry a bit of weight.
By the way, you may need to refresh my memory, but has he been screened for fine motor skill delays? Our SLP told us that it is extremely common for speech and fine motor delays to go hand-in-hand. Because of that, occupational therapy can also be used to help unlock speech development because the same neural pathways are used.
Traci Vanderbush
I pray that this will be a good place for your son. May God do mighty things in him and through him this year!
Krista
Moosey – he has been screened for the fine motor hand stuff – there are some concerns there that will be monitored to see if there is a need for OT. I asked specifically for an eval to be done by the preschool by the end of November/beginning of December, so that we could keep an eye on that.
Kerry
Hopefully it will work out well – God has a way of doing that… making things go a way we didn’t think we wanted and finding out it was bteter after all 🙂
Still have to get you guys to come over and visit… I have no clue when, though 🙂 Tell me if you have a brilliant idea!!!
Kids start school this coming week… feel like we missed summer along the way.