11/28/2006

 

Hi Kerry,

 

Jason, after 3 years of pre-school is also in his second year of morning 1/2 day Kindergarten with a 1 on 1 paraprofessional.  Last year, during the school year he was constantly taken out of the class for Special Education, PT, OT & Speech.  He missed every lesson and social opportunity either completely or in part (which confused him and caused for problems).  He had to leave a project in the middle or come back and try to "catch up" and again not finish.  Jason is also still very weak, just the past 2 months is able after several tries and almost falling backwards pulling to open the refridgerator door.  He would be worn out long before the school day ended with all his related service and I would have to pick him up earlier than the 2 1/2 hours allotted.

 

This year we choose a modified school day that is working out very well.  He goes to class (with a 1 on 1) for the entire class time and gets to participate as much as he does, in all the classes activities.  The paraprofessional keeps him on track and even if there are 3 projects to do that day, he doesn't leave the assignment table until he completes what is needed - so he usually doesn't get to one (that comes home for us to do when we can).  The paraprofessional also helps him to try to interact with the other students and she picks a student in the class to talk about with him that week to help him get to know others.  I'm not sure how that is working, he still doesn't know any of the kids and focuses on twins that were in his class a while ago.

 

Anyway, we are looking at keeping the modified day for next year (1st grade), and pushing the day longer than now to hopefully build up his tolerance for the noise and transitions of the school day that he really rejects at different points in time.  The school, after much education, in-services and constant meetings, and a just approved IEP for this year!, are doing pretty well with Jason.  No one believes that he can jump right into a full day of school at this point, though things could change by next year, so we feel good about the modified day that can be extended as he gets more accepting to the environment.

 

Maybe this kind of schedule could work for J.R. to ease him into a full day for next year.

 

Take care,

Vickie