We didn't get the OT services through the school system. I think I'm ok with it because he does get related services through his curriculum like for fine motor and crossing the midline and sensory activities. The OT said she evaluated him twice and he made a marked improvement between the two evaluations. I must say I agree with her that he has improved but not to the extend that she is describing. For example, the buttons. Why just THAT morning he was freaking out because I was wearing PJs with buttons on them, that he was too distracted to brush his teeth and then when I took over he grimaced and pulled away from me. The OT believes he has behavioral issues outside of sensory processing. The Teacher believes that he must have constant intellectual stimulation or he reverts to his "sensory" ways. We decided that he "performs" differently under the structured environment of school versus the unstructureness of home and church. I can still request another evaluation in the future and I still have gymnastics as an option for now if we choose to pay for it (that's the real key I guess).
Kindergarten was the other issue that arose. The Assistant Principal (I love her) said that he will go next year because he will be 5 BUT it will be an inclusion class with no resource class/CDC available to him because of some rule-changing. I'll have to learn more about that. So if I'm not ready for him to go to Kindergarten then I'll need to enroll him into a private preschool next year because public preschool will not take him if he is 5. It's scary to think that he will go from a class of 7 kids of his peers (they are all HFA/AS) to an inclusion class of 20 and No Aide (and at a different school because Karns is NOT is our zone). The Regular Ed Teacher was talking about how much he would be expected to do as far as nouns, verbs, sentence structure and story telling. Even The Special Ed Teacher said, that wouldn't be a problem because he's already doing that (me, gushing inside with pride), but his current transition skills are not up to par. So in the next 6 months they will be doing more inclusion with the Regular Preschool "typical" students to help the kids prepare for Kindergarten transition. So we will see. In the meantime I'm going to be trying to reserve him a spot in a new preschool for next year.
OT results
Posted by Jen P
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6 Responses to "OT results"
Jen, it's always so hard this time of year to think about where our kids will be in September. We're making decisions and taking action based on what we think they'll be capable of, and because of that, we worry a great deal about whether we are making the right choices. We just don't know.
But one thing I've found, is that my son always surprises me. And the things I've worried about? Well, they have a way of working out. It's the stuff I don't see coming that knocks us down.
Trust your instincts. If you don't think he's ready for kindergarten at 5, then go for the private preschool.
Can you change your mind as the time gets closer and you have a better handle on how ready he is?
Jen, I just have to say my NT son wasn't ready for kindergarten at age five and I'm SO glad I sent him to a pre-K class. All the other kids in that class were turning five late (his was a September birthday) and they probably would've been ok with K'garten, but with boys (sorry to sound sexist) I think that extra year can make a huge difference. My son's now a freshman in high school; thank goodness he wasn't a freshman last year; he definitely would not have been ready. Just my two cents! :) K.
Thanks for the tidbits. I'm leaning toward a private preschool because of the whole late birthday thing. But it scares me because he has been kicked out of 4 different private preschools in town. News travels fast and at the one that they are highly recommending, lives a mom who was responsible for news traveling so fast. I'm still going to try it though. Maybe her son will go one to kindergarten.
Another option is to put him in Kindergarten, and allow him to repeat the grade if he doesn't progress the way you would like him to. The one hard thing about putting him in late is it won't be so easy to let him repeat k,1, or 2grade if you think he needs it. I'm sure the Lord will guide you to the right decision.
Gosh I understand how hard it is to be making decisions about Kindergarten and School. We had such a difficult time working out what to do with Jack, and even when we made the decision I still questioned it sometimes. Looking back now though, I know we made the right decision for him to repeat a year of Kindergarten before tackling school. I have to agree with sustenance scout - I think an extra year for boys can make all the difference.
I hope it all works out for you.
xx
Great advice you guys! Thanks so much. It feels good to know that I can trust your experiences. Because you've "been there done that."
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