Are services for elementary school differnt from Pre-K?

[AuntLavender]

I had my child evaluated when he was 4 for my county's Pre-K Disability program. The end result was an IEP with 12 min a day of group speech therapy in a classroom with emotionally disturbed boys. I declined this placement in favor of homeschool and private therapy.

Now my son is 6 1/2. Our insurance is even more terrible so we have contacted our local elementary school for another evaluation and IEP. Are the services better for elementary school versus pre-kindergarten?

In order for my son to attend a private school that recently opened nearby he must be in school during the Oct and Feb headcounts so he may qualify for the McKay Scholarship. I just worry the public schools are no different for the higher grades than for Pre-K and we're wasting our time. It's a hoop we must jump through however for the scholarship.

I live in Central FL where the schools are terrible.

Sincerely,
Debra, homeschooling mom of 4 ages 13, 12, 10, and 6 1/2

[kbins]

It completely varies by state and local district.

That said, since schools are going for the Least Restrictive Environment, if your son's services needs are minimal (per the IEP), they probably would look to mainstream him and provide the services either as pull-out, or in class itself with an aide.

Our experience is that at the pre-K level they have a smaller population to work with, and it's so the special needs kids are more concentrated. In our district only SN kids plus economically disadvantaged kids are eligible for public PreK. Once in K, the SN kids are shared among 6 classes, so it's only 1 or 2 per class.

I know in our district, if you decline services, you're not eligible again for eval for 3 years. So be thoughtful before you start up the process if you aren't prepared to enroll him.

Sorry you're in this tough position. It's hard to enroll your child in a school that you don't believe is the best solution for your child, I know.

[williamsmommy2002]

I have a totally different experience than the pp. My oldest is in 2nd grade right now. He had one year of school before K. As a preschooler his disability level could be considered more moderate/severe and he got in class ST and a sn preschool class. The class was ok for him and he made a lot of progress. At K, we started dealing with our current district and he has gotten so much more. He is in a special day class, he gets OT an ST and his speech has come so far it's amazing. He is on the autism spectrum and we are almost 90% sure he's dyslexic. He is at about grade level in math. He has too many thigs with his autism that keep him out of a regular classroom. Plus my in my district, one on one aides are pretty much unheard of. However in our case i'm happy with that. I think at the elementary level the kids disabilties are taken more seriously and they get more attention. My experience with preschool was that they were just trying to get the kids to perform at grade level.

If you are in a place where the schools are terrible(they are here) you might get a better experience if your child is in special education. I know it's hard to be in a bad situation with your kid's education. I've been there off and on for 4 years almost. However a short amout of time will most likely not have any lasting affect on your child. If you see a bad situation, you can pull him out.

[Momily]

I live in a place where we have "universal" (meaning available to all for free, not required, I think this is a common misunderstanding) Preschool and PreK, in my area services for 3 and 4 year olds look a like services for K and up. However, we also wouldn't have written an IEP like what you describe. Most of our 3 and 4 year olds with speech services are in regular classrooms, with a special educator coming in and providing services as needed, and pull out speech in a group of 1 or 2 in half hour segments, or a speech therapist pushing in for 30 minutes during center time to faciliate social language.

However, in my experience working as a consultant for families with kids in neighboring districts, in places where typically developing preschoolers aren't in the public school, then preK services do look very different. Some of these differences benefit the children (e.g. preK special ed programs are more likely to take a developmental outlook and provide services to the whole child, whereas K and up services tend to be more narrowly focused on skills that will carry over to helping them meet academic standards in the classroom) and some of these differences are a detriment (e.g. children are more likely to be served in non-inclusive placements, speech services often seem to be less individualized, in addition, in places where 3 and 4 year olds aren't in school, children with mild disabilities are less likely to be identified which can mean a lack of appropriate peers for grouping for children with milder needs).

So, I guess what I'm saying is give it a try. Get an IEP written, and then decide whether to accept or decline the services. I don't see how it can hurt.

Good Luck!