When to open discussion about 2E Kindergartener with school?

[Aufilia]

DD will be starting Kindergarten next year. She has been enrolled in the district special needs preschool for the last 5 months and already has an IEP.  Her IEP mostly covers her SPD/social issues but I did convince the person who initiated it to put in a line about accomodating academic needs, although since we've only been at the preschool for part of the year not much has been done in this regard.

We had talked about having the kindergarten teacher attend DD's preschool parent/teacher conference, but our teachers weren't able to make that happen. Not really a surprise--they're at a different location and I'm sure the scheduling would be a hassle.

School isn't out here until June 17, so we have about 4 weeks left to go. But I'm unsure about when I should talk to the school about DD's academic needs--should I try talking to someone before school is out, or wait until school starts? And should I talk to the principal or the teacher?

I have no doubt that it wouldn't take her teacher all that long to figure out that DD's reading is very advanced (at least 3rd grade level). I get comments on her from others all the time.  She's currently doing 2nd grade math, too.  The problem in waiting is that I think that DD tends to act out more when she's bored than when she's intellectually engaged.  (In fact, her private OT as much as said this to me this week, which I was glad to hear because that's what I've been thinking for awhile.)  I don't want her to be more of a problem child than necessary--because I'm sure she IS going to be a problem child no matter what, because she just isn't able to calm herself down very well when she's wound up.

[KCMichigan]

I have 2E Dds that are heading into K next year.

I would do a few things:

1. meet with your school principal and discuss next year (both concerning IEP and academic)

2. contact the school GT coordinator (if they have one) about accommodations

3. possibly call an IEP review with the OT/PT , etc that she may work with next year: discuss how to best be proactive for SPD/social concerns-- also state your (and private OTs) concerns on being preventative for keeping your DD engaged to help the SPD/social side of things. If school cant get an IEP before school is out, ask for the preschool teacher, OT, etc to write an addendum to add to help the transition to next year

4. Do as many social stories/prep for your DD to help alleviate some of her concerns/behaviors, etc. Visit the school if you can one on one (rather than crazy open  house) to do an informal walk through before school start so your DD is comfortable (SPD wise) and knows what to do/whom to approach for SPD related issues . If you can (and think your DD could handle it) visit now and tour the building, chat with teachers, introduce her to her adult helpers (social worker? OT? teacher? principal? Aides?).

5. Make sure that anything specific (does she need an aide, weighted vest, visual cues,specific seat, availability of favorite books, math manipulatives, etc) that may ease the transition or that you know help her in place before school starts.

They may or may not have an idea of whom to place your DD with already . The more information you can give them, the better. A K teacher may  have training in GT kiddos (or special needs or BOTH!) that may be a better placement than they would give her otherwise. Do it before school starts--- it is MUCH easier to be proactive/preventative than try to reverse a rough start to school or fill in a frustrated teacher after a few weeks.

Also:

read up on your areas GT qualifications, your areas 'rules/regs' on accleration/compaction/accommodation, etc. See if your state does GIEPs, how they handle GT kids (if they do anything! Some states do little to nothing or have nothing until X grade).

Here is what we did:

For the Special Needs-

DD1 has a physical concern. We have already met and organized a health care plan/504 for her. She has met and knows who is there to assist her for her personal care needs. There is a specific location for her personal care needs that she is aware of. This was because I insisted on being proactive about it and making sure DD and the school had a routine/plan in place for her BEFORE she walked in the door.

DD2 has some SPD/mild physical concerns/social. She had an IEP from 3-5 (social, SPD, gross motor), but no longer qualifies due to the ability to do ok in a general ed PreK class with some minor accommodations. I have also meet with the principal about her history and concerns. We took a wait and see attitude (since she has done so well in PreK), but the staff is aware of her past and her sensory concerns. We have done a lot of social stories with her to help replace undesirable behaviors with more socially acceptable ones. She will be placed with one of two teachers that have experience with sensory needs (they have an available 'safe spot' for kiddos to decompress in ----it is a nest of bean bag chairs, headphones, and quiet) to help prevent and give DD the tools to de-escalate when she gets sensory overload. If needed we will do a 504 for her as well.

For academic concerns:

I have talked to the GT coordinator in the school. Also I have had the current PreK teacher write a note on both DDs academic abilities to share with K teacher. GT coordinator also will work with a small group of K/1 students in both reading and math for kiddos that are above grade level.

We were lucky in that we were able to choose a public school that is multi-aged and is project based learning. So it suits both DDs learning styles and allows them to be in a mixed age group (they will be in a K/1 class per suggestion of PreK) with ability grouping for math, writing, and reading (school wide). We purposely chose a school that allowed for multi-age and also was known for working with 2E kiddos (per work of mouth), so that makes me feel a bit more confident that it will work out.

Do you have options in your district? Non-traditional formats (multiage, Montessorri, project based learning, ability grouping, GT classes?)?

Edited by KCMichigan - 5/26/11 at 3:20pm

[Aufilia]

Our district does not have any Montessori programs, which is too bad since DD did very well in Montessori preschool for 2 years (until they got a new teacher who didn ot believe in special needs). There is a partial-homeschool program but the schedule is not really workable for us.  Most other special programs either don't look right for us or don't accept kindergarten students.  Kids test for the GAT program in November and it starts in the 1st grade -- there's both a pull-out program and (if they qualify, which DD should) a whole day gifted school program. She should, as I said, qualify for the TAG program based on previous testing, but to get in they actually have to take a group test and, I have heard, fill out scantron forms, which seems outrageous for kindergartners.  With this in mind we have been working at home on skills like reading the instructions before completing a form and reading each problem carefully.  

Her preK teachers have no real concept of what she can do because the extent of academic work offered in preK is learning to write letters and numbers.  Lately she's come home with some very low-level phonics work, the type she was doing over 2 years ago.  Her current teachers seem to have no training whatsoever in dealing with gifted kids, though they are very good at handling a variety of disabilities.

[whatsnextmom]

Normally, for gifted kids, I reccomend starting kindergarten blind and waiting for at least 2 weeks just to give the teacher a chance to get to know the kids. Teacher's often like to "discover" these kids for themselves and will be bigger champions for them this way. However, an identified 2E child is something different. If she already has an IEP, by all means set up an appointment now. It could make a difference in her placement (like making sure she's with a teacher who has experience with IEP's or putting her in a class with older/more independant kindies so the teacher has more one-on-one with her, ect.) Even if the teacher is already set, knowing in advance can help the teacher give her a positive start.

[Aufilia]

I just wanted to followup and say thanks.  I did call the school's special ed coordinator, since the preschool teachers had suggested her as a starting point, and talked with her a bit about DD.  She did not, of course, know much about the gifted program or academic acceleration, but I will be meeting with her (or the new special ed person they're getting) and the kindergarten teacher in August to discuss special needs, and she suggested that would be a good time to also discuss academic changes. I don't think she'll be a particular advocate for academic acceleration but we'll see what we get out of our meeting in August. 

Funny thing, last week our regular OT mentioned that has noticed that DD is much more engaged and gets more out of therapy when the OT gives her mental stimulation along with her OT tasks, so SHE would be an advocate.

We also had an independent evaluation from a pediatric neurologist this week who spent quite a lot of time with DD and said she would also state clearly in her report that intellectual engagement would clearly be very beneficial to DD's special needs (which she agreed were more than just SPD, but didn't really fit any other diagnostic criteria at the moment).

It is kinda driving me up the wall that pretty much everyone who has much to do with DD on a regular basis outside the public school district clearly believes she would benefit from academic acceleration, whereas the school district people all seem inclined to think otherwise and don't really want to do anything with her except sign her up to test to get into the TAG program 18 months from now. 

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by Aufilia 

It is kinda driving me up the wall that pretty much everyone who has much to do with DD on a regular basis outside the public school district clearly believes she would benefit from academic acceleration, whereas the school district people all seem inclined to think otherwise and don't really want to do anything with her except sign her up to test to get into the TAG program 18 months from now. 

They are coming from very different points of view. Everyone out side the school can say "wouldn't be nice if,"  but the school has to figure out how to make it happen.

My kids go to a private alternative school that does a really nice job with 2E kids, but they have a 6 to 1 student teacher ratio, so they can. Public schools have pretty much an impossible job.

[Aufilia]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

They are coming from very different points of view. Everyone out side the school can say "wouldn't be nice if,"  but the school has to figure out how to make it happen.

My kids go to a private alternative school that does a really nice job with 2E kids, but they have a 6 to 1 student teacher ratio, so they can. Public schools have pretty much an impossible job.

There's a difference between not having the means to easily accomodate, and not having the interest in accomodating. We have had lots of experience with teachers having no interest in accomodating this year--not accomodating special needs in the first half, and not accomodating an interest in learning in the second half. DD is in the school district's developmental preschool this year (enrolled first week of January) and it has taken me until last week to convince her preschool teachers that they could let her do some worksheets at the writing table instead of sitting there learning to write letters and numbers with the materials provided.

There's also a different in it being difficult to accomodate, and it being impossible. Other schools do it.  My mother teaches 2nd in a different district (she's been in this same school for 20 years) and she's had kids come up to her classroom before.  I understand that it's more work for the teachers, but it's not impossibly hard.  If she hadn't spent this entire year of preschool being flat-out bored in school I'd be more inclined to let Kindergarten slide, but if next year is a repeat of this year she is honestly going to start hating school.