E.I and want to homeschool

[BeauGeek]

DS is speech delayed by over a year, hes 3 years old and just started early intervention in our public school system. There are 5, 3 year olds in his one hour class that I attend with him. So far he isnt functioning well in this class, it is very structured and he doesnt want to follow what they are doing. Understandable. The teacher approached me and said that she wants him to join the preschool this fall, called LEAP, there directed at 3 year olds with special needs and they meet everyday from 8:30-11:30. The parents do not drop off the kids a bus takes them back and forth, no exception, apparently to learn independence. I'm very torn, I really want to homeschool (unschool) both my kiddos, but worry about him being behind. I just wince when the teachers tell him "its hard when you want to do something else, but right now we are doing this...yada yada" Often they will raise there voice to get his attention, which he doesnt respond well too (duh, right?) I suppose this is more of a vent, or looking with for other mamas that have children who are delayed and are going to homeschool, and what you have planned to help them along.

I suppose this could go into homeschooling, my fault

[j4m4d8]

I'm actually surprised that your 3 year old is in a group situation. We live in Upper Michigan, and we had the option to have our son attend 1/2 hour a week of one-on-one speech therapy or go to the preschool program with no one-on-one therapy. We chose the 1/2 hour a week one-on-one and the therapist also showed me how I could work with him at home. It worked very well for us. The next year they decided he was too advanced for the speech and language preschool, so we enrolled him in the Early 4's preschool program for at risk students and he continued to receive individual speech therapy once a week.

My gut feeling on this is that at this age it is most important to get a handle on the speech and language rather than be worried about gaining independence. It sounds like your son is not able to focus on what he needs to work on where he's at. I would see if you can get one-on-one therapy through the school system. If not, you might want to consider getting private therapy. Since you live in a populated area it might be possible to get inexpensive therapy through a university.

I know I was told that they cannot deny children in the 0 to 5 (age) program services even if their parents do not want to send them to school. However, your son still might only have the group therapy you're in now open to him. If you can do the same things at home with him in a relaxed environment when he's able to concentrate it will really help. Ask lots of questions. In any case, you know your child best. You see what your son is like all day, everyday; they can only go by what they see in that one little session.

That said, my son primarily had speech delays (he couldn't make the sounds) rather than language delays (not understanding words). I don't know if there would be advantages to a group situation for language delays.

I wouldn't hesitate to homeschool a child just because he has speech and language delays, especially a preschooler. How delayed is your son? When my son was three and a half we could understand mama, dada, ta-ye (Katie), no, habbit (blanket). He did seem to have lots of other words that we couldn't figure out and could point to the correct picture if we asked him to. Now he just turned 6 and most people don't pick up on the few problems he still has so there is definitely hope.

[erika h]

Hi BeauGeek:

I am a Developmental Therapist and I host a podcast that discusses parenting concerns, special education, and IEP goals and negotiation ( check out episode #2 especially for your situation http://www.womengrow.org/podcast ).

As a parent, you can always call an IEP meeting and share your concerns. You can let you school know that the structure of the class is of a concern to you, and that you feel the environment isn't right for him. Have a speech therapist you trust come and observe your child in class, and have their input (or presence) at an IEP mediation.

There are pros and cons to a good classroom setting as there is to homeschooling. Without knowing your son, or the classroom he is in, it is difficult to give you any solid advice, but in my experience to socialization and peer integration is a very valuable component in child and language development.

If he is just speech delayed, I would more likely lean to integration with speech therapy services as opposed to sending him to a special education classroom. Unless there are academic delays that are not speech related (i.e. gross motor delay, fine motor delay, receptive language delay) a special education classroom may be a disservice to him. My suggestion would be an initial conversation with his teacher to see how the instruction can be changed to accommodate him. Then ask for a review of his IEP to get his needs addressed more formally. Consider bringing in someone to help you navigate the IEP negotiation process.

I wish you all the best.