tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330049216964999819.post4294935607085152674..comments2023-05-26T05:22:30.143-07:00Comments on It's our life: Question #1Cyndihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03707402484656540757noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330049216964999819.post-51956220732121868662009-12-15T01:52:44.549-08:002009-12-15T01:52:44.549-08:00I think you have to take a good look at the school...I think you have to take a good look at the school before you make a decision. Is kindergarten boot camp or do they still remember that young kids need plenty of time to learn and explore through play? Is there a lot of time spent doing paper and pencil work or in large group activities? Are there blocks and a play kitchen? What about an easel and plenty of manipulatives? Do kids have opportunities to learn to work with others in small groups? Do they have choices about where to work and play? Ask for a tour and try and get a feeling for their attitude about having Paul in a mainstream class. Are they eager to try or do they look on it as an inconvenience? What's their track record on following IEPs? As a practical matter,some states will not provide services under CPSE for kids who should be in kindergarten. You may not have a choice. If you do, in most cases the gift of time to be a kid is one of the greatest gifts you can give a child.jwghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03848946240656789799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330049216964999819.post-23705172067975951012009-12-14T20:18:50.094-08:002009-12-14T20:18:50.094-08:00personally I would give him another year in presch...personally I would give him another year in preschool. I wish we would have put the girls in kindergarten rather than 1st grade when they came home, by age they should have started in 2nd grade - that was not going to work in our case. Emotionally and developmentally they are at least 3-4 years younger than their peers, right know they are a year older than their classmates and it isn't an issue. Size doesn't seem to matter and I don't feel their ages would have been an obstacle, we didn't really think it through at the time. I know the girls would have done better with the younger kids and perhaps would have fit in better academically as well. Now they really stand out with their classmates because they lack the social as well as academic skills.DynamicDuohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17873524872136172078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330049216964999819.post-44791062452010055162009-12-14T19:56:27.518-08:002009-12-14T19:56:27.518-08:00Just my opinion here, but we had the same situatio...Just my opinion here, but we had the same situation 10 years ago. My very small, FASD son turned 5 in April of '99. He wasn't really potty-trained completely (still way too many accidents) so for us it was a no-brainer - give him another year to mature. So we did. He still ended up repeating kindergarten because he was so immature by the end of the year. So, now he's two years behind his peers in class. He's still the smallest kid in 8th grade by ALOT. At 15, he looks about 10 so the size thing is never going to go away, no matter how many times he's held back (2 is the max, the state will push him through at this point). Unfortunately, because he had so many educational deficits and yet hadn't been exposed to age-appropriate material, he still didn't qualify for many services. If we had to do it over again, we would have started him at 5 and the services would definitely have been available and offered to us much sooner. He's currently in an EI classroom and several teachers/counselors/school social workers have commented in front of him that he can quit school at the end of 8th grade since he'll be 16 this April. How dumb of them, my son would never have known that, but now he does. You have to do what's right for your little guy - good luck!Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14612523674452864077noreply@blogger.com