happy to see this board too

[wloublue]

My two oldest have mild autism spectrum disorders, something I have never shared in all my years on these boards. Compared to some of the grief others on the boards have suffered, it seems small.

I have also gone back to teaching (which I did before I was a SAHM) develepmentally delayed preschoolers. Yes, I am one of those big bad school system EC teachers (LOL) trying my hardest to make a difference in children's lives and making my little corner of the school system no quite so scary. I love what I do, and feel very blessed to be charged with the care of my special little guys. My students are on the mild to moderate end of several spectrums (SLI, DD, AU, etc) and it is amazing the growth we are able to see. Many of our students really do progress to the point that they eventually don't need special services, which is so rewarding.

Anyway, glad there is a forum for this hard to talk about topic.

[Myra]

Welcome My son has an Autism diagnosis and is going into a special pre-k ese class room next week. He just had nine weeks in an autism classroom which wasn't the best fit for him as he is only 3 and the other boys were 4,5 and 6. I am hoping the new class with all 3 year olds will be better suited to his needs. They are going to work on potty training which will be nice. He really just needs the social interaction we are in no rush for the acedemics.

Looking forward to getting to know you.

[wloublue]

We do not have a specific class for autistic children in our school system. We have a few different models for serving special needs children, depending on thier needs.

Mild to moderate (irregardless of disability) are placed in half day classes. There is a very nice separate school w/ an inclusion program for physical or health impaired kids, and a hearing impaired program at a church-run preschool, but everyone else is in the half day classes. That works well, because there are no typical kids in the half day classes, but with a variety of strengths and needs there are at least some social or communication models in there.

Moderate to severe, those who are nonverbal or have very low self help skills (like feeding issues) are placed in full day classes. Again, a weakness is no typical peer models, but they are more structured for children who need to communicate using sign language or picture boards.

There is also itinerant services for very mild children who are placed in private typical preschool settings, homebound for very medically fragile and a home therapy program which helps parents set up and pay for ABA services for severe and profoundly AU children. Of course, sometimes programs are blended depending on the needs of a child. For example, it is possible to be in a half day program and recieve itinerant or ABA services as well.

The big controversy here is a conflict between TEACCH and ABA methods. Both camps seem to feel very strongly that their way is the only way, and sometimes try to force teachers to set their classrooms according to their models or set up a strong advocacy situation tyrong to force the school system to provide certain things (like one on one assistants) without really knowing how the child will function within the school setting.

It is a mess, and complicated. Of course, as you know, every child is different and so different methods work best with different children. a diagnosis of AU does not mean you have a group of little robot children.