Berkeley Parents Network: Preschools for Kids with Special Needs

Berkeley Parents Network

Preschools for Kids with Special Needs

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > Preschools > Preschools for Kids with Special Needs

Preschool for 2-year-old with developmental delays

July 2003

Since the previous answers to this question seem to mention mostly North Berkeley pre-schools I thought i'd ask again for the Rockridge area or nearby. I'm looking for a pre-school for my two year old son who has some develomental delays so he would do best in a small classroom. He's a normal kid, very social but learns better if he's taught things and receives attention rather than left to play on his own. I'm open to a co-op also. Thank you!

It's frustrating, isn't it? When we were in a similar situation, the response to our son's delays was eye-opening! Preschools that purported to be ''tailored to each child's individual needs'' or that supposedly allowed kids to ''learn at their own pace'' either told us point-blank that they couldn't give our son the individual attention he needed, or else they couched their rejection by saying ''it wouldn't be the right fit.'' The only preschool specifically for special-needs kids (aside from early invervention programs like P.I.P. at Children's, which is only a few hours per week) that I found at the time was First Step, at Fairmount & 29th in Oakland, 238-0880. We never investigated, because we found an awesome nanny with special needs experience, so I'm only passing on the info, not necessarily recommending them. --Mom of Delayed Preschooler

Preschool for 4-year-old who needs lots of support

July 2003

What do wealthy parents do for their special-needs preschoolers?

We have a 4-year-old boy who is developmentally delayed. His speech has improved to the point that he no longer qualifies for special-ed preschool in the Oakland Unified School District. However, he is ill-suited to most private preschools because he needs constant direction, enthusiasm, involvement, and attention from the teachers. (Although he is cognitively at age level, he has sensory integration issues in addition to gross motor delays and a smattering of behavior problems.) I have unfortunately found that many preschools in Oakland and Berkeley either will not take on such a kid or are unable to provide knowledgable and appropriate support.

But...we have MONEY! We could hire a one-on-one therapist or a babysitter with special needs training, but my husband and I really want our son to be with typically developing preschoolers for socialization and peer learning. Any suggestions? Is there such a thing as a pricey, integrated exceptional-needs preschool in the East Bay?
Signed,
Will Pay for the Right Preschool

Recommendations received:

Montessori Family School

Other advice:
Check out some of the Montessori Schools in your area. Montessori method is very adapatable to the needs of the individual child. Good luck. Helene

When our son was young, we also looked at Beacon School which claimed to have an interest in special children, but they weren't interested in our son at all.
A special needs parent

I suggest that you use your money to hire an aide who will provide for all of your child's specific needs in a preschool setting. Many preschools will allow a special needs child to join their school if that child has an experienced helper who can help the child assimilate into the environment. Many schools shy away from a special needs child because they do not have the staff to spend so much time with one child, and they also feel their staff may not be knowledgeable about e.g., sensory integration issues and how to address them. Students at local universities who might have an interest in special education might be particularly suitable aides. Just a thought... Kathy R

There are many options available to you in the community. First, I would recommend getting an independent evaluation outside of the school district. The district can and should pay for that, but if you are willing, you can seek this out. My experience shows that different evaluations will have different conclusions and while I am sure you are thrilled to know that your son has improved so much that he no longer qualifies, if it is borderline and you have an independent eval that qualifies him for services, you might still want him to have the advantage of the interventions (through OUSD) that will secure his forward direction. There are many excellent dev. Peds. in the area and/or therapists who will perform this type of evaluation and can forward the results to your district. Legally, the district will need to consider that evaluation and you can then make a case for services from that point. I can direct you further if you like. Additionally, you might look into multi-handicapped qualifications for your son in addressing his SI dysfunction and behavioral issues. This might qualify him for services in order to again achieve that intervention to be secure. We have our son in both a special needs environment as well as a typically developing pre-school. Just as you have probably found, our son will most likely be in a typically developing environment for elementary education and we need for him to see/observe/participate in a typically developing environment as a pre-schooler. There is one program I know of that is particularly sensitive to integration of special needs/typically developing integration and that is Step One, although I am pretty sure there's a wait to get in. My son's pre-school, however, has been incredibly understanding and supportive. They have allowed us to have our son attend as long as we provide an Aide/shadow for him while he's at school. Again, I would be happy to address this in more detail if you would like to contact me. There are many wonderful pre-school programs in the area that I would guess would be willing to work with and understand your son's situation if you explained and provided any safeguards they might require. Best of luck to you and your family. This can be a challenging road, but it is a workable one.

Planning for Baby with a range of different delays

January 2002

My baby (12 months old) is somewhat delayed and is being seen by Early Intervention. I am gathering information on preschools and child care who will take special needs babies/toddlers. She has a wide range of different delays -from several months (mostly truncal and upper body hypotonia) to a few weeks (she is very close to age in language development). She may well "catch up" in the next year but I am collecting data anyway as I suspect most places will have a waiting list. Thanks! Cindy

Recommendations received:

Cameron Preschool

Dandelion Coop Preschool

Hopkins Street Preschool

Step One Preschool

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