Preschools for Kids with Special Needs
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Preschools for Kids with Special Needs
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
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.
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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