4 Year Old with Aspergers Struggling in Pre-K

I have 2 boys on the autism spectrum. My son was bullied in the "blended" program, it didn't work. I fought the school district and got them both into a private autism school, where they are happy, thriving and improving. I found out the hard way that the school district will try to talk you into whatever is cheapest for them, you unfortunately have to get mad to get them to do what's best for your child. At least that's been my experience in the south suburbs of Chicago.

we took our son out - put him in a therapeutic preschool - where he got tons of therapy and services - and is now in a mainstream kindergarten classroom - doing great with all the support he received last year.

good luck.

I tried to reply to this and lost my entire post, so I'm going to keep it brief this time.

I have a 5 year old with Aspergers.

IMO you should fight the school on this! Educate yourself on yours/his rights, request and IEP meeting (which the school must do), find someone who can attend the meeting with you who won't back down, and request that they provide him with an aide (or at least a 2nd aide) in the classroom. Don't let the school take advantage of you, because they will!

Also, if they aren't already providing him with OT at school, fight for that as well. AND if your insurance will pay for it, you should get him a private OT also.

My son goes to a blended class, but all of the kids with special needs are high functioning. The lower functioning kids are either in the autism classroom or special ed (which my son was in when he was 3). He gets OT and speech both provided by the school and we do private OT and a speech group - which focuses on social skills training.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

My 4 year old daughter sounds just like your son. I started working at her pre-school so I was seeing first hand her tantrums, difficulty transitioning from one activity to another, and defiance or answering her teachers back badly! It was very hard for me to see this everyday because naturally I wanted to grab my daughter, yell at the teachers and leave with her! Ha ha. No it was embarassing for me to be honest because I wanted my daughter to be one of the easy kids. One of the kids that listens and is a pleasure and alot of times she was just the opposite! Her teachers were constantly coming into my classroom to come get me and asking me to go talk to my daughter etc I think it was too much for her to take in at once, sensory overload.There were 20 children in her class. I was working all day at the school while she was across the hall from me, from 8:30 to 5:30. It was too long a day for her. Alot of wild boys. I realized this isn't good for my daughter. She's not the kind of kid that can deal with being in daycare/preschool all day long. Some kids are ok with it, but not my daughter especially because of her issues. She did much better with 1/2 days which I had her in initially. But when I started working there, I had full-time hours. Anyway I had her evaluated at ChildFind which is in Florida. She was found to qualify for ESE pre-k(exceptional student education) at a local elementary school. She is doing great. I was scared there would be a bunch of kids with severe cases and she would learn new habits, but they have different classes, depending on where your child falls into. My daughter is with children who have issues similiar to herself, and not severe. She has motor stereotypies which is repeated hand raising and some facial grimacing, usually occuring when shes tired ,excited, or anticipating something thats exciting to her. She went back to visit her old school recently. Her teachers were ranting and raving over the change in her! Now she has a speech patholist 90 minutes a week, there are only 10 kids total in the class and this is large I was told! Usually they only have 7 or 8 kids total for the year! Any way she is gettin more individualized attention the teacher is trained to work with children like my daughter so I dont have to feel embarrased anymore and she is doing great and it's free! And it's at an elementary school. I just wanted to write you because your son sounds similiar to my daughter and she is doing really great. I want her to be around "normal" kids too! I know exactly what your talking about! Because my daughter imitates the other children too! Anyway she's already spelling her name! I know for a fact at her pre-school she wouldn't have been. They are working on her comprehension too and it's better for her to receive special care and more individualized attention because she would never have gotten this in a regular preschool. I'm hoping she will be on track with all the other kids in her old school by the time she is done in this ese pre-k. Maybe she will be doing even better than them, that would be great! Good luck H. this helped.

My son is high functioning autism. He is in a blended classroom at LaSalle II, which is really good and the teachers have gone above and beyond to communicate, give feedback, etc. He gets OT, speech, a classroom aid, and other. I'm sure if they put your son into a blended room, they have other things in the IEP. I think blended is a wonderful way to have normal functioning peer role models. It's also very inclusive so my son doesn't feel "different." Fortunately in pre-K, kids are pretty oblivious so he doesn't know, nor do any other children make him feel different. Good luck.

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My son is high functioning autism. He is in a blended classroom at LaSalle II, which is really good and the teachers have gone above and beyond to communicate, give feedback, etc. He gets OT, speech, a classroom aid, and other. I'm sure if they put your son into a blended room, they have other things in the IEP. I think blended is a wonderful way to have normal functioning peer role models. It's also very inclusive so my son doesn't feel "different." Fortunately in pre-K, kids are pretty oblivious so he doesn't know, nor do any other children make him feel different. Good luck.