Originally Posted by
annex
Glad it's sounding like it might be a good placement. Do you have any way of observing the current 5th grade ED students to see if they have similar needs to the 6th/7th/8th you observed? I guess one worry I would have is that they may be bringing up a group of students who are very different (more behind academically, more volatile behaviors) and you may be disappointed by how much the rooms adapt to fit their needs vs those of your DS. OTOH, it sounds like the teachers are good which is a huge piece. Did you get the sense they have a good support at that school - principal, special ed admins, etc?
The current 5th graders are at several different elementary schools, so there is no group to observe.
The students in this program have a vast range of academic ability, from gifted to well below grade level. There's a huge amount of differentiation in the academic work. DS is above grade level for some things and below for others. However, due to his processing issues, he needs a slower pace and repetition. This setting can accommodate these needs.
Students with more volatile behaviors are sent to an ED classroom at the County level. The day that I was there was considered a "pretty rough day": one student had a meltdown after lunch and tried to run away from school, one had gotten sick the previous hour and was agitated while waiting to get picked up, one had a recent injury (broken bone) and was anxious about an upcoming surgery to repair it, one had just had a medication change and was having behavioral side effects, AND it was the week before Winter Break. The teacher and aides handled each individual crisis with remarkable patience and understanding. They managed to maintain the class and see to each students' individual needs.
Gena
DS, age 11 and always amazing
“Autistics are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It's that you're destroying the peg." - Paul Collins, Not Even Wrong