ESE PK - Cole

A year and a half after I dropped my 3 year old Logan off to school, I dropped of my 3 year old Cole as well. It was much easier the second time as I was confident in the process. Cole toddled off to PK in April right after his 3 birthday. He ended up in Logan's class with Ms. Wendy for that brief time and it was good for him to get used to the school day with his brother there to help him out. It was interesting to talk to their teachers about their interactions during the day. We all agreed that the brief nature of the arrangement was good. Siblings in the same class is usually not a great idea, but it worked for those few months.

Cole had OT, PT and Speech and Vision Therapy services on his IEP. So an OT and PT came to visit him during his class time. OT in the school district is different than the OT that he was getting at PTS. At PTS he received a lot of Sensory type therapy. OT in the school district was more based on his delay in fine motor skills. Because of this we continued to pay for OT at PTS for another 8 months so that Marcia could work with Cole using Sensory strategies.

Cole's first FULL year of ESE PK was different in a sense than Logan's was. Wendy left to teach college students and get her doctorate for free. So Cole had a new teacher. Ms. Ana was a wonderful lady and teacher. She worked hard with Cole and she worked hard to learn about Cole and sensory issues. Academically, with Ms. Ana Cole did very well. But at 3.5-4 he was having a lot of difficulty with behavior problems and refusing to do things. He would have melt downs at school and at home. That time period for us was very difficult. Ms. Ana did help us with potty training Cole and he was almost completely potty trained by the end of his year with her. Ms. Ana kept me informed and spoke to me often about Cole's progress.

We moved to another school district at the end of of Cole's first full year of ESE PK. So he had to start over at another school the following year. Mrs. Shannon Moats was Cole's teacher at NE Roberts Elementary. She was wonderful with Cole and b/c she understood sensory issues integrated a lot of sensory breaks into Cole's day automatically. Cole's behavior was excellent for her and she adored him. At Roberts I was unable to visit the kid's classes like I had at Wagner and the boys rode the bus, so I felt more disconnected. I got some response from Ms. Moats through out the year and over all he was improving and doing very well. Cole continued to struggle at home with some behavior problems. We saw somethings at church where he would be defiant with a new teacher for Sunday School etc.

Over all, Cole saw much improvement during his time in ESE PK. From barely talking his first year at Wagner to singing a song at the end of his school year at Roberts. The change in him was great and I could definitely see how all these people worked together to help him succeed!