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!

ESE PK - Logan

Like I have mentioned Early Intervention services end at age 3 and at that time the children are referred to the public school system for evaluation and then support. Both Logan and Cole qualified for the ESE PK program.

When I first learned for the ESE PK program I was hesitant to send Logan. The program is an all day program during normal Elementary School hours. I thought that it would be too much for him. I worried about our zoned school district and didn't want him to attend that school. I learned that I could pull him out of school half way through the day if I wanted to. I also learned that I could apply for another school for him to attend if I saw the need. So I decided that sending him to ESE PK would be a good decision. I attended his first IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting where I met his teacher and several other specialist to determine his goals etc. His teacher, Ms. Scott, took me to her classroom and toured me around the school etc. She was so sweet, I decided that I could move him to another school. That ended up being a good decision. And so began Logan's experience with ESE PK. He started about a week after his 3rd birthday.

Logan was still not potty trained when he entered PK, but that was ok. Ms. Scott worked hard at getting him mostly potty trained that year and working on his speech and vocabulary and social skills. It was the best thing for him to be in a situation where he HAD to use his words all day long.

We moved to another part of town towards the end of the school year. The following school year Logan was put in another ESE PK class at a new school. His teacher was Ms. Wendy Bradshaw and she is another person that I say helped change my life. One day when Logan was eating at lunch they noticed he had a hard time clearing his mouth. Then her para (assistant teacher) asked him to lift his tongue and they discovered that he was "tongue tied". This was a huge discovery for Logan b/c it really explained why he had trouble forming words and using his tongue! We couldn't believe that we hadn't noticed it before.....the tongue tie explained everything from the trouble I had nursing him to his speech delay! We quickly went to see an ENT, Dr. Raam Lakhani and he did the very quick surgery to clip the frenulum under his tongue. After that we saw a huge improvement in the way Logan spoke, however, he still needed some work!

About half way through the first quarter of school Wendy informed me that they were going to split up the ESE kids in her class and Logan would be zoned for yet another school after Christmas break. I was not happy about this decision as I knew that Wendy was an excellent teacher and I knew that Cole would be attending the school next year and hopefully have her as well. Wendy also planned for Logan to be put into the 9x7 PK class the following year which was only at Wagner. So I made a "concerned mom" call to the Principal and requested to keep Logan (and eventually Cole) at Wagner for the rest of the year and for the following year. Luckily, she was merciful and allowed Logan to stay. That was my first experience having to go to the top on an issue in school. It was a good learning experience and I don't regret that decision to follow through at all. I could have been a push over and let the district shuffle my kid in the middle of the school year, but I determined that I was the best advocate for my child and I should be the one to determine if it's ok.

Because of Logan's birthday he was able to have pretty much 3 full years of ESE PK. His 3rd year of PK was in a class which was a class that was split between average 4/5 year olds and delayed 4/5 year olds. It was called a 9x7 class or an 8x8 class. There were two teachers and one para (teacher assistant). Ms. Wendy Bradshaw made sure to recommend this class type for Logan in his previous year's IEP. This ended up being a great choice for Logan. It did stretch him both in his learning skills and social skills. During his first evaluation in October for his IEP his teacher was very worried about his scoring and social skills. By the following January he had blossomed and was doing well with academics and socially. I never really worried about Logan's social skills. I attribute much of his quiet nature to his personality. He has the same personality as his Daddy! Logan has one or two friends that he thoroughly loves and knows how to talk to other kids if he has to, but most of the time he chooses not to! :) As his vocabulary and knowledge increase so did his confidence in talking to other kids.

That sums up most of Logan's experience with ESE PK. It was a good and positive choice for him and I'm glad that I started him early.