Kindergarten IEP

[Connie]

Ok guys,

Collin's transition IEP to Kindergarten is set for 5/4 at 8:30. As of right now he will be included in a regular ed room for 1/2 the day and in a resource room the second half.

Besides Prayers I wanted to ask what modifications you requested when your child was going into Kindergarten.

I know I will be asking for

1) A block chair and carpet square to be used at times he is having trouble sitting a circle time.

2) Tacky tape (don't know what its called...you use it to hang things on the wall instead of nails) to use as circle time to help keep him focused. He pay a lot better attention if he has something to keep his hands busy.

3) Starting out asking for a 1:1 aid but will be happy if the just put and aid in the class room and give him 15 hours of 1:1 aid time a week.

4) A lap belt since he will be on a regular school bus and that he sit behind the bus driver.

5) A peer mentor to help him get on and off the bus.

Can you think of anything else that helped your kids in kindergartern.

Connie

[lindaadamsmom]

Wow! Connie - I CANNOT believe Collin is going into Kindergarten!! It seems like yesterday that you had him!! How time flies!
Ok here's my best advice.... LOL! -
We have half day Kindergartens too here, so we had Adam go all day -- same teacher, same aide - regular class - typical kids. So he got whatever it was that day, taught twice -- which worked out so very well, because if he was pulled out due to Speech or OT/PT or Music Therapy, he was able to catch what he missed in the other half of the day. ALSO - he got to meet twice as many typical kids in the school as he was in BOTH the morning and afternoon classes. Sooooo many kids now know who Adam is & they are all really great with him. It has worked out soooooo amazingly well since our kids just love to have things repeated -- this option just really worked out great. ---- We also thought of doing like you, the 1/2 day reg ed & 1/2 day resource room, but we thought that since Adam is such a great imitator he would imitate all the BAD behaviors of the kids in the resource room!! Also it just seemed to add an extra "break" in the continuity of his already "cut up " day -- with so many pull-outs and so many different teachers already.... Oh yeah, and he had the resource room teacher come INTO his Kindy class most of the time to work with him and like 1 or 2 others in the classroom in a small group to the side during like reading and Math skills - whatever area he needed extra help in. (I think she was slotted for like an hour or an hour and a half each day.)
I could dig around a find his IEP form Kindergarten if that would help you --- I know that it was such a terrifying time for us becuase the school kept talking self contained and in my heart I knew I really wanted to try inclusion or mainstreaming -- whatever you call it - I just wanted him with the typical kids and wanted to see what he could do, not put limitations or only certain level expectations on him, --- You know, to try it at it's best shot to be successful for him. I mean, when our kids grow up they have to try to get along in the BIG world, right? So we figured, lets start there and see what happens. Due to his test scores tho (grrr!) they really were leaning very much towards a self contained environment for Adam back then, saying he was "quite low functioning". BUT NOW I have teachers telling me "He is really quite HIGH functioning"! LOL! I have to laugh because I really just think it is his exposure & our push for him to be with the typical kids that has gptten him where he is!

The chair is a good idea - Adam's aide had him sit in a chair - that cae about around half way thru the year -- sometimes I wish he would've sat in it more often as he still has a pretty wide gait & I think that sitting "Indian Style" at circle time just helped his legs to be spread even further apart! I swear, without much effort I think he could learn to do a full-fledged split!!

The Kindy teacher actually used to roll the Mats up when not in circle time cause Adam would sometimes flop down like a rag doll & NOT budge! Once they removed the mat & the floor was hard he didn't do that as much!! LOL! Thank goodness he outgrew that "phase" about 2 months into his Kindergarten year! I think his aide was VERY happy when he no longer reverted to that behavior! (She used to explain it this way to him -- "You don't see the other kids doing that do you Adam? That's NOT acceptable behavioor. You are a big boy in school now and we don't do that!" - She was very patient with him -- even tho I know she got frustrated with him! AND he weighed too much for her to drag him around, so he'd miss out on whatever it was and occasionally lost recess time if he laid there too long!)

We also asked that Adam ride a "Mini" or little bus as the big buses have such HUGE steps, it's hard for even ME to get up & down on them!!! The first or second seat is a good idea too -- just ask the drivesr where they can keep an eye on him best would be -- I think our drivers have always preferred the 1st or 2nd seat up front - but NOT the one behind them as they can't be looking in the mirror all the time while they are driving, so Adam sits in the 2nd seat back on the side where the door is.....

Last, but not least is -- the aide ---- Adam ABSOLUTELY needed to have a full time aide as he would dart off in a flash back then & boy could he run - even with that wide gate of his. Soooo I really think the aide was the one who helped him STAY in an inclusive environment because here the teachers have like 20 to 26 kids in the classroom & the aide is the one who did a lot of impromptu modifications and repeating of instructions. She was also the one to whom we corresponded with daily --- Oh yeah, so I would include in the IEP a form of DAILY written communication with the teacher - either a steno pad or spiral bound notebook so that any issues could be dealt with in a prompt fashion. (Itworked both ways - I'd write a note before he'd get on the bus to say how his nite was, his morning -- if he'd had any trouble with work they sent home, etc. And they let me know of any issues during the day, if he was a good listener, etc. )

Hmmmm - let's see, I think that is about all for now -- LOL! Sorry I rambled on so long --- I hope you geteto finish reading this BEFORE his IEP on the 4th! Good Luck!
Hugs & Prayers coming your way....!
Linda

[steffipoo]

Connie..

OMG KINDER isn't it crazy how fast our kids are growing up?? Olivia did the same thing Collin is going to and it worked magnificently. The best of both worlds. I will review Olivias IEP in Nov when she was in kinder. Lemme tell ya MB told me it would take a few months for her to adjust she said by thanksgiving and she was soo right on. Everyone including the teachers all get into a groove by then. I can't do it till friday though. BUT... I will let you know that the teachers can use positive behavior support with Collin which worked soo well for my little social gal. Like when Liv was rolling on the floor or disturbing other student the teacher would say OOOH RUBY or JONNY you are sitting up so nicely etc my girl would IMMEDIATELY go to her spot and sit up like an angel. If they responded by saying OLIVIA NO get back to yourspot or whatever they lost that battle. We let em know it in our weekly meeting with the st ,ot ,vice principal, tsa(aide) 3 kinder teachers the inclusion facilitator and her sp ed teacher from the afternoon.They also modified her writing whereby she got to use an easel and write with markers to perfect her letters. The little letters were a big no no as she would misbehave when the work was too difficult. I am sending you via e-mail my letter I sent to the parents on the first day of school. In it I also included the simple answers to the not so simple questions kids have about ds. It was a HUGE HIT. I think it was the best way to communicate to the parents that Olivia was going to be there and simply explain what we expect of her and asked them to help us reach her goals as well by not doing for and letting her do for herself and showing her how. etc. The first night after Livs first day I got 6 phone calls from kinder parents and one lady cried. LOL I think she ws pms'd LOLOL. The next morning the parents all gathered and said what a nice way to introduce us and were sooo cool. It was amazing.,. I will tell you that volunteering at kinder reg ed parties and such is a great way to ease your way in LOL...Have a great one... (((HUGS)))) I am sending you the letter now K??? Steff and Liv btw girl u have inspired Liv and I to start some cool scrapbooking stuff. 2day I bought a stciker machine at the salvation army for 99 cents. You can make anything into a sticker its soo cool. WWAAAAYYYY off topic

[lindaadamsmom]

Wow! Great idea Steff w/ the letter to parents!! Awesome way to get started!!

Speaking of introductions, I was just reading CC's post on "IEP Planning" & one thing I didn't see (altho I admit I just skimmed the article ) that we did, was to bring a few PHOTOS of our angel to the meeting and passed 'em around --- some of the folks present had not been introduced to our son, and others review so MANY IEPs that having a pic of him brought the whole thing together a little more -- you know? - Like, we're talking about a child here - not just a bunch of plans on paper...

[Connie]

Steph,

I would love to have and use that letter if you don't mind!!! Thanks so much!

Linda -- I have a binder with all of Collin's IEP's, Tests, Medical, etc... in it and on the front and back of the binder is pictures of him. I keep it closed and out until I need it so they can get a look at who we are talking about.

Connie

[lindaadamsmom]

Oh Connie - you always were so organized! How I envy those who can be so naturally "together!" - I usually dig around about a 1/2 hr before the meeting to get recent pics of Adam -- haveta start taking some tips form you & Steph - - You know what they say--- "Never too late to teach an Old Dog new tricks!" LOL!
{{{ hugs }}} to you & the gang! - Linda

[momofrussell]

I have a binder for Russell too. Then I have another binder with JUST pecs pics in them that they can use at school if they want it. And I did to a letter to the class/kids but when Russell entered the 1st grade. I was too lazy for kindy. I did it just a one page with a picture of Russell.. geared towards the kids but to take home and facilitate a conversation with their parents. I also passed it around at the IEP when we changed schools here this year.. and I also passed out my "inclusion through a mother's eyes" deal I wrote up from last year. So they all know where we were coming from and what we needed for Russell.

Connie.. I think the stuff you have suggested is WONDERFUL!!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!!!

A.

[CC]

Connie one of the things I requested, which you may have already thought of but thought I would share just in case When Chris was in Kindy, they put on a spring and fall music concert for all the parents. Honestly the first one I learned from, since it didn't go well. Anywho what I did from then on was request that the music/songs they were gonna sing be sent home on tape many weeks before the show. Collin may not need the extra time BUT Chris did and it helped tons for him to truly participate and not just be up there, KWIM.

Another thing which was learned at Christopher's expense was in our school the ST was a bit over booked and in order for her to get all the kids seen, turned out she was taking Chris out of his mainstream Art class early to fit in the speech. For us and not saying this would be true for you BUT just in case... Chris was not transitioning well BUT what I didn't know sadly for some time was they were having him clean up in art before all the other kids so that he could leave for speech. When I finally found out what they were doing, I was like Man what were you guys thinking, although my guy couldn't' speak up for himself, it did not take a brain surgeon to know he felt as if he was being punished to have to leave art when no one else was, KWIM. And when he was just in kindy that was part of the whole thing from him being mainstreamed to see how the "general" population kids cleaned up and got on line, etc You know, role model stuff. Hmm hope this made sense and not saying at all you will have these kinds of problems BUT my best advise is know exactly what they are doing that Collin may not be able to share yet.

One other thing I can think of at the moment was we found for Chris it worked out very cool to have a child from his main-steam class come and get him and walk with him to the class instead of the aide. He really seem to like that and the kids that came and got Chris really seem to like it too. Really made it more of included, least in my mind.

BEST of LUCK with KINDY, Chris loved it and I am sure Collin will too

CC ~

[momofrussell]

CC you brought up a good point.. part of the Mother's Day fiasco (which yes was a learning experience) was that they could have sent the "program" home for me to work on with him. It was suppose to be a surprise.. but the end result was a worse surprise because no one really prepaired for Russell and what it intaled!

So Connie... that is a good idea to always make sure for parties and events.. that you and Collin are prepared before hand if need be.

A.

[steffipoo]

Ya know how I went about the Christmas/holiday program for Olivia when she was in kindy? hee hee... I KNEW from being there with Kyle that the holiday program is SUPER important to 2 of the 3 kinder teachers. They have em practicing at the end of oct for their dec 8 or so performance. Our home school is a fine and performing arts magnet so I wanted to get started on the right foot and my girl is a hambone and I KNEW she'd do great.no stage fright there. SO... In the end of Sept. I asked the kinder teachers for the song list for the holiday show as I wanted to start extra early so she'd get a jump starton the class. PLUS her bro was in it 2 years earlier and he remembers the whole thing so I used that one as well. They gladly gave me the sheets !!!!LOLOL. The anal one practically threw it at me cayuse I think she was expecting Liv would NEVER doit. lol.... WELL she did put up a fuss just proir to the show(the one kindy teacher) and Livs tsa said she'll be fine I'll stand behind her. The one teacher wanted her to the side not on the tiers..grrrr. WELL her tsa INSISTED as well as the inclusion facitator who happened to come by that day...LOL.After the show by which my girl not only sang loud and knew all the words. and LOL waved and yelled HI MOM and blew me a kiss. She did it all right one and was that 1 kinder teacher not burning up inside as EVERY person in the place said to me and the kinder teacher how FABULOUS Liv was. She really shines when she gets up there just gets real animated...so that was my sly way of manuevering Livs way in without too much of a fuss. I jusy asked em for the lyrics and told em we'd be practicing giving em no choice to say a word I mean what can they say then????LOLPLUS her sp ed teacher from 11 30 am (after kinder in the morning) till dismissal also had Liv doing yoga with the magnet 2nd graders 2 times a week and she did 2 anansi plays with the magnet first second and third graders... She also went on the kinder field trips her sp ed trips and to some of the first grade trips as she was 6 then and it was written in her iep she is a first grader fully included in kinder for socialization . She had done kinder when she was 4 almsot 5 at a different school in a sp ed class and in cali when your 6 you hafta be in a full day of school. We got away with some weird things lol. c ya.it was a great year. Any idea whether or not your district offers the services of an inclusion facitator? Olivia had the best one for 6 hrs a week to help her aide modify observe co teach to show the kinder teachers a few tricks of the trade with all the kids. etc. inquire about it also esy if ya want.

[Connie]

Thanks for all your advice!!!

Our meeting is tomorrow morning at 8:30 am. Now all I need is your prayers that God will be done and we all have Collins best interest in mind.

Thanks ahead of time,
Connie

[Connie]

A.

I also wanted to ask if you would send me your letter you made for Russell.

I really love Steff and she made me want to sit down and try an write one of my own but I would like some more ideas....like from the one you wrote!!!

Thanks,
Connie

[SuziF]

Ok Gals...I'm printing this all out for tomorrow too as Meri's Kindy IEP is at 9:15 tomorrow as well !
We'd already requested the 2 1/2 day sessions rather than whole day as per other conversations with Steph & how it worked for Liv.
Thanx Bunches !
Suzi

[steffipoo]

Did ya get the letter? If not figured I will write it here. It came from HUGE HUGE help from the ever famous MB!!! Who loves ya girl....

To get an aide here in cali they hafta write a behavior support plan. Academics does not mean you get an aide at all. As a matter of fact here it has nothing to do with it. So we used health and safety reasons for her need for a tsa. toileting. wandering (even tho she never would LOL), safety and her inability to access the play equiptment.... etc etc etc.

here's the letter.... Did you get yours Connie? Hey copy whatever you'd like .Some parts can apply to how u feel and others could be just the opposite,like I said I put it in the folders of the kids the first day of school. But if you'd like to copy word 4 word changing names please be my guest. Brought me sooo much parent support. Kinda saying , she's here, here's how she is going about it(aides, ieps, etc), here;s how you can help(parents love to help ) and also relieves some of the fears some parents may have that the class will be slowed down cause of this particular child. KWIM? Thats it....

Hi my name is stephanie Lipton mom to Olivia Lipton who will be in kindergarten with your children.
As I am terrible speaking in crowds,( a nervous wreck generally) I decided to type up a few words to you the parents….
My daughter Olivia is 5 years old and was born with Down syndrome. She is the light of our eyes. Olivia will join the “typical” classroom this year. Last year she attended a special education class for kindergarten. Now we feel she is ready for the Loyola Village kindergarten program. I have attached a few sheets of information about down syndrome and simple answers to any questions your children may have.
Please feel free to call me Stephanie Lipton or my husband Jeffrey Lipton at (310) %$%$%% with any questions , comments or concerns. We will respect all comments and questions you may have.
Okay here goes. I wanted to tell you all what happens when a child with a disability attends a typical classroom.
Olivia will have a wonderful one on one aide to guide her through the morning kindergarten program.
Olivia has what you call an IEP(individualized education plan). SO… if the material is over her head, her aide will modify the curriculum to a level she can work on. In no WAY,SHAPE, or FORM will the class be slowed down for your children.
I have had the pleasure ofworking with Miss S, F and N 2 years ago when my son was in kindy. You will be amazed at what your kids are going to learn.
Last thing here. We have established 3 long term goals for Olivia.
1.) get a job
2.)have a social life
3.)move away from home
These 3 long term goals require independence. AND I know looking this far ahead may look CRAZY to you all. BUT hey CALL ME CRAZY!!!
I have one favor to ask of you as parents and hopefully future friends. PLEASE do NOT “do for” or “fix” things for Olivia. You can show and guide her “that’s GREAT.” I ask this of you because we want Olivia to OWN her skills rather than have everyone “fix” things for her. This is the only way we can help Olivia reach her long –term goals.
Olivia is a GREAT kid and an even better friend. I KNOW in my heart of hearts your children will learn to be much more patient, tolerant and compassionate human beings after having met my girl. If you read through this whole thing THANK YOU. And remember please call us with any comments ,concerns, or positive feedback. Thanks again
Stephanie Lipton

[steffipoo]

oh yea liv just had her one on one for her reg ed kindy class not from 11 30 to 2 30 in her sp ed class. Peer helpers like cc said work really great too. Kids love to get out of class and do IMP jobs like helping someone who needs it.