Kintropy In Action

Last May, Hannah started going to the Early Intervention preschool. Before she started school, Robert and I talked to the IFSP team. We didn't have a problem with her being with other kids experiencing disabilities, but we also stressed we wanted her in shared time with peers not facing such big obstacles developmentally. Everyone smiled at us and nodded their heads. They mentioned in passing that sounded great but that it was hard to find a preschool that will take on someone with disabilities.

At that point, we smiled and said, "We've already talked to Gabriel's preschool and they want her."

"Wow! Really! Which one?" was the brief response before rushing off to some other meeting about something else.

So it is now September. We made it to several versions of Hannah's class.

The first location was O.K. They had a lot of room and plumbing in the room. All the teachers interacted with Hannah and other children were encouraged to interact with her. It was 10 minutes from our house. The class was 8:30 to 10:30 with a basic structure.

1.Free-play

2. Stations one of the following:

a. bean table (safer then sand)

b. pushing buttons (practicing using a communication device)

c. putting together a puzzle(dexterity challenge)

3. Circle time consisting of

a. one dance/song

b. welcome song naming each child with hand clapping

c. one story

4. Stations one of the following:

a. clay

b. physical therapy

c. bean table

5. Snack time

6.Art Project

7. Circle time to sing goodbye.

They moved the class to a new temporary location that is also used as a college satellite campus. It is farther from our house and they want the bus to pick her up at 7:20 for a 8:30 class. The rooms are warren like in finding and not well labeled. No one greeted the bus. The rooms are a third the size. Hannah's wheelchair with all her medical equipment doesn't fit in the room. The rooms have no plumbing and the bathrooms don't have a safe place to change Hannah. The teachers are all new, temporary and not use to working together. One nurse mentioned when she was there the teachers were quarreling and undecided on what they were doing. I haven't heard of any particular schedule of events of class time from any of the nurses. I plan to ask more about that this week. Only the physical therapist is interacting with Hannah in class. Some of the teachers are expecting Hannah's nurse to manage other children. I haven't heard of any particular schedule of events of class time from any of the nurses. I plan to ask more about that this week.

I've rescheduled an Educational planning meeting with Early Intervention. They seem surprised.

The director of the local preschool who would love to have Hannah is going to come. A representative from her nursing agency is coming too.

The preschool we are looking at is 5 minutes away. We can even take the Max to get there. The rooms are a nice size and have toddler size bathrooms in everyroom plus running water sinks. They always have the approiate number of adults to children ratio. All the teachers have a curriculum they use and have a plan for the day. I don't even know what the classtime event schedule is like but it is already sounding better. Plus it is filled with children of all sorts not just children with disabilities.

--Mom