Starting Preschool- any nice progress stories?

dani211

Hi Everyone,

 I was just reading through Mia's CPSE evaluations in advance of our meeting on Wednesday, and, almost in every way, at 35 months, she is performing at the level of a 16 month old. In fact, the only thing she seems to do appropriately for her age is "show affection." (I'm grateful for that last one though, believe me). 

Although she is clearly far behind, I do have hope that she is going to make progress because she is always "alert, friendly and curious." She just has so many motor, attention and perception issues standing in her way. . .

 Anyway, I was wondering, for those of you with kids whose scores and percentiles were really low or just really immature, do you have any stories of success? (Even small ones). Did starting preschool seem to help? Did the kids make progress? 

MirandaHobbes

My son started EI (pdd-nos) at age 20 months. So he was in an ASD preschool 6 hours a week and in daycare/preschool the rest of the week. At that age we switched him to a more formal center daycare/preschool instead of his loosely run family daycare provider. I can say that at 20 months he wasn't speaking much at all- but a year later he was speaking in sentences! He potty-trained right along side his typical peers. When he was evaluated by EI they all commented that one of his positive traits was his curiosity and eagerness to learn. Every year I hear that from teachers- that while he still lacks critical social and play skills, they are encouraged by his charming and outgoing personality. He's 5 now, and he will engage with adults well- he likes to know how things work, and will happily try new activities. He is still far from typical- his skills in relation to his peers are a problem- but we're constantly encouraged by his teachers and caregivers to be positive about his future.

amajane

M is significantly delayed. Like at 5 functions more like a 15 month old. She just finished 2 years of preschool in the local public school learning center for kids with special needs. The teachers and therapists were very nice but I don't feel like she made hardly any progress in school. But the socialization was nice for her.

In March we started 25 hours per week of in-home ABA therapy. She has progressed more in 2 months of ABA therapy than she has in 2 years of preschool. It really shows me that my kid is a capable learner with the right type of therapy. Public school probably won't adequately provide her with the education she needs.

I think the lesson I have learned is that when you have a kid with significant delays, public school alone is not going to be enough. 

So no, preschool did not seem to help. 

thehoneybadger

C has significant delays in speech, fine motor skills. and social skills. When he started at the special needs preschool in December he had few words and used them rarely if ever. If he wanted more milk he would throw his cup at you repeatedly until you got him more. Since then he has picked up many words and started using sentences. He says please, more, thank you and you're welcome. He acknowledges you when you speak to him and is more engaged with telling you things now. He has grown so much in just the 6 months he had school. I can't wait for school to start back up and see where he goes in the next year.