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Transition from SAH to Preschool

FairyniceFairynice member
in Special Needs

I have a 3 year old DS who was diagnosed with PDD-NOS in May. We had his IEP meeting for preschool on Monday and he received a full day (8 am to 2:30 pm, M-F) placement in a sped preschool. We are very grateful for the placement and think it will be a great opportunity for him to work on social and language skills, become accustomed to classroom culture, etc. My concern is that he has been staying at home with me until now and obviously this will be a major transition for him (and me!) to go from being with me all day to 5 days of school. I guess I was more prepared for a 2 or 3 day per week program at this age to gradually ease into school. Going straight to 5 days a week feels like ripping a band-aid off as far as school is concerned.

Does anybody have advice on easing the transition to full-time preschool? Or can you share your experiences and reassure me that he will adjust and be ok?? I really appreciate any advice or encouragement that anyone can offer.

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Re: Transition from SAH to Preschool

  • lite-brightlite-bright member
    I was in your shoes two years ago. My DD1 got an ASD dx at three. And going to FT preschool was the best thing we've done so far for my DD1 -- in our case, "full time" meant four days a week for 2.5 hours, but I'd thought we would ease into it with 2 or 3 days. Nope. They wanted her full-time in order to get all her therapies in, plus the social support of the preschool environment, and it did her SO much good, I can't even say. If we could've had more hours, I would've happily taken them!

    We talked it up a lot, and honestly my DD1 did fine with the transition. She actually had two transitions in a matter of months -- they put her in ESY summer school for six weeks because we came in at the end of the school year, and then after that she started in her regular preschool class in the fall with an entirely different class, different building, teachers, etc. She fell into the new routine quickly -- I was worried, but it turned out to be absolutely NBD. She LOVED preschool, transitioned from a class of mixed abilities led by a SpEd teacher her first year to a mainstream class her second year, and is now headed to a mainstream full-day kindergarten class. 

    Seriously. It was a fabulous experience and it helped her progress so very much in those two years. I hope your experience is just as positive!

    image

    DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
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  • bumpuser511563bumpuser511563 member
    DS is going to be in preschool for his 3rd year. And he has transitioned fine the first 2 years.

    This time my parents bought him books a long time ago about going to school. I have started reading those books this week because he starts school next week. Some along the lines of clifford goes to school and llama llama misses mama. I have pointed out the yellow school buses to him, too.

    I have gotten DS to use his new backpack this week because school starts next week. I want DS to get use to it.

    Another step we just did was "meet the teacher day." The school is open for parents and students before the first day of school. That way the student can become familiar with the classroom.

    I am putting together a social story at the moment. I took some pictures of the school. The teacher is going to take a picture of the school bus and the bus aide and bus driver. I took a picture of DS and his teacher and associates. This book will be for the daycare to use.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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  • FairyniceFairynice member

    Thank you so much for sharing your positive experiences lite-bright and Sailor Saturn! Hearing how well your children have done really helps to set my mind at ease. I know that school will be really beneficial for him and placement in this school was our ideal situation; it's just the sudden change in routine is a little nerve-wracking (as I'm sure you know, having been there).

    We visited the school today and talked to the director and that helped as well. The classrooms are really nice and bright and they have a beautiful outdoor play area. His class will have children both with and without IEPs and they have speech, occupational and physical therapists on staff. It seemingly couldn't be much better. The director also said that I could talk to his teacher about doing an early pick up for the first few weeks of school while he was getting adjusted.  She recommended doing that as opposed to doing fewer days at first and working up to five. She thought that changing the number of days later would be another big adjustment.

    Doing a social story is a great idea. DS responds well to a verbal-only social story that I tell him before we go to swim class. I'll have to arrange to take some photos at the school and make him a little book. We've been reading Maisy Goes to Preschool this week and I'll look into the other books you mentioned too.

    Thanks again for your replies! I hope that your children have a great start to the school year as well.

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