Sign Nos

Special needs preschool ( PDD-NOS ) or homeschool?

I suspect my 3 yr old son has a very mild PDD-NOS or Aspergers . He is well above average in academic skills but low in social skills . He is verbal and has 4-5 words sentences . He has only a few signs of PDD-NOS and his behavior is like a normal 3 yr old. However the school evaluation gave him an IQ of only 80 ( almost retarded) , the language specialist said he needs a lot of speech therapy because she didn't even get two words sentence . That's because he is very shy and he doesn't answers to people he doesn't know , the same for the IQ test . I feel that they will place him with these low functioning kids that are not even in the autistic spectrum , they are Down Syndrome and other speech delayed disabilities . I feel that he will not be treated at his level there and the teacher doesn't seem to be trained in autistic disorders . I wonder if he would benefit more if I homeschool him ? does he really need to go to a special needs preschool ?

My son is on the PDD scale, though not diagnosed with Aspergers or any other specific disorder. He spent two years in a public special needs preschool and I thought their program was wonderful. He was in a class of 10 kids with a teacher and 2 aides, so the staff/student ratio was very low. They were able to interact very closely with each of the students according to their individual needs. Several of the kids had social problems, but play and interaction was very directed by staff and my son felt comfortable there.

Physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists were brought in 1-2 times per week each to work one on one with kids who needed it. They play with the kids and if you watch them work, you wouldn't necessarily know the kids were in "therapy" since they were having fun. The best part for me was that since it was funded through the public school, I didn't have to pay for any of these services.

Now my son is in a regular kindergarten class and is very overwhelmed. I want to remove him and start homeschooling because I feel the school is no longer providing for his needs. I am glad he was able to go to the special needs preschool because they were able to do so much for him that I literally couldn't at home since I didn't have the same resources. If he had stayed home with me, he would have ended up further behind. This may not be the case with you, but I just wanted to share a positive personal experience with a special needs pre-school.

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