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What school districts have inclusion classes for Kindergarten? These are classes that have 1/2 typical children and 1/2 special ed. children with a general ed. teacher AND a special ed. teacher.
I can only tell you about lindenhurst.
Their is a self contained kindergarten.
Their is aba kindergarten.
Their is mainstreamed kindergarten, which will have 1:1 aides or 2:1 aides for specific children. Push in and push out services will be executed as governed by the iep. I know that in this set up a spe teacher will and has been pushed in for 45 minutes on a daily basis. From my understanding they keep the kids with an iep usually together in this set up because the reg teacher does have aides or aide in the class to help out. My child is in this class and it has been great for him. I beleive this is as close as an inclusion call you might get in lindenhurst.
From what I was told in Lindenhurst Inclusion starts after kindergarten and only when their are enough children who the school district deems will benefit from this model. From my understanding the inclusion class will be made up of a max of 4-5 kids with an iep, max of typical kids of 9-11 kids. No more than 15-18 kids in the class.
The class will have regular ed teacher, special ed teacher for all or most of the day. And 1 teachers aid. Kids will have pull in's or pull outs regarding their addional services.
Middle Country has inclusion and self contained kindergarden. They also have both for every grade level in elementary, although it won't always be housed at your child's home school (huge issue for me).
Where is Middle Country? Is it near Smithtown??? Why is it an issue if they dont go to your base school, what school DO they go to???
Parts of Coram, Centereach, Lake Grove, Port Jeff, Farmingville and Selden go to Middle Country.
Why is it an issue? Because would you want YOUR child to go to a different school each year and made to feel he/she isn't "good" enough to go to their home school with their peers from their neighborhood? I'm a strong believer in educating the kids where they would go if they didn't have a disability, but the districts don't agree (unfortunately). They typically will be bussed to whatever school in the district offers the class. I know kids that have been in a different school each year.
I believe Three Village also has inclusion in its classrooms - not just kindergarten. While it's good if it works well and there aren't any big issues, sometimes it can backfire drastically. For example, a friend of mine was a third grade teacher at Setauket elementary about 7 years ago and ended up with a severely autistic child (and an aide for him) who was terribly disruptive to the classroom - flapping (like a bird) his arms 100/day, all kinds of distractive behaviors. It was so bad that she couldn't really conduct the class. She ended up at the MD's from the stress of the situation and then retired the next year.
Because the mother of this child insisted that he stay mainstreamed even though he really shouldn't have been, the school kept him in regular classes through junior high school. At this point I'd be very surprised if he's up at our high school. My special ed. teacher friend tells me that autistic children generally become worse with age - not the opposite unfortunately.
I'm all for inclusion as long as other students aren't overlooked ever and their educations aren't shortchanged.
Summerday76.....I tend to agree with you but the # of children and cost factor into it. Some districts its feasible and some its not.
AndreaII has a great point, I would be upset if my child's education suffered due to another's issues and disability.
These are very stressful stiuations for the teacher, parents are not willing to accept their childs needs on the one hand, and districts want to save money one the other.
I believe Three Village also has inclusion in its classrooms - not just kindergarten. While it's good if it works well and there aren't any big issues, sometimes it can backfire drastically. For example, a friend of mine was a third grade teacher at Setauket elementary about 7 years ago and ended up with a severely autistic child (and an aide for him) who was terribly disruptive to the classroom - flapping (like a bird) his arms 100/day, all kinds of distractive behaviors. It was so bad that she couldn't really conduct the class. She ended up at the MD's from the stress of the situation and then retired the next year.
Because the mother of this child insisted that he stay mainstreamed even though he really shouldn't have been, the school kept him in regular classes through junior high school. At this point I'd be very surprised if he's up at our high school. My special ed. teacher friend tells me that autistic children generally become worse with age - not the opposite unfortunately.
I'm all for inclusion as long as other students aren't overlooked ever and their educations aren't shortchanged.
One of my children was in her class that year; and yes, it was 7 years ago on the nose. We call it 'The Lost Year.' I observed the child flapping his hands next to his body. The sudden sound outbursts were far more disruptive. While the aide was very attentive and tried to keep things under control, your friend had to contend with getting the classroom back on track. The only concession the district gave her (from a parent's perspective) was that the class size was smaller.
You're right about the child's mother wanting him to be in the mainstream. I spoke with her after an incident and she was very much keeping him there. She claimed that the teachers all refused to take him into their classes. He moved onto the JrHS and was in the band, too, playing percussion. I will have to ask my oldest if he is at WMHS now.
Another parent in the area had a fight with the boy's mother -- requiring the police be called to the school. The tension amongst grade level parents was palpable.
Overall it was a sad experience. Many of the children spent the beginning of 4th grade trying to catch up. I can't imagine the stress it caused your friend. (I used to see her walking along Christian after retirement, but not for a while now. Is she ok?)
Inclusion Good stories:
There is an autistic student in my youngest's grade. He was higher functioning and, honestly, I thought he was just painfully shy until his mother told me otherwise. The classmates all work well with one another and I do believe in this situation, it demonstrates the finer side of inclusion.
Another bright spot was in my oldest's year (the inclusion extremes) One young girl with CP was with the class since Day 1. She wore leg braces and had many difficulties associated with CP. The children would cheer for her on field day, befriended her and accepted her like one of their own. In my heart, I believe it helped give them a sense of understanding and compassion.
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