The great Kindergarten debate, debacle, and finally decision

The last 6 months have been very stressful while deciding where Liam would attend school for the next school year.

The simpliest solution would be for Liam to attend our neighborhood elementary school less than a mile from the house.  Initially, my biggest concern with sending him to kindergarten here was due to the fact his birthday is less than 2 weeks from the cut-off, meaning he'd be the youngest in the class and likely the whole kindergarten.  I considered holding him back a year, but the neuropsychological evaluation specifically advised against it and I was counseled that Liam might even need to skip a grade in the future.

The other concern I had about the neighborhood school was based on special education services.  Another JAG family with a son with autism will be placed at a different school in a special education classroom and his family was told the nearest school did not have the support he needed.  I asked for Liam to be placed at that same school, but was told that since Liam will be mainstreamed, they will not place him in a different school unless he struggles.  By law, Alabama has to follow his current IEP for one month, but after that, all bets are off, and based on my experience the last time we were here, I know the support offered with not be adequate.

The third concern was based on where Liam is advanced.  According to his testing, he was doing math, reading, spelling, passage comprehension at the 1st grade, 7 month level in March.  He needs to be working at the 1st grade level in many areas, while making accomodations for his developmental delays.  The neighborhood school's answer to this is to take advanced students out of the kindergarten room and send them to 1st grade. Liam does NOT handle transition well so this solution would have been disasterous.  Liam never did adjust to visiting the kindergarten room with his speech teacher last year in his special education preschool.

This was basically 3 strikes against the public school and made me decide it was not the right placement.  This, however, caused alot of doubt and anxiety as private placement means losing the IEP. 

In May, Liam had a chance to test for a slot at the academic magnet here in Montgomery.  There were lots of issues with this process. I think I vented my frustration about it earlier this month.  In the end, Liam WAS offered a slot at the academic magnet, which claims to work one grade  level ahead.  After arriving in Alabama, we visited the magnet, and Liam would have been able to manage EVERY requirement BUT ONE.  They have student do copywork and write 4 sentence paragraphs that need to be illustrated.  The students do this completely independently while the teacher does small reading groups.  A kindergarten teacher watched Liam write his name and due to his improper grip said he would not be able to meet this requirement.  I asked about accomodations, and it was clear the school would not work for us.  In describing a student with a fine motor delay she had last year, the teacher mentioned that the student's mom mentioned she'd be wearing noise-cancelling headphones at school for 1st grade and the princiapl basically acted like that was an unreasonable thing and the student would be forbidden from doing so.  I don't have the time, energy, or patience to battle that level of ignorance.

So, we called the academic agnet and declined Liam's spot.  It was the right decision for Liam, but I worried that turing that spot down meant Liam would not be challenged.

Way back, I regsitered Liam at a half-day private kindergarten (the public kindergarten programs are full day).  This kindergarten is part of a preschool program, and has 3 kindergarten classes of 15 students each.  The school is at a large Methodist church and teacher reading and math by the A Beka method, and included social studies and science learning centers that rotate each week or every other week.  They formally teach Music weekly and Physical Education daily.  If Liam stayed for 6 hours rather than 4 (optional and offered twice a week), he will get TWO recesses.  It seemed to meet all the needs I had, and given the small size minimizes the transition issues Liam sometimes experiences.  Because it is half-day, Liam will have his afternoons free.

Here is the BIG decision, I will partially homeschool Liam this year.  He has completed the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum THREE times, but still struggles with handwriting and does not use the correct writing grasp.  I am going to attempt teaching his the curriculum myself in order to improve his writing skills.  I hope that ABA and OT will continue to work on this, but I would like to be able to say that I personally did all I could.  I also have ordered some science kits and a multi-sensory grade 1 math program (Math-U-See) in order to teach enrichment in the afternoons and ensure he is challenged academically.  I have a multi-sensory reading program picked out in case I feel like he needs more teaching for reading.  I don't know that homeschooling is in our future, but I do know that it will be difficult to find a school environment that can support Liam's delayed areas and challenge him in his advaned areas.

Now I can finally get excited over the fact that my first born is starting kindergarten....KINDERGARTEN!!!!!!!!  Where has the time gone?