Kindergarten!

Many parents have told me that the transition from preschool to grade school is the roughest. Most of them haven't done the school-to-adult transition yet, so I'll be interested to hear what they have to say after their kids reach adulthood. But I will be so glad to have the first day of kindergarten behind us! What people say is generally true - special needs preschool is a happy place, where parents' hands are held and warm fuzzies abound. Erica attended the MRDD school for 5 years, from the age of 18 mos. to 6 yrs. Some years were better than others, but the facility is amazing due to the funding support for MRDD locally and the state and federal monies available.

Now we are jumping into the school district fray. Our district has a special ed. director who is a decent advocate and - I believe - has the best interests of the students at heart. Like any district, there is a limit to resources but ours provides more services than many. They have agreed to try full inclusion, enrolling Erica in a typical kindergarten classroom with a one-to-one aide. She scored at the low end of the "normal" range for typically developing kids, so if her physical challenges can be accommodated, it will be exciting to see what she can do. Our neighborhood school has never had a student in a wheelchair before, so we are pioneers of sorts (I hate being in that position!) but the students at this school will benefit so much from including Erica, and they deserve that opportunity as much as she deserves the opportunity to try to fit into their routines and social circles.

The traditional route for students in our district with multiple disabilities has been a program at another school that gradually includes them as they prove they can handle it. I really wanted to go the full inclusion route from day one. I hope that she doesn't miss out on progress that could be made with more direct instruction from a specialist in the other program, but I don't lose any sleep second guessing myself. I just pray for a great year.