busymama7 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I need some support from moms who have done this. My 3 year old(#6 of 7) qualified for preschool for developmental delays(speech/language). He is severly delayed, no question. I do feel like he needs the services and we can't afford to do it privately. I dont do preschool, never have. Even before I homeschooled, I didn't. I have very strong beliefs that small children need to be with their moms on a daily basis. I have never worked outside the home(well to be fair I am now a midwife, but on a very limited basis and my kids are mostly either with siblings or dad when I am gone) or sent my kids to daycare/preschool. My oldest went to kindergarten, but we have homeschooled ever since. HE IS SO YOUNG!!! :crying: I dont want to send him away every day. Yes, its only a 1/2 day and only 4 days a week, but it still just seems like way too much to me. Speech therepy only is not an option as it is a language delay. This process has taken a few months of testing etc and I thought I was prepared. But they just called with his school assignment and asked me to go down and register him. I am a wreck. Tell me this is going to be ok. He will enjoy it and adjust to being away everyday. It wont tramatize him and he will get the services he needs. I just wish there was another way to help him and keep him at home. But I dont see a way. I have put this off as long as I could and he needs this. I know he does. But why does it have to be so hard?!?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HayesW Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My number 4 of 6 went to a preschool program, through our local school district, when he was three. He was a typically developing peer in a class of children with all kinds of mixed abilities. He loved it. There was one classroom teacher plus 2 aides. They were all wonderful. They truly loved my child. I was welcome to visit anytime I wanted. I know it is hard, but he will receive great instruction and care. Hugs to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fhjmom Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My Littlest (4 YO) is in the PALS program at our local school district for speech and language delay related to her hearing loss. The preschool program meets 2 hours a day/5 days a week. Since it is from 8-10 a.m., I use it as a reason to get us up and motivated in the mornings, which really does help me since I am not a morning person. I also do a few things with my 2 older ones that are a little hard to do when Littlest is around, for example I try to do lessons that I know may take a little more focused attention with one or the other. The two olders and I also spend an hour in our church prayer room ministry on Friday mornings praying. Littlest loves school and I think it is helping her speech and language, but I also don't think twice about her missing a day if we have a field trip or family day planned. It helps that we have an awesome deaf ed teacher that is totally supportive of our decision to homeschool and also comes to the house one day a week for an hour to work with the girls. I will add that my other two did go to a Mother's Day Out type of preschool a couple of days a week when they were little and before homeschooling was even on my radar, so the idea of littles being home is not as ingrained in my psyche as it sounds like it is for you. And while it may be true that the preschool is the most appropriate placement for your child's language needs, a private/one-on-one setting can still work on language therapy, it is just hard to find an SLP that is not geared toward articulation/speech and can actually address language well in those settings. HUGS!! I understand it can be hard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) Chances are, he will thrive in his preschool. Please don't let him feel that you don't like the idea, or he will pick up on that and possibly have a more difficult time adjusting. My girls were late bloomers in the speech department and began preschool between 2.5 and 3. It took them only a couple days to settle in, and it did take a while for me to see speech improve, but it was a good decision to send them. It's good for them to interact with multiple adults as well as children every day, even aside from the speech/language issues. Don't worry! Edited January 23, 2012 by SKL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess Peach Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 He will be okay. You are doing the best thing for him. Take it easy on yourself. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenpatty Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 :grouphug::grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaS Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 :grouphug::grouphug: #3 of 4 went to a special needs preschool from age 2-3. He was on a feeding tube, was delayed in language and has some motor skills delays. He received OT and PT there. It was so hard to leave him. He cried the first few times, but very quickly adjusted (and so did I) and they were wonderful with him. He did so many things for them that he would never do for me. :glare: Like eat. :lol: It was just what he needed. Hang in there. :001_smile: My ds loved going and he still talks about Miss Margaret (we had a foster daughter that attended the same class, later on and that kept Miss Margaret fresh in his mind.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I need some support from moms who have done this. My 3 year old(#6 of 7) qualified for preschool for developmental delays(speech/language). He is severly delayed, no question. I do feel like he needs the services and we can't afford to do it privately. I dont do preschool, never have. Even before I homeschooled, I didn't. I have very strong beliefs that small children need to be with their moms on a daily basis. I have never worked outside the home(well to be fair I am now a midwife, but on a very limited basis and my kids are mostly either with siblings or dad when I am gone) or sent my kids to daycare/preschool. My oldest went to kindergarten, but we have homeschooled ever since. HE IS SO YOUNG!!! :crying: I dont want to send him away every day. Yes, its only a 1/2 day and only 4 days a week, but it still just seems like way too much to me. Speech therepy only is not an option as it is a language delay. This process has taken a few months of testing etc and I thought I was prepared. But they just called with his school assignment and asked me to go down and register him. I am a wreck. Tell me this is going to be ok. He will enjoy it and adjust to being away everyday. It wont tramatize him and he will get the services he needs. I just wish there was another way to help him and keep him at home. But I dont see a way. I have put this off as long as I could and he needs this. I know he does. But why does it have to be so hard?!?!? I did this. I had to face sending my youngest to developmental preschool when his older sister had never gone to school. It was so hard and I cried. I went to observe the program, thinking it would be silly and pointless to send him. It was not. It was very good. Every activity had a therapy goal in mind. They even created specific speech and fine motor goals for snack time. I could SEE what they were doing, but I did not have TIME to create and implement a program like that because my son needed it right then. Knowing how good it was made my cry some more. Then I sent him. It was FINE. The bus (with carseats) picked him up at our house and returned him 3 hours later. My daughter got all of her school done during this time. My son loved preschool. He had PT, OT, and speech during this time. He made friends that we still see 8 years later. He came home to homeschool kindergarten. it wasn't just fine, it was a very good experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My girls both did this and LOVED the program and LOVED the bus ride. They each had programs that were a good fit for them and they were very beneficial. I ended up homeschooling them from K-6th grade and now they are both in school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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