Meeting the New Teacher

Yesterday my wife, daughter and I met with not only my daughter's new teacher, but with many current and future therapists and instructors. Picture the preschool room in the local elementary school and those little chairs they use. Then picture four representatives from the Early Intervention Program and four more from the special needs preschool all sitting with us in those little chairs. It was a humorous sight but a very helpful meeting.

The Early Intervention representatives were there with us to transfer as much knowledge as possible to my daughter's new preschool teacher and the class speech therapist. Based on the assessments I mentioned last week and other progress reports, we set goals for my daughter's first year of school. We're going to work on some familiar things: walking, feeding, speaking, etc. As time goes by we'll update the goals and keep moving forward.

The class has 14 students total. there are four adults present at all times: Jan, the teacher and three aids. Along with the physical and speech therapist who are there forportions of the class period. Three of the 14 students are reverse mainstream kids with typical abilities. They should be very helpful in modelling behaviors and abilities to the others. Class is two days a week for two hours each time.

My wife and I also had the chance to learn about the bussing situation. The ride will likely only be about 30 minutes each way and there will be a car seat provided for my daughter. There will also be an aid on the bus to help out if any of the kids are having a hard time.

I was very impressed with the staff at the school. They all seemed very kind and I was glad we met in the preschool room itself too. It gave me the chance to check out the environment a little bit. While my wife and I will miss the home visits of the wonderful Early Intervention therapists, it's time to move on. I think most of my fears have been allayed and I'm excited to see the results of this new change. Now if I could just get over the fact that I'm old enough to have a daughter who is three years old!