PDD-NOS (mild autism) : homeschool or preschool?

Question

I suspect my 3 yr old son has a very mild PDD-NOS or Aspergers . He is well above average in academic skills but low in social skills . He is verbal and has 4-5 words sentences . He has only a few signs of PDD-NOS and his behavior is like a normal 3 yr old. However the school evaluation gave him an IQ of only 80 ( almost retarded) , the language specialist said he needs a lot of speech therapy because she didn't even get two words sentence . That's because he is very shy and he doesn't answers to people he doesn't know , the same for the IQ test . I feel that they will place him with these low functioning kids that are not even in the autistic spectrum , they are Down Syndrome and other speech delayed disabilities . I feel that he will not be treated at his level there and the teacher doesn't seem to be trained in autistic disorders . I wonder if he would benefit more if I homeschool him ? does he really need to go to a special needs preschool ?

Answer 1

I have a daughter with Asperger's who is in mainstream school. She is extremely intelligent but is unable to socialise. For some of her lessons she is in with the rest of the children in a large class although she does always have a one to one with her. For other classes she is taught on her own. These classes tend to be the less academic ones where the structure is less rigid. I do think, depending on your sons diagnosis you should give him a chance to try to integrate as much as he can in a mainstream school. It that doesn't work you still have options open to you. It is up to you to make sure the school understands your son as much as possible and as he is only 3 his behaviour will change as he grows up. Good luck.

Answer 2

I am not sure where you are, but you should talk to a disability advocate in your area. If you are in the US, then he should obviously also have an IEP (individualized education plan). That will have a list of goals for him to work on in school, and what kinds of class he should be in (special ed, mainstream in regular classroom with an aide or times every week to meet with therapists,etc), and other stuff. You can work with the advocate to the right services into his IEP.

http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od...

That article is sort of tailored to kids with learning disabilities but it has good general info on advocates, what they do and how to find one. Try looking one up in your area, I'm not sure what organizations exactly you find them through but the article should give you a place to start.  I think if the school is not evaluating your son correctly and you are worried that he will be placed in the wrong educational setting then you should definitely speak to someone.

Answer 3

first, I'd like to say an IQ of 80 is Low Average (depending on the type of IQ test he had).  Retarded begins at 69 and below.  There's a world of difference, so I want to start there.  Secondly, IQs at that age are notoriously unstable.  Like you said, many 3 year olds don't like to talk to strangers.  In our system, we don't even give formal IQ tests, the results would be based on an adaptive behavior scale completed by the parent.  You should have done that, too.  How did you rate him on the Vineland or ABAS?  Did you do a CARS or GARS rating scale?  (those are for autism).  If you suspect that and you told the evaluation team, you might have done these scales.  Review your report to see.

Anyway, chances are when he's evaluated for regular school you'll get different results.  Especially if you get him the service he needs.  Most of the kids in preschool special ed in my state have communication issues like your son.  You need to broaden your idea of disability, it's not only the kids with severe needs who get services.  You can ask the school what kinds of classrooms they have and visit them.  In fact you should do that anyway.  And from what you said, it sounds likehe could use sociaization help, which homeschooling won't give him- and I have to ask, is there a 'homeschooling' preschool program?  

If the child is shy and does a complete turn around (that is rare, but happens), the school can adjust the child's IEP and he can be placed in a classroom with more typical children.

Answer 4

Send him to the special needs pre-school. Depending on your location, you may have a few placement options.

The ''Best Practices'' situation is a pre-school mixed class with half general kids and half students with disabilities. If this is not available, try to insist that your child is placed in the class with the most verbal/average-level pre-schoolers.

This is the emerging downside of mixing ''classic autism'' students with autism spectrum disorder (pdd nos) students: though it may help them qualify for more services like speech, ''classic'' autism instructional approaches (eg., PECs) may benefit some and not others. And to include Down Syndrome students on ''the spectrum''?  The ''nos'' part of pdd nos stands for ''not otherwise specified.''

Answer 5

I have a child with a disability. I agree with all the answers above.

Answer 6

my son was nonverbal when he started preschool. There was a great lady there who was the early child hood education class. she would work with my son for an hour each day. The school was alos required to give my son his personal aide. For the  hour a day this teacher formed a great bond with my son and had him academically caught up with the class. For speech you will most likely need to get him into a speech class. I personally think you should speak to someone at the school and send him he will need the interaction skills. As far as them placing him into a special ed classroom they have to have your permission to do that first.

Answer 7

Homeschool will not address the social issues that you mention. Children with disabilities other than autism often have wonderful social skills that can serve as a model for your child with social deficits. The other option is to ask the school to provide access to typically developing preschool children either through a community preschool or other program so that your child gets access to structured play opportunities targetted to address his social skill deficits. If your child's main areas of deficit are language and social skills I strongly encourage you to explore environments for your child that gives him access to good play and language models as well as opportunities to learn to be part of a group in a classroom. Homeschool is very restrictive and although may be a good place for teaching your child more intensive academic skills this does not seem to be your child's major area of deficit. Consider all your options and models of education that meet your child's needs before making a decision. Listen to your school's offer and if they do offer you a placement with lower functioning children state your concerns (after observing the program directly) and ask how these language and social areas will be addressed.

Answer 8

You could homeschool him, OR appeal his IEP & have him mainstreamed into a regular-ed preschool, with an aide, if necessary.