Fran, that's very insightful. I never really thought of it that way but you are right. I often have said to my husband that I wish we could shave a few years off difficult child's age.
Sorry Shari,
I know exactly how you feel as my son was and is just like that. In his case, he did get a one to one aide by the end of kindergarten thru first grade but his tantruming and severe reactions were too unsafe and disruptive. For second and third grade he was placed in a special self-contained program for students with emotional and behavioral problems. They were well equipped to manage behavior issues, never a phone call home. The problem with this, is that the behaviors continued they were just dealt with and he never completed any school work. Before entering the program he was at grade level and by the end of third grade, he was two years behind grade level. Even though class sizes were small (average 7 kids) and the room had an aide, I felt my son needed a one to one to make academic progress. The school would not go for it and I was concerned about my son falling too far behind so I pulled him and homechooled him. I loved teaching him, I hated fighting with him constantly to do the work. He has made vast imrovements in his reading and will benefit from the social side of school (I hope) so it was back to an iep yesterday. If I can say one good thing about our recent running away issues. It finally convinced the school to provide a one-to-one within the small program. This will help, but ultimately it will depend on my sons ability to handle what has always been an overwhelming experience for him.
I'm sure you have excellent reasons for choosing your son's private school and the good news is, they haven't thown him out! It sounds like they do try to work with him. However, they may not be able to provide the supports necessary for your son to be successful. Should you decide to go back to the public school system, you are armed with more information than you've had in the past. You can always ask for a meeting and not give uup his private school placement until you are satisfied with the iep. With the sensory issues and possible Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified, therapies like speech-language and ocupational therapy will probaby be beneficial and a public school provides these services if the student meet the criteria.
Good luck to you. I hope you find a situation that can best help your son at school. Sorry you are facing the constant worry about how the day is going. I know the feeling all too well.
Christy