Jess enjoyed going to Kindy and being with the other children. At times she would show defiant behaviour and she would wander off. But she was able to follow the classroom routines and she was getting used to 'school' life.
Jess went to Kindy for a 5 day fortnight. She also went for two half days to the ECDU at the Special School. Jess enjoyed having the two teachers at the ECDU at her beck and call and had them wrapped around her little finger. There were things that we knew she could do that she wouldn't do at the ECDU unless she had help.
We began to notice one main difference between the two settings. When Jess came home from Kindy she was communicating verbally with us....when she came home from the ECDU she wasn't - she would use her Makaton sign language. Upon querying the ECDU we found out that the other children were non-verbal...so that's what she was. Another behaviour she picked up from the ECDU was hitting as one of the other children was a hitter. We weren't happy about that.
Jess needed to be around verbal children and appropriate behaviour. She modelled her behaviour on what the other children were doing.
Towards the end of 2011 we had to decide what to do for Prep in 2012. This was a huge dilemma. Where was the best place or her? Should she go mainstream, should she go to the ECDU, should she do part-time in each, or should she repeat Kindy????
We deliberated for a long time. I spent a lot of time praying for wisdom. I even made a pro/con checklist for both settings. We wanted to make the right decision. This was really foreign for us because with Melissa and Nick there was no decision to be made - they were both intelligent so they were going mainstream. Our concern with them was 'Would they be teased and would they fit in because of how they looked?'
Jess on the other hand had suspected intellectual impairment so could go to either settings. It was up to us.
After consultation with the Kindy, the Guidance Officer at the SEDU, having a tour of the Prep rooms at the Special School, and then talking to the Special Education teachers and the Principal at my school where she would be going mainstream, we made our decision.
Our main concern was based on the Kindy's comment, that they didn't think she would cope in mainstream because of her defiant behaviour at transition time and her running off. They thought she should repeat Kindy. The Special School GO disagreed with this. The GO thought that it would be better to have a repeat year of Year 12 if necessary so she could have more job training. The GO believed that another year of Kindy would not achieve a lot.
Our decision was...that we would sit on the fence and put her part-time in mainsream Prep (3 days a week) and part-time in the ECDU at the Special School (2 days a week) and we would basically see what she told us by her behaviour where she would like to be. We didn't want to unenrol from the Special School in case Jess didn't cope in mainstream.
Well it didn't take long for Jess to tell us where she wanted to be!
In the first week of school she went to Prep for 3 days at my school, and then she went for one day at the ECDU, due to a holiday. The next week she happily went to Prep and then on the Thursday when it was time to go to the ECDU she didn't want to go! So we didn't make her - we enrolled her full-time in mainstream. She had told us where she wanted to be!
And I must say she looked very cute in her school uniform. My baby was growing up and in school. I had to teach on the first day of school, so I didn't get to take her to her room but I checked on her later on in the day and she was doing well.
Mainstream is the best place for Jess to be.
Here she is after receiving a Superstar Award on Assembly.
© 2012 by Jenny Woolsey
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