Why I Love My Son's School

by Cori Redford

My son, Ethan, attends The Sewall Child Development Center in Denver, Colorado. As luck would have it, this excellent preschool just happens to be located right down the road from us, so it was easy to choose this school for my son. And what a great choice it was!

If you're in the market for a preschool program for your special needs child, you may be wondering what to look for, what questions to ask the teachers, and how to make your final decision. There are many things that I love about our school. Here's what I would recommend you look for in your prospective program:

• There is a high ratio of teachers to students and small class sizes. In Ethan's first class, there was about a 1:2 ratio (4 teachers to about 8 students). That is unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere, but the higher the ratio, the more individualattention your child gets.
• Our school has a lesson plan that is communicated to the parents on a weeklybasis. This means that not only do I know that Ethan's different therapeuticneeds are being met, but I also know what to talk to him about. I can askhim about his day with prompts from the lesson plan and know whether he'stelling me what actually happened or talking about something else. SinceEthan is really hard to understand sometimes, this is really important forme. And before he was talking much, it at least gave me someplace to startwith "yes" and "no" questions.
• My son's teachers are available to give advice and updates on his progress atleast once a week, if not more often. Since they get to see his behaviorwith a clinical eye, they are invaluable resources for advice on how to deal with challenges we have at home. For instance, they gave me a lot of ideas to help Ethan socialize with other kids.
• There are monthly Family Unity Nights (FUN) where the school provideschild care and parents get to meet to discuss parenting challenges or hear a speakergive us advice or answer questions.
• There are monthly meetings for the parents to talk about school functionsand arrange volunteer programs, address problems, or organize fundraisers.It's sort of like PTA.
• All of the teachers are well educated in dealing with children withspecial needs. All of Ethan's teachers have at least a Master's degree in anarea related to special needs kids. In each of his classes there is at leastone speech specialist, one physical or occupational therapy specialist, and onespecial educator. I believe that they all have a teaching certification aswell, which is certainly not required for teaching preschool anywhere, as far as I know. His physical therapist has her PhD, and all of the teachersregularly takes classes and seminars to keep up-to-date on tools andtechniques.
• There is an observation window in every room so that I can see my son inclass without him knowing I'm there. This seems minor, but seeing himinteracting with his peers and teachers is so much different when he thinksI'm not there than when he knows I am. Plus it makes me feel that muchbetter about the school, knowing that I can observe any time that I want to.
• There are a variety of children at the school. Not all of the kids havespecial needs, or the same needs. There are kids in his class ranging fromprofoundly disabled to completely normal and the activities provided areintended to stimulate all different levels of development. I feel like thisbenefits Ethan because he will never be the best or the worst at everything.He gets to see other kids make mistakes and have triumphs and that makes himfeel more a part of everything.
• The teachers annually administer tests to gauge my son's progress and makerecommendations concerning his treatment. The state only requires that thisbe done every three years, but Ethan's school does it annually, which makesa lot of sense considering the amount of change there is in childrenespecially before age 5. His physical therapist recommended that he getorthotics and fitted him for them herself. His teachers recommended that hetake a music class to increase his socialization by using his favoritesubject. All of these suggestions have helped Ethan very much.
• The teachers, our public schools coordinator, and I all sit down togetheronce a year to talk about Ethan, where he's at, and to make goals for thecoming year to include in his IEP. The idea that we're all on the same pageabout where Ethan is, and where we want him to go makes his challenges somuch more manageable. Plus his IEP is much less of a hassle when dealt with this way.
• There is a social worker on-staff. She was incredibly helpful in gettingus extra help from the city, providing most of the suggestions aboutseparation anxiety that we tried, and getting Ethan's dad more involved in parenting. Iused to think of a social worker as "the family police," but now Isee that as the least of her functions.

I can't imagine anything else that I could ask for in a school. Ethan and Iare so lucky to have Sewall. There may be other therapies or programs that your child will need that aren't provided by your preschool program, but you can always add those extra therapies to your child's schedule. At least one of the students in Ethan's class, for example, also takes some classes at the local school for the blind (Anchor), and her dad loves Sewall too.

When choosing your preschool program, also remember that your child may be in preschool longer than other kids. At least one parent I know petitioned the city to let her son stay an extra year in Sewall because he was getting so much more out of it than the month they tried at kindergarten. They allowed it, and it was a hugely successful year for him.

Good luck and remember that all your hard work now will pay off later when your child is happy and successful in a preschool that works well for the both of you!