[blindkid] Seeking advice: Schooling

[Crystal Abel]

Now I am looking into ALL options for my daughter going into school. Please any and all suggestions would be appreciated. Again my daughter will be 5 in January. She is multiply disabled and developmentally delayed. She is totally blind in both eyes and isn't yet ambulatory on her own or potty/bowel trained.
 
I talked with the School for the Blind in Salem, Oregon which is 2 hours from where we live and the head of the school indicated that he didn't think it best for her to go there until later because the youngest student there at his school now is 9 years old. He also indicate he didn't feel like the separation would be good on either of us because she would essentially be dropped off on a Sunday and picked up on a Friday (I think). The long drive would also be difficult for her and an expense for us in gas. My thought was, ok maybe I could rent an apartment closer and have my children with me (I would have to be away from my husband that whole time she would be in school, but I was willing to do that for her), but then we also run into problems he said...because if we did live closer the public schools would be better and I would be sending my boys to them instead of homeschooling them and then he said they would have no justification to send her to the school for the blind instead of the same school as my boys.
 
So, here I am in a rut not knowing what to do still.
 
I would also love more information on homeschooling her... The legallity behind it in Oregon state and what I would have to do in order to get around standardized testing. I also would love to know about the Montissouri or Waldorf approach in teaching her. Are there any good books on teaching a blind child Montissouri or Waldorf?
 
Also, I would love to find out more about the schools public system. Here in Rainier, Oregon the public schools are not very good because we live in a small town and my daughter's teacher for the visually impaired is an hour and a half away from us so she doesn't come very often (maybe once a month). What are they likely to do with my daughter in class. Will they have someone work with her in a group of students or one on one or both? 
 
My daughter has been taken out of the ESD preschool because of getting sick from germs of other children so easily (she is receiving services at home now). She is imo medically fragile and has been in and out of the hospital a lot this year for various things some of which were quite severe.
 
Finally, what questions have I left out or should I be asking? Can any of you answer those for me? Thanks!
 
~Crystal
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