[blindkid] repeating an early year

[Doreen Frappier]

My VI twins went to preschool for an extra year. We arranged for the boys to have speech therapy and VI services in the afternoon at the local elementary school.  They went to a private preschool for that year in the mornings. Previously, they were in an Early Childhood program consisting of children with disabilities and peer role models. I spoke with the private preschool teacher, after they were accepted, about the twins' eye problems and she was willing to adapt to help them.  The boys have a May birthday and were premature, so I felt this was the best thing for them.  They are now in ninth grade and consistently get A's.  I am really glad I waited to send them to kindergarten. They have never struggled, are self confident, and were socially mature enough to make lots of friends. I also sent my older typical son one year later as well because he also had a late May birthday and I felt that he needed another preschool year for social development. He
 also has an A average in 11th grade. I am really glad I made the decision to wait. I have never regretted it.

Doreen





________________________________
From: Joy Orton <ortonsmom at gmail.com>
To: NFB Blindkid list <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wed, May 5, 2010 3:52:48 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] repeating an early year

Hi,
Marie wrote that Jack will do another year in preschool, and Carol wrote
that Serena repeated a year of preschool.

Our daughter spent two years in kindergarten. She took public school
preschool, and our district would not let us repeat preschool, but they let
us do two years of kindergarten.

The kindergarten teacher was not sure about that, because she said our
daughter had mastered the kindergarten curriculum.
She spent more time on braille instruction during the second year, and her
reading is great now (third grade).

I think we probably needed a little more communication about what she was
supposed to be working on.
Sometimes when the other kids were playing, she had to do her classroom work
that she had "missed" when working with the TVI.
Near the end of the year I found out she was missing some of the social
interaction time working on the curriculum she had supposedly already
mastered.
I wish I had asked more questions earlier about that, but I still think it
was a good decision.

Also, she has a summer birthday, so instead of being one of the youngest in
her grade, she is one of the oldest. That's not bad, in my thinking.

Just my two cents.
Joy Orton
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