Preschool Previews

Oh, lordy. 

Today we had Piper’s transition IFSP review.  That transition, of course, being the transition from the Early Intervention program to the school district for preschool. 

PRESCHOOL.  Can you please explain to me HOW we can be talking about preschool???  REALLY???

Our coordinator met us when Piper was still in the NICU.  We always talk about how teeny she was back then and how different she is each time she sees her.  This time, the BIG difference was how much more vocal Piper was- she’d never heard much noise come out of her (and believe you me, there is NOISE now!)

Today we talked about what we wanted to make for our last set of goals in EI.  Everything, ultimately, boiled down to how we can make the preschool transition easier on Piper.  Our new expectations are things like she’ll sit at the table and complete preschool activities {read: she won’t use her “charms” to get out of activities that she doesn’t particularly like} and use her verbal expressive vocabulary more frequently and with longer phrases. 

I’ll admit that I’m a little apprehensive about sending her to school next year.  I keep reminding myself that, because of where her birthday lands, she won’t be starting until next September.  And that’s a long way away (don’t judge- the lie makes me feel better.  So sue me…)  I don’t know really what bothers me about it; her skills are age-appropriate, so I’m not so concerned about what services she’ll need and get- all I really care about is speech, and that shouldn’t be an issue.  And she’s got such a great personality that I’m sure she’ll be accepted by her staff and peers (it was brought up today that she’s gonna love preschool!) and I can’t wait to see how she blossoms once she gets there. 

I asked about our preschool itself.  We can see it from my back window, which has obvious benefits.  Apparently, our service coordinator knows of lots of families who are trying to choice-in to that school- it’s supposed to be REALLY good (WAHOO!), so that makes me feel better.  They’re opening another elementary school (which also has the preschool in it) just a couple miles away (really super close) which could be an option, too, but it’s not open until next fall, which means there’s nothing there to observe.  So, I guess I’ll make a trip up the street one of these days and take a peek at the classroom and make sure I like the teacher well enough. 

ChildFind is supposed to contact us in February or March to do a pre-assessment (to make sure she actually qualifies, apparently?  I dunno- seems silly when my kid has Down syndrome, but whatever…  I guess they also determine who, as far as therapists, need to be at the actual assessment) and then the assessment and IEP meeting are scheduled together a few weeks later.  I like the idea of the assessment AND the IEP being done in the same sitting. 

Everything sounds like it should be fairly straight forward and mostly easy.  I guess one of my concerns is that I’m afraid Piper will pull her “shy” act and not, for lack of a better term, perform to what she’s capable of.  Our therapists will write reports and submit them, too, which, I’m telling myself, will cover those holes, if need be. 

My big “ugh” moment, though, is that preschool is FOUR DAYS A WEEK.  And I’m not so sure what I think about four days a week.  It’s three hours a day, which sounds okay, but FOUR DAYS?  Honestly, I think it’s one of those harder-on-me-than-her kind of things, but yikes. 

Preschool, huh?  How can a person be so excited and so anxious, all at the same time???