The Good News: According to standards, India’s early intervention and ABA therapy over the past two years have resulted in remarkable improvements in her speech and sociability, and she is ready to move on to a less restrictive environment for Kindergarten in the fall. Effectively, she is no longer considered autistic.
The Bad News: According to standards, India’s early intervention and ABA therapy over the past two years have resulted in remarkable improvements in her speech and sociability, and she is ready to move on to a less restrictive environment for Kindergarten in the fall. Effectively, she is now being considered a tempermental kid with a speech delay who needs more structure than a traditional classroom offers, but might not qualify for the only special ed program that actually meets her needs because she’s not considered autistic anymore.
The Problem: If India doesn’t get accepted into the NEST program (which is looking less and less likely with each meeting and evaluation, the most recent of which saw her scoring 4 points below the “mild autism” range that would have kept her in the running), she’s looking at a CTT setting* in a regular public school. In theory, it’s a great idea, but as is often the case here in NYC, the execution leaves a little something to be desired as overcrowded classes are the norm and the thought of her in a classroom with 30 other kids, even with two teachers, is a bit worrisome. It’s the kind of thing that is overly dependent on the teachers involved, and while I’ve always believed that a good teacher and attentive parents can overcome many (not all) systemic deficiencies in a school, it’s a real crapshoot here as most good teachers tend to flee the City after a few years for more money and better resources in the surrounding suburbs.
Because she still hasn’t been assigned a school by the CSE yet, and the June 15th deadline has passed, we still have a shot at getting a Nickerson letter which would require the DoE to cover the costs of a private school setting that meets her needs, finding such a program will be difficult since most are either too restrictive and/or autism-specific.
Right this minute, though, we’re sitting in limbo, and it’s a little difficult to focus on the good news aspect of all this when the bad news looms on the horizon, threatening to blot it out completely. Nevertheless, it’s what I’m clinging to, because as cyncial as I tend to be about a lot of most things, when it comes to my kids, there’s always going to be a silver lining.
* Random Side Note: PS 75 is where I went to school for 4th-6th grade. If we could find a place in that neighborhood, I’d move in a second!
