Friday, April 29, 2005

Decisions, decisions

So here I was thinking I would send Mia to the public kindergarten after one more year in preschool. They have a "transitional kindergarten" where the kids are in a special needs class most of the day and have lunch and gym with the "typical" kids. She already knows most of the academic stuff they learn in kindy. So I said "How much damage can they do in one year?"

That was before the handcuffing incident. I didn't think much about it until I read this Baldilocks post. So many of the commenters are saying "This kid is special ed" or "This kid should be special ed." I always figured special ed. was a dumping ground for behavior problems. I just didn't think the behavior problems could be so severe in kindergarten.

It got me thinking that special ed. really isn't a good fit for Mia. She's not academically delayed (that we've noticed, yet). She needs help with speech and with her social skills. I'm beginning to doubt she'll get that in a room with even one or two of these kids with behavior problems.

Sigh. Well, I have a year or so to consider.

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