Help! I am so confused, and I was hoping my fellow homeschoolers could help me sort out my options. I am the mother of a 3 year old son with a dx of severe verbal apraxia, and sensory integration issues. He has been in Early Intervention for almost two years and has made real progress, mostly because he has been receiving PROMPT speech therapy for the past year.
After much prayer and soul searching I had finally decided to enroll him in a highly regarded intensive full-day, 5x a week special ed preschool where he would receive PROMPT therapy as well as sensory integration OT sessions and PT as well. The reason it was so hard to accept was because I am already hmschling two older kids and it just breaks my heart to think of my three- year old away from home for that length of time each day.I am sure you guys understand what I mean.
Last Friday , while at my first-ever CPSE meeting at the school district, the school where he supposedly had a spot totally blindsided me and told me that there was no room for him. That subject is a whole other post and I won't even begin to go there. What I really need help figuring out now is what to do about putting him in a preschool at all.
There are really no other preschools in our area that use PROMPT speech therapy, so I am planning on having him get private PROMPT therapy, and either fighting the school district to pay for it, or trying to get my health insurance to cover it, etc.
Since I really think that the other special preschools in our area are second rate , I am not clear on the rationale for sending him to a special ed preschool at all.I can get his other services individually as well (at least I hope I can) so why not just keep him home or put him in a local private preschool a few mornings a week?
As you can imagine everyone who knows anything about special needs kids (mostly his therapists, but also apraxia support group parents who are not hmschlers) think I am off my rocker to do him such a disservice.And the people in my life who are hmsclers don't understand the seriousness of his special needs and think I am crazy to have ever gotten involved with the school district at all .So I apologize for this lengthy , rambling post but I don't know who else to ask to help me sort this out.
Thanks so much'
Kellylynn

I understand what you are saying. If you can get the speech therapy for him and the school district won't put him in a program which focuses on that language therapy, I think you are right to keep him home. Now you will run into a zillion pros and other homeschoolers who will say plunk him in school. But that is because either they don't know homeschooling or understand special needs. Pros can not imagine homeschooling working for normal kids let alone special needs. You want to make sure your child is challanged and the right program is presented to him. You don't want your child in a situation that frustrates him and doesn't give him the skills he needs. That sounds like what the school if offering. They are not going to help and going to frustrate him on top of it. Check out private therapy or if you can get speech through the school and still homeschool him.
Peace, Nedra