Choices for this are often chosen for reasons ranging from: geographical convenience, social (this is where my friends take their children), religious, cost, physical appearance.
While all of these issues are important the list needs to also include:
• experience of the teachers;
• school certifications;
• philosophy of the school;
• size of the classrooms;
• number of classes per age group (Are there smaller classes for children that might need modifications in the general program?);
• on-going continuing education for the teachers;
• frame of reference for age/class-specific curricula;
• structure of the school (level of classroom structure and flexibility - is it experiential?, etc.);
• classroom facilities;
• extra-curricular experiences available (foreign language);
• outside consultants (OT/speech pathologist, nutritionist, psychologist); and
• accommodations and modifications for the child with early learning needs.
These issues become even more important when you are selecting a school for a child with special learning concerns. This is where the occupational therapist is often engaged to help the parent make specific decisions that are essential for a successful early learning experience.
Helping find the right place is two-fold: it must fit the child, and it must fit the parents just as well.
Evaluating the home philosophy is as important as the evaluation of the child. It might also be helpful, particularly in the case of the special-needs toddler, to visit the school with the parents before enrolling the child.
However, the OTR is often brought into the pre-school situation after problems begin to arise.
Such was the case with "Bailey" (not his real name). In this case the parent contacted me with the following concerns.."Our son, Bailey, is 3 years old (as of October) and has been attending pre-school for 3 months. This was his first time attending school full time, and at first it was obvious that he was going through an adjustment period, refusing to nap, acting out and generally running himself ragged.
"By the second month he started to adjust, nap and generally behave in a very well adjusted manner. Then about two weeks ago he started to regress into not listening to his teacher when she asked him to do something, general disruptive behavior, self-control issues, and at times outbursts. His teacher and the school's owner and doctor all say he is an extremely smart child, and he scored very high on his developmental and cognitive assessments.
"We know that at home he will get bored easily, and we will simply change what were doing to a new activity or give him something more challenging, like a puzzle outside his age group (which he has no problem completing).
"If he is focused on something he wants to do, he will sit for hours doing it; so the school has ruled out ADHD as his behavioral problem, but they would still like to have him assessed by a professional for suggestions of ways to handle his moments of bad behavior.
"Sadly, we don't have all these problems at home, so we are just as unsure how to help them, other than suggesting that they change his activity to something he wants to do (which works for us when he does act up); but they can't do that in a class with many other children."
Reading this carefully we can easily discern that Bailey has trained his parents so that they can circumvent issues before they arise. It is not practical for this to happen in a classroom of 8-10 young children with a teacher and teacher's aide. Another trigger word that is used is the word "regressed"; this is often associated with severe developmental concerns and is used by parents as a code word to tentatively bridge the "question" they do not want answered. The language parents use often indicates their hidden concerns.
Changes in behaviors in young children are common; to jump to conclusions about interpreting meanings can be stressful and is often unnecessary.
Susan N. Schriber Orloff, OTR/L, is CEO/executive director of Children's Special Services, LLC, in Atlanta, GA. Reach her at www.childrens-services.com or at sorloffotr@aol.com.