Im looking for other experiences with moving on to first grade. I know academically it will be difficult but with the right 'tools' we can do it. So what are those tools? Please share some things I might need to fight for etc.

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Angie
Mom to Sydnie (5/26/00) and Saylor (4/30/04)
www.babiesonline.com/babies/s/sydniebrooke
www.babiesonline.com/babies/b/babytate

"May God Bless You As He Has Us"


An extra little chromosome,
that’s all it is, you see.
Where all of you were born with two,
I was blessed with three

"My Children are God's gift to me.
How I raise them, is my gift to God."


http://www.myspace.com/howsthatworkingforya

First of all your children are gorgeous. Noah will be going to first grade next year as well, and I don't really see it being any different than kindergarten, at least not where we live. He is in kindergarten now full day 5 days a week and he has a one on one aide. I would say he does 75% of the things with the class and the other 25% with the special education teacher, ST, and with his aide with his modified work sheets that the class works on. I think the biggest thing is the aide. You have to like the aide, you have to be able to express your thoughts, your fears and your wishes with the aide and make sure you are understood and on the same page. Noah has an aide in the morning and a different one in the afternoon and that will continue next year, and they are both wonderful and help him so much.

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Vonda, mommy to Peyton, Sophie, Noah(Ds) and Halle

thank you i actually need to update that picture really really bad.. lol

those are the things i kind of worry about. are they going to fight me on that aide? what modifications will be made? i think our K and 1st is quite a bit different. The aide she has now isnt very aggressive but are working out well together but the contact of what i want for syd doesnt go through her but the teacher.....she isnt a one on one...but an extra asst to the classroom but when sydnie is done and decides to do something else she is the one that sticks with her.

_________________
Angie
Mom to Sydnie (5/26/00) and Saylor (4/30/04)
www.babiesonline.com/babies/s/sydniebrooke
www.babiesonline.com/babies/b/babytate

"May God Bless You As He Has Us"


An extra little chromosome,
that’s all it is, you see.
Where all of you were born with two,
I was blessed with three

"My Children are God's gift to me.
How I raise them, is my gift to God."


http://www.myspace.com/howsthatworkingforya

Well Noah sort of makes his own routine, and they are sort of in agreement with this. I know that sounds weird, but he cannot tolerate sitting and doing one thing for long periods of time, like the rest of the children in the class, so when he gets to the point where he becomes stubborn and doesn't want to do things, his aide will have him take a walk up the hallway, get some fresh air, do a different project or something like that. We are very fortunate to have such a laid back school. They aren't aggressive with him, but they don't let him get away with things either, which is good. When he has had enough of something, rather than push him to the point of getting frustrated and never wanting to do it again, they take him to another activity. Like I said he does do what the class is doing, but it's mostly modified for him and if he doesn't finish a work sheet or something they will just send it home for homework and it gets finished then. It has been working out great. The last thing I want him to do is get stressed at school because he remembers these things and if he gets into a situation that stresses him out, he always remembers and when the time comes to do it again, he just freaks out and will not do it, so that's why we have to keep school as free of stress as possible. He is learning so much though, I just can't believe he can actually read his books and is just becoming such a smart little boy!!!

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Vonda, mommy to Peyton, Sophie, Noah(Ds) and Halle

Kallie repeated 1st Grade this year. Hmmm, some tips that I have are. Don't be afraid to modify! I was scared to ask them to modify the work for fear they would push for more self contained class, but I did it anyways and it's the best thing! Ask for the work ahead of time as well. I get all her homework and class lessons a month ahead of time so that I can work on the stuff at home. They do a book series called Trophies and the teacher gives me one per quarter to take home and work with Kallie on. So I can read it nightly with Kallie, give her comprehension questions and just over all have her prepared. Kallie's first year of Kindy we adapted the spelling test more than just giving her 5 words instead of 10. we would put lines to give her cues as to how many letters there was in the word...such as __ __ __ for cow. Stuff like that. I hope some of this helps...Feel free to PM me any time!

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Christina
mommy to Kallie(8,DS) and Brittany(6)

I am so freaked about 1st grade...I mean I know they will most likely try to get me to do something other than the 1st grade classroom. Welllllllllll too bad! I just dont know how to suggest accomadations because I dont know myself. I do think the extra person has helped out tremendously as far as knowing there is ONE person that will get her if she decides to leave. But the classroom next year is diff....ALOT of sitting...she's not going to sit too too long.....
I just need some recommendations for 1st as well as some goals for her IEP. I want to be extremely prepared!


HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_________________
Angie
Mom to Sydnie (5/26/00) and Saylor (4/30/04)
www.babiesonline.com/babies/s/sydniebrooke
www.babiesonline.com/babies/b/babytate

"May God Bless You As He Has Us"


An extra little chromosome,
that’s all it is, you see.
Where all of you were born with two,
I was blessed with three

"My Children are God's gift to me.
How I raise them, is my gift to God."


http://www.myspace.com/howsthatworkingforya

Ok we have our IEP next week. I have so much anxiety over this, I cant seem to function. Sydnie is smart little girl and 1st is soooo hard. Our writing holds us back alot...she isnt a big phonetic girl ...she is a site reader...so therefore its alot of repetition on flash cards.
I so worry can she do it............I never underestimate her but she still always surprises me. I just wish she wouldnt leave when she got ready to. She hasnt done it in a while but like today....her reg ed teacher wasnt there this morning and they had a sub that they had had before....Sydnie didnt want her to do the msg on the board so she left and ran to her EC class and hid under a table. GREAT JUST GREAT!!!!! The afternoon went really well....her reg ed teacher was back. ughhhhhhhhh

_________________
Angie
Mom to Sydnie (5/26/00) and Saylor (4/30/04)
www.babiesonline.com/babies/s/sydniebrooke
www.babiesonline.com/babies/b/babytate

"May God Bless You As He Has Us"


An extra little chromosome,
that’s all it is, you see.
Where all of you were born with two,
I was blessed with three

"My Children are God's gift to me.
How I raise them, is my gift to God."


http://www.myspace.com/howsthatworkingforya

any suggestions on what i ought to ask for......from what i understand it seems that they will look into getting syd an asst....not sure if it will be for the whole day.....soooooooooooo im thinking they will want to pull her more ours than I first intended.....she may very well bomb...lets pray she doesnttttttttt

anything you moms can think of I should do, ask for, etc?

_________________
Angie
Mom to Sydnie (5/26/00) and Saylor (4/30/04)
www.babiesonline.com/babies/s/sydniebrooke
www.babiesonline.com/babies/b/babytate

"May God Bless You As He Has Us"


An extra little chromosome,
that’s all it is, you see.
Where all of you were born with two,
I was blessed with three

"My Children are God's gift to me.
How I raise them, is my gift to God."


http://www.myspace.com/howsthatworkingforya

My son is in first grade right now in a regular class (but a very small one) and it works perfect. He have only needed minor modifications so far. Like he gets to track letters sometimes instead of writing them, he uses stamps with numbers in his math book. He also get ST in class every day and pullout once a week. There are two teachers, but no assistant (one of the teachers can always help him IF he needs it).

I run a Yahoo group on the subject Down syndrome and inclusion that might interest you:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/inclusion_ds/