Transitioning to K

We have our annual meeting next month to discuss services as ds enters Kindergarten. I am nervous. He is still not potty trained and not showing any signs of interest. The school he's been at has not been a big help in this area, even though it's on his IEP. Actually, I feel like the main issues that we face with him really haven't been improving at his school at all.

What can I or should I do to ensure he's A) ready for K and B) well equipped while in K

He's an interesting kid.

Has some sensory issues, scripting, some eye tracking (although that's decreased a lot, only really does it when tired or completely bored) BUT he can read. He shows comprehension skills while reading. I know first though.....Asperger's. But IDK, he makes great eye contact and is very affectionate.

It's almost as if his social & practical skills are about a year behind, but academically he's he's like a year or two ahead. For instance, his speech goal right now is to identify the noun in the sentence!! So I fear in K he will be bored and his sensory issue will flare kwim?

IDK what I'm really looking for here, but any advice would be great!

Thanks girls

Re: Transitioning to K

Have you considered hiring a special educator, privately that he has worked well with to work on the potty training skills at home? There are some fantastic spec. ed therapists that work on these skills and if you are overwhelmed they could give you alot of strategies...Another thought are you get family/parent training services at home?

Re: Transitioning to K

Re: Transitioning to K

I hope you don't mind me commenting... I am not a Mom of a child with Special Needs, but I am a Paraeducator who works within the Special Education Department at an elementary school. Currently I work with a 6 yr old Kindergarten student who has Moderate Autism. One of his main goals on his IEP when he started K in Aug was to be potty trained. He was about to turn 6 and still wearing pullups fulltime.

Goal #1 was to get him potty trained. I'm only giving you an idea of what I was instructed to do as it may be something you can have implemented with your son. My little guy had a potty chart... date/time/was he wet or dry?/ did he produce? were the column titles. A timer was set for 10 mins. Everytime the timer went off, HE would press stop, I would show him a 'Potty' icon. We would go to the bathroom and if he was dry, he got one mini m&m, if he was dry AND he produced, 2 mini m&m's. If he was wet, no m&m's. If he was wet, but still produced, 1 m&m.

After he was done in the bathroom, he would come back to class- I filled out my chart, and he would place a smiley face sticker next to the time. Regardless of whether he was wet/dry/produced/didnt produce.. he always got the sticker for PHYSICALLY GOING to the bathroom. Then I would set the timer for another 10 mins. HE would press start. It gave him a sense of responsibility.

If he made it one FULL hour staying dry, we would bump the timer up to 15 mins. If he was wet, drop it back down to 10. We did this consistently for the first 2 weeks of class. Granted he spent MUCH of the first 2 weeks in and out of class but it was SO important to get that goal met. After 2 weeks we were at the point where he was only needing to go every 2-3 hours like everyone else. Now, 5 1/2 months into K, he asks to go when he needs to, and potty training has been removed from his IEP.

We started by having him go to the restroom in the Nurses office (our classroom is across the hall) and we were able to keep changes of clothes in the office so that when he did have accidents, the whole class didnt need to know about it. Also, pullups were GONE the day he started class. Underpants ONLY.

I'm sorry this was so long but I hope that maybe it will help with your little guy because sometimes a change in environment can cause them to regress, so although he seems like he is making strides now :), when school starts he may have some issues again. Good luck to you and your little one and if you have any questions, feel free to FM me.