Self Contained vs Gen Ed

I'm struggling with this. My 2nd grader (asd,ADHD, behavioral concerns) is in a self contained class. Last year they tried to mainstream him for math and it was disastorous. Outside of school, he goes to a special needs gymnastics class. In March he attended enrichment classes in our district with no aide or accomodations and did wonderfully.
If the goal is to get a child to LRE how do we get them there without exposure to gen ed students. I feel like he is pigeon holed into all special needs environments. Even during the summer, he attends special needs camp. But that leads him to having no role models to aspire to.
We don't have any friends with kids his age (our friends are grand parents). Play dates with school friends is not going to help the issue. I have signed him up for fall football and he will get exposure then, but it will be limited and activity specific. How do you expose your child to typical peers when you just don't have the oppurtunity? We try to go to library and stores and such, but that just isn't enough exposure and if it goes bad, it goes really bad.

Re: Self Contained vs Gen Ed

My son started in self-contained in third grade (he is dyslexic/dysgraphic). In the third grade, he left the self-contained class and went to a mainstream class for math.

Fourth grade he was in self-contained and we tried to have him go to a mainstream class for math again, but the teacher was NOT a good fit. So he was in self-contained all day. (I asked if this would be a problem and they told me no, because it seemed like a step back to me)

Fifth grade, we did a mainstream class and he just left to go to the self-contained class for ELA.

Sixth grade (this year) he is in ICT. And it is working wonderfully if I do say so myself.

Your DC is still young. We didn't even have a diagnosis in the second grade, my son was still "at risk". As he gets older, maybe try something like what they did with my son. GL. But I do think you have plenty of time.

ETA: My son played baseball as well.

ETAx2: My SO's son is in a full time therapeutic school. And will be until he graduates high school (hes in 5th now). They do not encourage friendships with students outside of school. He also plays baseball, we have him do stuff with my son as well. He did a play. We try to just find stuff he likes and run with it.

Message edited 5/8/2019 2:07:47 PM.

Self Contained vs Gen Ed

I think trying out some sports teams are a good idea.

Also, how about an ICT class? That way he has typical peers and extra support in one class.

Re: Self Contained vs Gen Ed

Self Contained vs Gen Ed

A couple of questions - is he the highest functioning in the self contained class? If so, he really does not have any role models.
Also, would you be open to sending your child to another district where it's more common place for children to be slowly mainstreamed from self-contained? They will have teachers in gen ed who are more experienced to work with special needs kids and you can also request an aide in the classroom. You would be surprised to learn how other districts are more accommodating, knowledgeable and experienced in regard to special needs.

Also, two things I would recommend -
- A social skills group outside of school - all kids have issues, but different ones - he will possibly have some role models there and you also meet parents in similar situations where you can learn from and share ideas
- A social worker outside of school - it's important for someone to get to know your son outside of the school system on a consistent basis as not to solely rely on the opinion of the school and district

Re: Self Contained vs Gen Ed

Self Contained vs Gen Ed

We have our CSE meeting next week. I spoke to the teacher yesterday. She will be recomending that he stay in the 15:1 but be given the opportunity to mainstream in his stronger subjects. Unfortunately, his behavior is still too much of a concern to do more than that. Academically he is far beyond his class level but socially well below. ICT is not a good fit for him. He still needs small groups and lots of support to make it through the day. But a visit to another class with his aide may be doable.

Re: Self Contained vs Gen Ed

My dc is the same age/grade and had a similar calss placement. DC began mainstreaming with his 1:1 aide in 1st grade. He started with snack time & then added math (a strong subject for him). He was also attending all specials with the gen ed class. It was a gradual build up over the year. This year he has been almost fully mainstreamed. I have been persistent with putting him in any sports/activities with typical peers. We have tried it all, some have been successful and some haven't. Lots of trial and error.

Re: Self Contained vs Gen Ed