We get a call from the school board this morning, asking if we can bring the Little Man in for his assessment on Monday morning. Oh, thanks for the notice!
Basically the school board has to assess his file and write a referral in order for us to send him to a special private school specifically for autistic kids. So if they decide his needs can be met with a regular school, we can't send him there. Then the school itself will assess him and decide if they'll take him. If they don't, I have no clue what they do at that point. The referral has to be done by March 1st. Again, no one gave us any notice.
Anyway, we managed to schedule another day and Hubby will take him, because it's impossible for me to get time off with such short notice. Actually, it could be done, but I don't want to do things that way.
It's interesting how life goes. Had he been neurotypical, my intention was to keep him out of school until at least 5 since his birthdate makes him the youngest in the class. However, this autism school takes kids at age 4 and really, $5000 a year for daycare, speech therapy, OT and psych is a freakin' steal. I figure work with him til age 6, get him reassessed and we'll take it from there.
And then there's the thought of holy crap, my baby will be going to school in the fall if this works out! How did that happen? Wild.
Oh wow.... That's so stressfull :(. We don't have many schools that are just for children with Autism here. There is one that I know of in Vancouver and its for the most profound children. Inclusion into public school is the goal in BC. I can see benefits as well as major challenges. There has been cases where the school "kicked out" a child with autism. Which is pretty horrible considering there is no other option! I personally know the family and they chose to homeschool for the remainder of the year and send him to a new school and he is doing well. Unless it is different there, from what I understand the school board (public) MUST provide education for every child enrolled. They have to make an Individual Education Plan to accommodate and provide an environment to promote learning. I am just going through that stuff now with Ally. I don't know how similar it is between provinces though.
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