son only gets 3 hours of schooling a day

my 4 year old son was enrolled in a full day preschool in the public school system. he has CHF and speech delayment. we had an IEP meeting and the school said they didn't feel they could provide the leval of education he needed at their preschool so they enrolled him in a half a day program in another school in the district. this program is only 3 hours a day. yesterday, he had his physcial with his doctor an he asked if my child was in preschool. when i explained that he was and was going 3 hours a day, the doctor was upset. he said that my sons education needs required more than 3 hours a day and he wants him in at least a 6 hour a day program. he wants him to have more aggreesive speech education and socialization. he feels that doing this now will help my son be more prepared when he starts kindergarten. my son is on no medication and does not require an aide. he will be having bypass surgery within the next year, but he is physically able to play the same as other children his age, just not for the same lenght of time. his speech leval is very low, but this is because of all the previous surgeries and hospitalizations he's had and he's otherwise a bright child--can pick out colors, shapes, and letters by pointing. what do i need to do as far as getting him in a full day program? the doctor is willing to write a letter, but what else will i need to do to convince the school to put him in the full day program? can the school system legally keep my child in the half day program?

Sunnygrl,

The length of the school day is defined by the IEP and a three hour day is a bit on the short side of a reasonable school day for 4 year old delayed children. I would suggest that your physician stick to his medical practice and not get involved in educational issues.

To the extent that speech is a serious issue I would ask to provide me with what the service plan is for his speech intervention. Just summarize the 3 hour day for me and I will have a better idea of what the school is trying to do.

State regulations define the length of a school day in their special education regulations. Consult with these to understand. Also, may I suggest that you propose to the school system to provide you a scholarship or share the costs of an afternoon dayschool placement in a curriculum based daycare. As you would fund the costs of daycare, how much of those costs could be shared by the school division that would be specific to developmental "instruction".

From what you describe with his skill levels, he does not appear to be in need of center based preschool special education. Of the five areas of development: communication, motor, adaptive, personal social, and cognitive development, what would be your assessment of his weak areas. I will presume communication is one area but how about the others.

I'll wait to hear from you. By the way, what is the standard 'disbility preschool' day in your school division? Procedurally, did the school division "reject" any requests you made during an IEP meeting?

DRHD

Mandi:

Thank you.

doc7dew@yahoo.com

DRHD

As a multi lingual dyslexic, let me say, kiitos schatje. Good luck translating that hahaha!