by Philip Clements | The Marietta Daily Journal |
King Springs Elementary School pre-kindergartner Joshua Roberts escorts his mother, Susan, and Principal Linda Keeny to his classroom at King Springs elementary.
Staff-Kelly J. Huff
Norton Park Elementary School teacher Pamela Rogers said her favorite thing about teaching special needs pre-K is seeing the children grow.
Roberts hands classmate Mohammed Osman a stuffed animal.
“My job is to get them as far as they can possibly go before they enter into the kindergarten round,” Rogers said. “My goal is to try to get them so they can go into a kindergarten classroom.”
Rogers has been at Norton Park for seven years after taking a 20-year break from education to raise her children. She said while she was working on being recertified, she worked as a para-professional in a special needs pre-K class and fell in love with the work.
“We are really the first experience not only that the parents have but the children have with school and the school environment, so I really like to make it something that is very positive,” Rogers said.
Cobb’s Chief Academic Officer Mary Elizabeth Davis, whose department includes special student services, said there are 86 special needs pre-K classrooms in 57 Cobb elementary schools, which have between one and three classrooms each.
Davis said the special needs pre-K program is free to join and is available to children as soon as they turn 3.
“Of course, kids turn 3 all year, so upon their birthday, they become eligible,” Davis said. “So, we have somewhat of an ongoing enrollment because of that.”
Rogers said special needs pre-K is different from general education because the students have a variety of delays and disabilities that aren’t just academic.
“A typical pre-K student will come in and they will be able to talk and they will be able to play,” Rogers said. “I have children who come to me (in special needs pre-K) who can’t say anything. I have children who come in who have delays in motor skills (or) … social issues.”
Rogers said she has a lot of visual aids in the classroom and she also pairs spoken language with sign language.
“A lot of these kids learn to sign before they speak and it just bridges that gap so they’ll be able to communicate,” Rogers said.
She said students qualify based on their disability and the district serves students with a wide range of disabilities such as autism, deaf/hard-of-hearing, learning disabled, brain injuries and intellectual disabilities.
“It is really treated very similarly as a K-12 student with a disability,” Davis said. “There is an (individualized education plan) meeting convened and an IEP drafted with goals established for each child. Their services and their instruction is really reflected by the IEP.”
But Davis said 3 years old is still young and it is sometimes hard to determine what the disability or learning needs might be for the student.
“Evaluations of a child’s cognitive, communication, motor, social-emotional and self-help skills are provided by a team of educators, psychologists and therapists. A screening team reviews the referrals, gathers information and performs any necessary assessments,” Davis said. “Once the evaluation process is completed, parents will meet with a team of educators to develop and individualized education program specific to the needs of their child.”
Davis said professionals with expertise in the child’s disability are involved in the process. For instance, she said if a student has autism, there would be an autism expert at the table.
“It’s really dependent on each child’s circumstances, but the parents are pretty involved at this point and are also part of establishing some social, emotional (and) behavioral objectives as well as academic objectives,” Davis said.
Rogers said socializing the children is a big part of the program.
“Especially if you’re talking about autistic children who don’t have the social cues. You have to teach them those social cues,” Rogers said. “It’s sometimes teaching them how to play.”
The average class size varies, Davis said, with about five or six students per class at the beginning of the year and between nine and 10 at the end of the year.
The program is funded through federal and state grants, Davis said, noting in fiscal 2015, the district received $452,688 in federal grants and $2,916,657 from the state.
Rogers said there is also ongoing training for special education teachers that focuses on different areas.
“This year, we focused on communication and breaking that down. So, we had trainers come in and help us focus on how to teach communication and teach children to talk,” Rogers said. “We’re always in the process of training.”
When it comes to discipline, Rogers said her first step is to separate the student from the situation.
“In my classroom — I can’t speak for all classrooms — I remove the student from the activity and I have what you would call an old-fashioned egg timer. It’s a three-minute timer and they have to turn it over and watch the sand fall down.”
Then, once that has been completed, Rogers said she goes over and talks to the student about why they had to sit out and then asks them if they’re ready to rejoin the class activity.
Davis said referrals to the program can be made by parents, physicians, schools, day care providers, community agencies, private therapists or other individuals who might be aware of the child’s disability.
“I meet with directors of preschools a couple of times per school year to discuss our program and the process of referral and evaluation,” Davis said. “There is a transition process in place for children who are served by the Babies Can’t Wait program or the Children 1st Cobb and Douglas Public Health program.”
Rogers said her message to parents in Cobb who have a child with special needs is not to wait to get help.
“Early intervention — getting them at the young, impressionable stages when their mind is still growing — is where we can do the most developing,” Rogers said. “So, getting them when they’re really malleable, learning a lot … the earlier you start, the more of a difference we’re going to make.”