I sat in on Pookie’s preschool class the other day.  He attends the public school program for Pre-K.  In our district, it serves special needs and at-risk students.  It is held Monday thru Friday in an elementary school about 10 minutes from our house.  The school year basically mirrors the district calendar, except that the preschoolers often get out a day or two earlier or start a day or two later after vacations.  The district provides busing.   Because Pookie has an IEP (Individual Education Plan) we pay no tuition.

Pookie’s class is 6 children, although it can be as large as 12, if more students are enrolled.  (kids often come in mid-year as they turn 3 and roll from Early Intervention to district services).   Pookie’s class is open to any child with a special education need.  As in life, the children do not wear labels that say “Down’s Syndrome” “Asberger’s” “Brain Trauma” or “PDD”.  I do not know what challenges Pookie’s classmates face, but I know they benefit from the same type of educational environment that Pookie does and that is why they are sharing this classroom.   No two are alike.  The class has a special ed preschool teacher and an aide.  Throughout the week, the Speech Specialist, the Occupational Therapist and the Adaptive Physical Education teacher will visit the class.  The Physical Therapist and Social Worker visit those kids with a need in that area. 

I am not an expert in educational theory, so I cannot tell you the exact name of the theories and principles that the teacher follows.  But I know how they work and what they look like.  Pookie’s class uses center-based learning, PECS, and follows the state standards for preschool curriculum.  I thought it would be helpful to summarize what his preschool day looks like.  I thought it would be nice for Pookie’s family, so they can know what he does all day.  I also thought it might help families who are entering the system and wondered what it was like.  This was my first time visiting this semester, but I went several times last year, when Pookie had a different teacher.  The basics are the same.  As I describe Pookie’s class and his day, remember that one of my main goals is to help Pookie’s extended family understand what school is like for him.  I do not mean to sound like I am comparing him to his classmates, I just want to highlight his experiences.  I cannot adequately describe some of the PECs and Communication Boards/Schedules that are used in the classroom, so I refer you to this websitefor examples from other teachers.  Pookie’s teacher uses very similar ones, although hers are PECS based.  For more information on PECS, see www.pecs.com. 

Arriving at School:  Pookie is escorted off the bus and presented with his communication board.  On the board, there are 2 PECS cards, one for “home”and one for “cubbie”.  Because he is arriving at school, he knows to take the “cubbie” card (attached by velcro).  The escort then tells him to “go match”.  Pookie will independently walk down the hall to his cubbie, where there is a similar picture velcroed to the wall.  He puts his velcro picture on top and sits down infront of his cubbie.  When the rest of the kids arrive, the teacher tells them to take off their backpacks.  This is a multi-step instruction and actually means, take off your backpack, take out your folder, out it in the teacher’s basket, hang up your backpack, take off any coats and then sit back down and wait.  Pookie has been going to school for over a year, so this is very routine for him.   Sometimes the teacher passes out books or tactile toys to fidget with while they wait for all the kids to complete the task.  This step is routine, but hard for some.  After everyone is ready, Pookie’s teacher has the group do exercises in the hall way, to get the wiggles out.  She holds up a picture of each exercise (stretch your arms, touch your toes, wiggle your fingers, etc).  The pictures are important because most of Pookie’s peers have a developmental delay and many classic autistic children are very visual, often thinking in pictures.  After exercises, the class enters the classroom for Table Time.

Table Time:  Each child has an assigned seat, indicated by their name written on a solid colored animal cut out.  This allows the kids to find their space by either their name, the shape or the color.  Pookie is the orange fish.   The seats are strategically arranged to group children with appropriate peers and allow the teacher and aide to divide the class into smaller groups for individual attention.  At the table, they work on a traditional art or literacy based project.  Supplies are handed out, rather than left in the middle of the table, speaking to the fact that Pookie and some of his peers like to hoard, sort and group things like crayons.  They also often share one bottle of glue or one stamp pad, to encourage turn-taking, patience and peer interaction.   This day, the kids were working on “under”, “on top” and “next to”.   They were to stamp flowers “next to” the picture of a house, a bird “on top” of the house, etc.  There is no wrong answer and just stamping your paper at all is great.  The lesson is adaptable to all skill levels.  One of Pookie’s peers wears wrist braces and needs to work on fine motor grips, so she uses pencils for this project.  After Table Time, it is Circle Time.

Circle Time:  at Circle Time, the kids sit in chairs facing the front of the room.   Some of the chairs are adaptive, but others are just regular chairs with a bit of velcro on the legs to discourage tipping.  Pookie’s orange fish is taped to a velcro chair.  During Circle Time, the class does attendance, the weather report, the class calendar, and a message of the day.  As with all aspects of the class, peer interaction is encouraged, so during attendance the teacher picks one child to go first.  She shows him a stack of name cards and he picks out his name.  She (and whichever students can/will participate) sing a welcome song to that child.  The child then puts his name card on the board and picks another card from the stack, reading it and giving it to the correct student to go next.  Pookie really likes this part and can recognize all his peers names.  He will tell the teacher if someone “stayed at home today.”  Pookie was not the most verbal child in his class last year, but he is the most verbal one this semester.  Therefore, during calendar, attendance and weather, he tends to yell out the answers first.  While these are somewhat routine answers and make sense to him, given the situation, I was proud to see him be the first to respond.  Sitting at Circle Time is challenging for some kids.  The aide sits behind the kids and gives verbal and gentle physical reminders to those who start to wander away.   Each child interacts differently with Circle Time.  For some, just sitting still is the goal.  For others, it is interaction with the teacher.  For those that need a visual reminder, the teacher and aide have PECS handy which say “sit down”, “wait,”  “Circle Time, ” etc.  The weather report and calendar are also very visual-based.  Each child’s name card for attendance, uses the same colored animal shape as their Table Time chair.  Above Circle Time, there is also a daily schedule taped to the wall, with a picture for each of the events I am describing.   The kids are told to “check schedule” with each transition.

Center Time:  after Circle Time, the Centers are opened.  The teacher had previously divided the room with a movable screen, to limit wandering.  But now, the learning centers are open.  Right now, Pookie’s class has the Construction Zone, Small Toys (manipulative), Literacy Center, Dramatic Play, and Cars and Blocks.  These centers sometimes change with the classroom themes/units.  Aimless wandering is not permitted.  The children must have some form of a play plan.  Pookie does not need to “match” (like when he gets off the bus) for every transition, but some kids do.  Some use a “Circle Time” match card to transition from Table Time to Circle Time and then to Center Time.  Each of these is stored on the child’s individual chart on the wall.  The teacher or aide helps by putting these in order or using a “First X, Then Y” communication board.   In order to enter the Center area, the kids must select the picture of the center they want to play at.  They they take that velcro card to the center, match it to the pictures on the wall near that center and start to play.  If they want to change centers, they have to get a new card and match that one.  (btw- Geetle attends a preschool for typically developing children and they do the same thing, it keeps the kids from running amok and bunching up at one center.)  During Center time, the teacher and aide walk through the group, engaging and observing each child.  Some are pulled out for one-on-one time.  Pookie likes the Construction Zone, where you get to hammer golf tees into a styrofoam board.  He also likes the Literacy Center where books are laid out.  The best chance for random peer interaction is during Center Time.  Pookie is not interested in this yet, and neither are any of his classmates, with the exception of Yasmine, who has a little crush on Pookie.  She either hugs him or hits him, at least once a day.  The teacher and aide try to create situations of co-play and cooperation. 

Special Group:  depending on the day, this will be Speech, P.E. or O.T.  The Speech Specialist comes to the classroom and works with everyone as a group, as the entire class needs her services right now.  They play language intensive games and sing songs.  O.T. can take place in the Motor Room or in the classroom and involves any number of school and life skills, such as cutting, tracing, following directions, gross motor skills, etc.  Adaptive P.E. is held in the gym and looks alot like regular P.E., except the teacher uses simpler games and the teacher and aide participate to help the students, using more physical examples than verbal explanations.

Bathroom Time:  this is a structured part of the day, although the kids can also use the in-class bathroom anytime they need to.  During this time, the aide takes each child to the bathroom one at a time.  Pookie is potty-trained, but he has yet to go to the bathroom at school other than during this scheduled time.  But, school is only 2.5 hours, so its unlikely that he would have to go more than once during the session.   For children that are potty-trained, the aide just waits outside the door.  For some kids, the aide encourages sitting longer and maybe reading a book while they wait.  For those in pull-ups, she changes the pull-up.  Independence is stressed.  Last year, before Pookie was potty-trained, the school used our at-home tactics and rewards when working with him at school.  At this age and with this group, they expect to work on Potty-Training as part of the school day. 

Snack Time:  This is held at the same table as Table Time; some kids transition to the table using match PECS cards, some go naturally, knowing when it is time.  Food is a very important motivator for Pookie and his peers.  Especially those new to school or the PECs system.  Each child has a Communication Book with pictures of foods and a sentence strip they can use to build a sentence for “I want….”  They then hand this to the teacher, reading it if they are verbal.   Pookie took to this system FAST.  He waits patiently until its his turn.  He looks through his book to find the picture of what he wants for snack, builds his picture sentence and then waits to hand it to the teacher.  When the teacher hands out the food, she expects eye contact and verbalization (as much as the child is able).  She also only gives a small amount of food, to ensure that the kids have to ask again for more.  Sometimes, she will ask questions like”How many pretzels do you want?”  or “Do you want the brown cookies or the yellow ones?”  Pookie does well with these questions.  Some kids may be on a special diet or have different foods that motivate them.  They are offered the foods that make sense for them.  Some kids may also use sippy cups or straws for their drinks.   I have seen this in Pookie’s classroom, as one of his peers has a very limited diet (by his choice).  Pookie, on the other hand, will eat just about anything, often turning down something sweet for something salty.  At the end of Snack Time the kids should clear the table, but are helped if needed. 

Physical Activity:  Depending on the day, this might be playground time, a trip to the Motor Room or Adaptive P.E.  Pookie’s teacher believes in some physical activity each day.  This time is usually not overly structured, but sometimes it is.  On the day I visited, we took an “Eye-Spy Walk”.  Each child had a board with 4 PECS cards (leaf, bird, shadow, fir hydrant) and a sentence strip for “I see a…..”.  During the walk, the kids were to find the items and make a sentence.  As good as Pookie is with “I want”, “I need” and other direct requests, he is still learning “I see.”  So, this was a good experience for him.  Some of the other kids did not actively participate, as they are still working on “I want” and are less verbal.  With Pookie, he did not find any of these items on the walk, but when I did and showed them to him, he made the sentence and read it back to me.

Storytime:  like any preschool, storytime is a favorite part of the day.  The kids sit in their Circle Time chairs (sitting on a carpet with no boundaries would be too much for some).  The story is chosen based on a theme and may be repeated for the entire week.  The teacher reads it in an interactive way, asking questions.  Again, as the most verbal member of the class, Pookie answered many. 

Getting Ready to Go Home:  most of the kids ride the bus, it is encouraged for independence and transitioning.  The kids line up in front of the door, standing on their colored animal shape.  When its time to go into the hallway, they put on their backpacks and sit in their cubbies until everyone is ready.  Then they are escorted down the hall to the bus groups and taken out to the buses.  Some kids match their “Home” picture with one velcroed by the door, just as they leave. 

This is a typical day for Pookie.  Throughout the day, the teacher and aid might also play music to indicate quiet time or clean up time.  They often take pictures of the kids, to document their utilization of certain skills or behaviors.   Sometimes the aide is called upon to handle discipline.  One of Pookie’s classmates is more likely to refuse to sit or follow directions, acting out.  The aide often has to work with him, showing him additional PECs cards to help him understand, or dimply giving him the choice to walk away from the group for some alone time, if he needs it.  

Pookie loves school.  He does really well.  He has a good deal of school skills (cutting, gluing, tracing, following directions, waiting, etc).   Over the next month, we are going to discuss putting Pookie in the morning session, rather than his current class.  The morning session is a more verbal group and while we like that he is the most verbal in his class now, we want him to keep setting the bar higher.  As Pookie’s teacher says, there are islands and bridges.  Pookie and his afternoon classmates are all islands.  There are no bridges in his class right now.  In the morning class, there are several bridges and we feel that Pookie might allow himself to be bridged if the situation was right.  If he can bridge and be less of an island, he will learn some important social skills.

I am sorry this post is so long, but what happens at school is so important.  Next I will write about why I think this environment has helped Pookie.