After realizing all the progress Eli has made at the public preschool for children with Autism they decided to look further into what Eli’s future education would be like if he stayed there. The school will be a consortium, which means it will be receiving financial support from the Kelly O’Leary Center at Cincinnati Children’s and the University of Cincinnati, in order to continue meeting the needs of the children with Autism in that specific district. Currently children from other districts are also being bussed to this school. Pat has told me Eli’s school is now a model for other districts. The goal of these schools will be to see what modifications are needed so that more children with autism can be taught in a regular classroom. The idea is that the children with less severe symptoms will only be at these special schools for one or two years before the modifications are made and they can make their way into the regular classroom.
Eli is 4 now. He will be attending the same public preschool all of this coming school year. In the coming school years of 2010 and 2011, at least as far as Pat can tell for now, he'll be in the kindergarten consortium program, which is run by Hamilton County. Pat is glad that she and Dan reached out to surrounding schools to see what options were available. Pat and Dan are lucky that the school that is 2 miles away from their home happened to fit Eli’s needs the best. Fortunately, the professionals Pat and Dan have grown to really trust will run the school. After getting to know the people who will run the consortium for 2.5 years Pat and Dan feel secure. “Eli can do what he wants and we can create what we want for him”(IEP). They know Eli will never be put in a situation where hell be ignored. Eli is lucky that as he moves on the consortium will grow with him, if happens to need it. The school will eventually be teaching grades 4-8 as well. He may not be in a special education school at that point but it is nice to know the consortium will be for him.
For the record I never heard back from the principal at Crosby Elementary.
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