Inquiry for HFA daughter entering OUSD's inclusion kindergarten class
My daughter has HFA and is attending an OUSD inclusion preschool class right now but will be entering kindergarten soon. I was wondering if anyone has children in inclusionary kindergarten classes at the various OUSD elementary school sites and what their opinions are about the class/teachers/school. I'm not sure how much say I as a parent have about which inclusion class she gets placed in but would love to hear others experiences to have an idea of what my options are. Also I was wondering if OUSD offers school tours of these specific inclusion classes or just the general school tours for parents of incoming children.
Apr 16, 2019
Parent Replies
I have a first grader and a 4th grader at Chabot, and over the years, both my (neurotypical) kids have been in full inclusion classrooms (my older child was in one for K, 1st and 3rd and my younger child is in one now in 1st). I can tell you that our classroom teachers take turns teaching the full inclusion classes, along with whatever aides are required to meet the needs of the kids in the class. As I understand it, all our teachers have awareness/experience with teaching neurodiverse students, but they don't all do it every year.
Generally speaking, I have heard really good things about the full inclusion program from fellow parents whose kids are in it. But I would encourage you to come visit and check out the school for yourself.
I'm pretty sure all OUSD schools offer tours; ours are in December/January every year. You definitely would see a full inclusion classroom on any Chabot tour, since you visit all 4 K classrooms on the standard tour. But you might not be aware which classroom is full inclusion unless you specifically ask. Often, the kids and even many parents have no idea which classes are full inclusion and which aren't. I would encourage you to come for a tour and then request to be connected with other parents whose kids have HFA; we definitely go out of our way to connect prospective families with current families who are similar, if they want us to. So... reach out! The office staff and the parent community are really friendly and ready to help and answer questions.