Pre-School

The universe works in mysterious ways and the good lord puts you right where you need to be.Out of all the places in the county we could have moved we just happened to move close to the Baudhuin pre-school before we even had a child. The Baudhuin Pre-schoolhttp://www.nova.edu/humandevelopment/earlylearning/index.html in my opinion is this fabulous marriage between Nova University and Broward county. The resources, encouragement, information, and commitment to excellence there is phenomenal. One thing I was determined not to do was waste this blessing by remaining in denial in anyway so I embraced this opportunity and what it gave me in return was priceless. Please, if you are lucky enough to get your child in this school go to all the classes  and follow their advice they have for parents. It is alot of work but nothing good and worth while ever comes easy and it will determine an optimal outcome for your child in the future. I saw so many that still remained in denial "Oh I don't need the classes, they are coming out with a new supplement"or " I am just to busy" ect. Such wasted wasted precious time, but as with anything it only works if you work it.

Information immersion and putting what I had learned into practice. I have heard alot of parents at this age say well he knows his ABC's , she writes her name, and knows all the flash cards in the box. "G" could actually read in pre-school. I had to learn to stop defending and being defensive and focus on what was holding her back from being "normal". Looking back on it now being diagnosed just meant someone telling me we had some catch up to do. Dr. Manny Gonzalez-Abreu is another earth angel. Dr. Manny is now the associate director of the Baudhuin pre-school and he taught me much of what I know today. His Guidance showed me how to obtain the results we were looking for in "G". Here are just some of the classes I was able to take for free thanks to the county:

• Etiology and diagnosis of Autism
• Potty training and the special needs child
• Legal issues regarding least restrictive environment
• Social skills and the child with autism
• Inclusion making it work part two
• Understanding challenging behaviors in children diagnosed with Autism
• Financial planning for special needs individuals
• IDEA 2004 & least restrictive environment
• Quality IEP's
• How to use PECS(Picture exchange communication system)
• Educational learning strategies for disabilities

So you can see pre-school with a child newly diagnosed is time for the parent to go back to school. If I had to pick one person whom made the most impact on me and I am so glad she did it would have to be a behaviorist (free to me, Thank you Broward county). Victoria Sanchez ,was a women I loved to hate because she had the best advice and tools that I still use today but told me stuff I needed to hear but didn't necessarily want to hear about my child. Mrs. Sanchez thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was told flat out "If you don't get a handle on this behavior now, you can imagine what you will be dealing with when she is older" and with that she introduced me to the cost/economy/token reward system and my child's behavior started to change within a few weeks. I still use a version of this today. I learned that you must have behavior first then you can learn. I see so many parents who don't put behavior first and then expect their kid's to be welcomed with open arms in an educational program. Behaviors are not all normal stuff you might think of like using your inside voice but stemming and other behaviors can also be changed through the reward system. Any behaviors you can change to help your child blend in is key and can be done through behavior modification.The only key to this system is knowing what your child likes and being consistant.