Special needs preschool program gives kids a head start | Photos

Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on the Issaquah School District’s special needs programs. Read the second part on the district’s vocational program that helps some students integrate into the community.

Erinn White knew there was something wrong with her son when he was born, but a diagnosis eluded doctors.

William’s weight fell off the charts, and at four months he still couldn’t hold up his head. Specialists prepared the family for the worst possibilities – it could be muscular dystrophy.

The little boy spent a year in physical therapy before he could sit up. He turned two before taking his first steps. But as he progressed, Erinn’s fears melted into hope.

William still has what specialists call motor and speech delays. He’s clumsy on his feet and occasionally slurs a sentence, but the 4-year-old now romps around the playground with peers. A few weeks ago he was even seen cutting in the slide line by climbing up a ladder.

William still doesn’t have a diagnosis, and so the White family can only guess where he’ll be 10 years from now. However, early intervention made his ability to walk before preschool possible, Erinn said. “Even just the fact that we’re talking about putting him in a kindergarten class feels wonderful.”

One force helping with William’s progress is the Issaquah School District, which is required to provide education for children with disabilities from birth.

As a baby, William received services through Kindering, a Bellevue-based nonprofit for disabled children. The district paid some of the cost.

When William turned 3, he joined the district’s preschool program, designed for children with a range of challenges. The program has 100 students spread across three schools.

Over the past 40 years, institutions for the “retarded” have transformed into special education programs for the disabled. The hope is to see everyone improve, and the biggest reward is to see students like William able to enter normal classrooms.

Learning to learn

At Sunset Elementary School, a flock of children land at knee-high tables and unwrap their snacks.

With their attention focused on spearing juice boxes, teacher Jackie Funk slips into a chair and begins a conversation with them. It’s social skills time.

“What do you think you’re going to learn at kindergarten?” she poses to the table.

“I don’t know,” says a straight-faced boy. He then sighs. “It’s going to be hard.”

About half the students in her classroom will enter kindergarten among typically developing peers. Funk’s eyes are on the transition.

“The demands on kids are so high,” she says. “It’s always learning to learn.”

When Cash Sorensen first came to Funk’s preschool, he couldn’t sit in a chair long enough to participate in circle time.

His parents didn’t learn about state-funded programs until he was 3. He had lost a couple years of early intervention, crucial to children with autism.

“Somehow he fell between the cracks,” said his father, Mike.

Now the 4-year old participates in groups, takes turns with his peers and has made some progress talking. A quiet boy who sprints around the playground alone, he still has challenges ahead. His father hopes to see him become more verbal.

“It definitely is helping him, and I’m appreciative of it, most definitely,” Mike said.

Just before a song about Rudy the Rectangle, Cash stood up from his chair at circle time and placed his name in a good-morning book. Most students will learn to recognize their names and many will learn to write them.

“When you see the progress, it keeps you going,” Funk said.

A matter of civil rights

Diane Roth was in the sixth grade when she first had the opportunity to work with children with disabilities.

A special-needs private school was using space on her campus, and she volunteered. Roth met a girl with Down syndrome, and an instant fascination hooked her.

She’s now about to retire as the head of ISD’s Early Childhood Education, but there wasn’t such a program when she started teaching.

That all changed after 1973 with a civil rights movement for the disabled. New federal laws took students from institutions and introduced them into the classroom. The movement came with a mix of emotions for Roth, who saw both the opportunity and the challenges.

“I can remember feeling tremendously happy,” she said. “It was also scary being moved into a regular school.”

But as the teachers grappled with exactly how to write a program for special needs kids, their programs eventually became something much more than daycare.

In step with the movement, Issaquah decided that being in the same building wasn’t quite enough.

Struggling children need the opportunity to interact with typically developing kids, Roth said.

Funk’s classroom has two such children, called peer volunteers. At that age, children don’t discriminate, so there was little problem persuading the girls to interact with other classmates. The community is so seamless, it can be difficult at first to pick them out.

While kindergarten is the focus in Funk’s classroom, the measure of success varies per child. Each has a different struggle and different goals. It’s about making sure students are more prepared than they would have been.

“You never know what happens when they go out your door,” Funk said. “You just hope you did the best for them.”

Next week the Reporter Newspaper will focus on what ISD is doing to help prepare special needs students for work after graduation.

William White, left, interacts with Teacher Jackie Funk in her special needs preschool class at Sunset Elementary School. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER

Diego Garcia at Sunset Elementary School, plays at school yard designed for preschool students. He’s one of 100 kids in the Issaquah School District that participates in a school for children with disabilities. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER

Preschool kids line up outside Sunset Elementary School before class. From the left, Tosia Nealis, Ashton Fisher and William White. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER