Hi @A MyAutismTeam Member for ABA therapy, public schools will not allow private/your own ABA therapist to go with your child in school. For public schools, you would need an IEP and in your child IEP request for ABA as well as other therapies to be included in your child’s education program. There are private schools however that will allow you to bring your own ABA therapist to help your child in school. Catholic schools and Lutheran Schools have been responsive. For Catholic schools, they require Virtus training and fingerprinting for adults who will be with your child in school and you are pretty much set. My son attended a Lutheran school from Kindergarten thru 1st grade and we transferred him to a Catholic school second grade. He is now in third grade mainstreamed. He had ABA kindergarten thru first grade while in private school and pulled out for speech and OT till second grade. For preschool he attended the public school preschool for kids with special needs 3x a week where he received OT, ST, and ABA and twice a week he goes to a regular preschool. He also had ABA at home as well as ST, OT, PT at the hospital. @A MyAutismTeam Member if you have any questions 😊

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A MyAutis...

A MyAutis...

Im currently in Chula Vista, CA....San Diego, ill back to the isd. She did attend a 2 week intro @ a nearby elementary when she was 3 but it was 2hrs aday, in the middle of the day & we had to drop & pick her up. We choose to continue ABA instead, they were allowed to go to her daycare, for 1 on 1 for 5hrs daily which i thought was better.

My daughter is also 5 and non-verbal, when she was diagnosed ASD, and evaluated for her IEP, it stipulated that she be placed in the closest public school that offers an ASD program (she was 3 at the time) the school board has to provide a bus, with an aide, a vest to wear, comes directly to our home to pick her up and drop her off, due to her age and her ASD and being non-verbal. She has been in public elementary school since 3 and all of those stipulations have been provided as the public school closest with the ASD programs is not in our district (not where would she be placed otherwise) The public school makes speech and OT available for her in class, so she also has her therapies outside of school. When she was 3, the special needs ASD program class size was 8 students with 1 teacher and 2 certified aides. Now at 5 the class size is at 11 with the same 3 adults in class. Please if you have not yet, Get her IEP and at that meeting, have them put in the stipulations I mentioned above, make clear all of your concerns and needs for your child as this follows them throughout their life in school with a review done yearly. I hope this helps.

I havent had success finding a public school that has a ASD program, so i've been looking for other options. Public has said no to allowing ABA therapist that are not staff, but they also don't have one staff, so catch 22.

Here is a sample of a specialize autism school here in los angeles http://www.thehelpgroup.org/ for reference. They might have similar programs in San Diego. California is the leading state that has a lot of laws and programs for individuals with disabilities we fought hard for rights so don’t be afraid to be heard good luck! 😊