what aids/services for ages 4-6 in public school?

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IDEA 2004 Sec 612(a)(5):
"To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily."

so my question is, what aids and services are available for pre-k/k ages in the public school system? what have you or your children used as supports in mainstream classes?

i know this is going to vary by what the unique child needs and the school usually offers, but i am just trying to get some ideas. right now my son is receiving ST and OT, but those are not addressing the new issues we are seeing this year. mostly its transitions, being jostled/bumped by other kids, other kids touching things he is playing with or accidentally "breaking" his structures (legos, blocks, etc), and i think the overall sensory overload of being in a room with 16 other kids between the ages of 2 1/2 to 4.

his teachers have mentioned the possibility of him doing half his day in an autism classroom with 2 teachers and only 4-5 kids total, but i would rather he be kept mainstream if it can be done. i just dont know what supports are available to help him through it. where do you find a giant invisible bubble that keeps other kids from touching him or the things hes working with?

I don't think ST and OT are enough either. My son had just PT, OT, and ST until he was 4. He then received services from a SEIT (special ed itinerant teacher) to address the other issues like transitioning and social skills and remained in a mainstream class. His OT was the one who suggested and pushed for the idea. I didn't even know it was a possibility at the time. This made a huge difference and I highly recommend looking into getting an SEIT. My son does not technically have one anymore since his previous district "graduated" him from services, but he still gets the support of a SEIT in his kindergarten because he has a classmate with autism that does receive services. His teacher and I suspect that he will qualify again if given an evaluation, but it's not really necessary at the moment since the support is there anyway and he's doing well.

I'm a fan of mainstream classrooms too, if possible. The SEIT doesn't provide a lego bubble (my son would LOVE that ), but s/he helps the child to work through problems in a supportive on-on-one setting within the classroom.

My son is actually in a private pre-school but some of the simple things we have for him in the classroom could easily be provdied in a public school setting. We have 2 sets of earphone in a basket on the shelf where he can reach them. When the classroom is too noisy/chaotic, he gets the earphones and puts them on. At first me or the teacher needed to suggest putting on the earphones when we could see theat he was becoming distressed but it didn't take too long before he learned to do it himself.

There is also a "space place" in the classroom where any child can choose to go when they are overwhelmed. My son will go there when, in his own words "I need to be in my brain a little bit" Its just a nook in a quiet corner, its not for any kind of punishment, its just for when kids choose to take some quiet time.

The teacher needs to talk to all the children about personal space and having respect for other people's toys and possessions. These are the main things kids in Pre-K/K should be learning anyway regadless of any special needs. I know that with our kiddos, someone knocking down a lego construction is often far more dramatic than it is for some other kids but it really isn't acceptable behavoir in any situation and the teacher should be doing his or her best to stop it.

Visual charts and social stories are still quite helpful for us. The teacher giving plenty of warning and several reminders before transitions helps a lot.

This seems a bit odd but when all the kids are going to be going to the bathroom (its a large multi-stall bathroom, VERY noisy) like before lunch or after an outing, the teacher lets DS either go first or last when no one else is in there. With this simple accomodation, it has become a breeze to get him to go potty and wash his hands (he would almost never willingly wash before). Giving my son a special job to do has also helped, like on field trips he gets to pull the wagon or he wipes down the tables after play time before everyone gets their lunch out. Having a "job" to do at that transition point really helps.

For circle time, my son either chooses to sit on his sensory seat (an inflatable disk with a knobby plastic surface, the OT may have one) or he is allowed to choose a small item such as a ball or a toy car. He is allowed to keep the toy in his hand as long as he doesn't play with it. Either of these items helps him sit at circle and participate where he didn't used to be able to do that much at all.

Hope some of these thoughts are helpful!

Last year, my son (at 3) was in a special-needs-only class, and this year (at 4), he's in an inclusion class with twice as many kids. It has made a night and day difference to him-- in a bad way. All of the things you mention bother him and being in a larger class with kids who aren't socially delayed is somewhat of a nightmare. He used to love school. Now it's completely exhausting for him. He still gets in-class therapy. However, the classroom dynamic is different. Just because my child is a lamb doesn't mean it would be better to throw him in with the lions! I wish there was funding to go back to the exclusion preK. The kids have a harder time focusing with all of those "other" kids running around making noise and upsetting the dynamic they had going on. I thought about putting him in private school, but instead I'm selling the house and moving to a better district before he starts kindergarten next year.