SC: I am a PA resident. My 4 year old son has an IEP and was diagnosed with unspecified ADHD. He was asked to leave his last preschool because they didn’t have the resources for him and they didn’t want to pay to hire another teacher to help him. He is now in a different preschool (another day care setting) and receives TSS services on a daily basis. However, the school does not find the TSS helpful and advised that they may need to discontinue his enrollment. This will be the 2nd preschool that expels him. Can someone let me know if private day care/preschool settings are supposed to provide more services to accommodate the child? Do services only apply to school age children within a school district?
I work full time and cannot stay home with my son until kindergarten. I need to know the rights we have for a 4 year old in preschool. The intermediate unit is also going to look into this further but I need to know what we are entitled to. Thank you
I’m in the same situation and would love to know what you’ve done since posting this.
The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) applies to preschools. You can research this on this website or on google. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces the ADA.
Has he had a Neuro work up? Sometimes other Neuro issues (different types of seizures) can be mistaken for ADHD. Medications given for ADHD can lower the threshold for seizures. Another issue that can be a cause for ADHD behaviors is blood sugar levels.
I would suggest that you take a couple of hours off work one day to make a fly-on-the-wall observation of your son in his current preschool. Some preschools are very, very good at handling ADHD. It’s possible that the current school is simply asking that the TSS services be suspended because they feel they can handle your son’s needs better without those outside services being brought in. Of course, there are many other possibilities, for example, the TSS services provider is very good and gets on the preschool teacher’s nerves. Who knows, without going in to observe.
What is TSS? Note that you may temporarily suspend services without the service having to be removed from the IEP document.
Private preschools are under no mandate to provide services. The school district does, however. They may have a program for him, or be able to provide supports to the private preschool. Depending on your son’s behavior, day care in a home setting might need his needs better.