Kate: My preschooler has (very mild) ASD, and his private preschool (for which I pay full tuition) assigned him a part-time para (provided by the district). He went to preschool fulltime last year, but this year has a new teacher who insists he not attend when his para is not there. The director says no other accommodations are possible. My understanding of the ADA is that this is not inclusion, and not legal. Am I correct, and do I have any recourse? I cannot seem to find any answers on this.
My son is in Pre-K at a nursery school. He has a wrap around aide until lunch time. At nap he does not sleep but he lays on his mat and makes noise. Teacher is now selling me that he has to leave after lunch as he is disrupting the other kids rest time. This to me is a violation of ADA. Is it? The director is backing the teacher. What should I do?
Kate –
Chuck is right, this is potentially a violation of the ADA.
Your son has a disability. Before the preschool can exclude him from the program, they must consider if there are reasonable accommodations that they can provide to help prevent it. If they believe he needs support for the remainder of the day or cannot participate, they must explore ways to provide it before terminating him.
As Chuck suggested, your school district may be able to provide you with assistance regarding this. The state agency that licenses the preschool may also be a good resource. OCR enforces the ADA, so they can also be a good source of information and assistance (http://www.ed.gov/ocr).
I believe this to be a violation of ADA. The Office of Civil Rights enforces the ADA. Since the school district is involved, they may be willing to intervene. Your state parent training & information project can assist you. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/