Kelsey: Kindergarten is half day in our school district (option to be in AM or PM class). I would like my daughter to enroll in the PM kinder (starts at 11:15am) but arrive early to school (10AM) to receive her pull outs before the gen ed kinder PM class starts. This way she won’t miss out on valuable gen ed instruction but gets some small group/one on one time with SPED/OT/APE. Is there any law that says this is not possible? Do the children have to receive their services during the general education school day? Is it possible to modify her “school day” start time? (District doesn’t want to push in services.) Thanks!
Kelsey –
Your state may have a law that disallows this, but I highly doubt it. Schools are generally encouraged to be creative in providing services, to best be able to meet individual student needs.
On the flip side, there’s no law requiring the school to offer this arrangement. They would have to treat your AM/PM preference the same as those from parents of non-disabled students, but they don’t have to provide the services in a way that is convenient.
Still, you have no reason not to ask. Having a modified school schedule (i.e. a longer/shorter day or longe/shorter year) is fairly common.