MOM23ANGELS

i am in the process of having my son transition from pre-school to kinder. the supervisor of special ed for kindergarten in my area feels very strongly that he should be placed in a self-contained kinder class in sept. her reasoning is that because he is coming from such a small class size (10 kids), putting him in a mainstream class of 18-22 would not be a good idea. she is the only one, by the way, who feels he should be put into this type of class. his therapists and neuro. all feel he should be mainstreamed with support (preferably an aide). so i call and ask her to give me a tour of these self-contained classes she is thinking about. not because i would even consider it but because i needed to back up why i'm turning down the placement. i couldn't believe what she thought would be right for my son. now, this woman has never met my child. she can only go by evaluations and test scores in his file. before we even entered the class of 14-1-1 (we went to observe), she tells me there are 2 children in the class with 1 on 1 aides. 1 for medical reasons and 1 for "severe behavioral problems". WHAT!!!!!!! my son may have some challenges but behavior has never been a problem for him. he is a very compliant child. "a pleasure to have in class" according to his last eval by his pre-school teacher.

ok, so here is my question: who has the ultimate say in where he is placed. i was under the impression it would be me, but she was pretty adamant in giving me the impression it was the board that decides. isn't "least restrictive environment" their obligation to my child.

he was recently tested and his scores all came back average to above average range. his biggest deficit is the abilty to carry on conversation. he is able to make friends in the park because it's mostly physical play but other situations that involve a lot of verbalization and he has a problem.

thanks for any insight.