Teaching Students w/ASD 3.3: Transition Planning for Kindergarten

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We have the Ready, Set, Learn program at my school which is for young learners, ages 3-5, in the community to join in on with their family. It’s usually an event that is held over 3 days with performances and a visit from the library. Future students joining our school are encouraged to attend and kindergarten teachers are around to build relationships with families and their children. This usually happens in May. 

The next step is attending our Welcome to Kindergarten event. All students registered for kindergarten in the fall attend an afternoon of stations, where they explore and demonstrate a variety of skills. Some of the stations we had last year were loose parts, fine motor skill cutting station, library station, and a nurse station. At this time kindergarten teachers and other teachers that volunteer to take part (usually the resource teachers and other primary teachers) are stationed at stations and watch over students to see if there are any prospective students that they may have concerns about. This takes place in early June.
Here's a Canadian video introducing Welcome to Kindergarten:

Roughly a week later, the kindergarten teachers set up interviews with the family and child and get to know a little more about their future students. They ask about any concerns their parents have, special needs, emotional needs, etc. This information is collected primarily for class casting -dividing the new kindergarteners into classes that are balanced.

Usually, students with designations already have their designation by the time they are ready for kindergarten, according to the kindergarten teacher. If not, families are provided with information about specialists, which can be found here: http://www.vch.ca/public-health/children-youth-schools/school-health/vancouver-school-health-manual/children-with-special-needs-in-vancouver-schools

 I noticed in one of my student’s files there was a kindergarten transition form BC Centre for Ability that was filled out specifying my student’s means of communication, social skills, behaviour, and general dangers. This could be a useful document to have on file!

References:

The Learning Partnership. (2014, Feb 12). Welcome to kindergarten program! [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBpOUsh4tLo