Return to: Georgia Sensory Assistance Project | On-line Newsletter | Revised 04/24/2004

Early Transition: Hey Mom and Dad ... Am I Ready for School?

Mom, Dad, do you know that I can go to school when I am three years old? It’s called transitioning to school. I know “transition” is a scary word to you...with me being so little. Transition means change...it is a part of growing up. We will have many transitions together. Don’t worry, there are people to help you and dad make the best decision for our family. You can talk about all my school options with my Babies Can’t Wait Service Provider, Georgia PINES Parent Advisor, and the staff of the Georgia Sensory Assistance Project (GSAP).

Now that I am two years old, it is time for you and daddy to get busy. I need you to explain my needs to my teachers. The school needs copies of my medical reports (vision, hearing, physical, occupational, and speech therapy) so I can qualify for vision and hearing services, as well as physical, occupational, and speech therapy. That’s called “being eligible for services”. However, if you can’t get the reports in time, its all right. You can sign a “Permission to Release Information” form and the school can get the reports. It may take longer for the school to determine if I am eligible for some services, but I still can go to school. The reports also help my school know all the special things I need to have in place when I come.

To help us get started, the Georgia Sensory Assistance Project (GSAP) will send me a notebook when I am two years old. The notebook has the GSAP Transition Bear on it and is really neat because there are sections that help organize all my records and reports in one place. There is even a section on “Important Things to Know”. You can write all sorts of special things about me in that section. We can use my notebook all through my school years. If you don’t receive my Early Transition Notebook, you can call my Georgia PINES parent advisor or Dawn Swinehart-Jones at GSAP 404-651-2310 or e-mail (visionteacher@aol.com) and ask for it. My parent advisor can help you complete the transition notebook.

But wait...that’ not all! When I am 2 1/2 GSAP will send us a reminder with timeline of things to do every month for the next six months, If we follow each item every month, we’ll be ready for my big day when I start school. Isn’t that neat! Oh by the way, keep an eye out for Deborah Fields Harris, the GSAP family coordinator. She has some neat ideas for our family.

I can hardly wait for school. I’ll meet new friends and so will you. All the staff at GSAP (Dr. Kathy Heller, Doug McJannet, Dawn Swinehart-Jones, Debbie Parkman, and Deborah Fields Harris), is available to help our family, my teachers, and me throughout my school years. So, if my teachers have questions about teaching kids with vision and hearing loss, communication, or anything else, help is just a phone call away. I am so lucky to have parents like you. This is going to be great adventure. With you, the Georgia Sensory Assistance Project (GSAP), Georgia PINES, and BCW on our side, how could it be anything else?!

Ready, set, let’s go to school!