I followed up with Head Start on the boys' applications for next year and they told me that they have to call their regional representative, Lacey, to get approval because our income so grossly exceeds the income threshold. They did not do this when I applied for my older son so I thought it was odd. She also said they only have 3 other people above the income limit and are permitted to have up to 30, which is 10% of their 300 enrolled. From day one, we felt like they did not want to accept the boys because of our income and still feel that way. Is this just normal procedure or do I have a right to wonder what is going on? I told her that it is clearly in the regs. that our income should be disregarded if it is in the IEP and she said that the regs. are open to interpretation and that the regional office may feel that because of our income, which I might add is not even over 85,000 for a family of 6, we should be able to pay for services on our own, but.....there are no services offered comparable to the Head Start program in our area in a one and a half hour radius because where we reside is so rural. I could not pay for services because none other than Head Start exists. What should I do? They kept saying something to the effect that we have 3 from one family and that it is just so many from one family. I feel like we are penalized due to our income and because we have triplets.

Thanks,

Jennifer

My 3 are going to the Head Start pre-K. Only one is on an IEP but he is not delayed enough to get accepted in based on his IEP. So all three got in on the peer program, which is not free, but a heck of a lot cheaper than any other Pre-k we found. We are also a family of 6 with an income of $75-80K per year, we did not qualify for free Head Start either.

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Thank you for the response. What is the Peer Program? I didn't even realize you COULD pay for Head Start. Do you mind if I ask how expensive it is? We never realized this might be an option.

Thank you,

Jennifer

Also,

What state are you in? We are in NY? Is the Peer Program in every state?

We are in Oregon, I am not sure what other states do.

The "Peer program" is a set number of "typical developing" kids that are put in the class room with the not typical kids(their words) to show those kids an example of behavior, to be their peers.

I can't remember the exact $, DH paid the bill, but I want to say it is $5 or $10 per kid per day. They go either 2 or 3 days per week and it is 2 hrs and 15 min per day. Not that long but it is better than nothing. We started mine at 3 yr 4 mo, and they "age out" at 5 I believe.

Our Blog http://tripmomma.blogspot.com/

That cost does sound low. We live in NY state and I am pretty sure it is not an option to pay. They keep trying to tell us that they are in day care and so are receiving enough services, but day care is not the same as Head Start. The ratio of teachers to students is much higher and there is not a full-time speech therapist at day care, whereas at Head Start there is. This is the area that they are most delayed.

Thanks for the information!

I don't have personal experience with this (yet) but we are in Florida and I have a friend whose daughter went to Head Start pre-K free as a "language model," so basically the same idea as this peer program. It was also limited hours (a couple half days) but still. She then had the option to pay extra for the extended day.

Lara
Mom to GGG born at 25+4 on 12/25/09

We don't qualify for the income eligibility for Head Start, so we attend the public preschool program which services Tanner's IEP.

My other two boys are the "typical" peer models in the same public preschool program.

We do not pay for Tanner's preschool, but we pay $150/month for each of the boys ($300/month total).

This is in Ohio.

Jessica
http://lilypie.com>

I'm in FL too. We have Headstart here, but we probably wouldn't make the income cutoff. Anyhow,my trio graduated from EI when they turned 3yo as they had met their goals (mostly we were getting speech). I was looking for a pre-school when a friend told me about the program through our local elementary school. As some others have mentioned it's a blended class of special needs kids (7) and gen. ed kids (7). Mine didn't qualify for services, so we have to pay. At 3yo it's $75/week/child. They go a regular school day (for us that's 8:35-2:50 with a 1 1/2 hour naptime). There is a certified teacher, two paid aides, and the speech therapist is there 4 days a week (we're on early release one day a week and she doesn't come that day). You may want to see if your local elementary school has something similar, even if it isn't advertised.

This next year ours will be going to VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) at the same school. The state picks up funding for 540 hours during the year or a smaller number of hours in the summer. As a result our cost drops to $55/wk/child. Kindergarten is currently free as part of the elementary school the following year for us.

The boys were accepted into Head Start for this fall! Yeah. I am so excited. I guess the program is an integrated program, similar to the peer program. It is a 4 or 5 hour program--I can't remember which. I am just so excited. This will help them immensely. Thanks to all who responded.

Jennifer