Comments on: Why I Decided Against a Spanish Immersion School for My Bilingual Boys

By: http://www.e-catworld.com/groups/stop-nail-biting-strategies/

http://www.e-catworld.com/groups/stop-nail-biting-strategies/ — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:57:26 +0000

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By: What the Power of Family Can Do for Bilingualism | SpanglishBaby™

What the Power of Family Can Do for Bilingualism | SpanglishBaby™ — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:19:36 +0000

[...] I’ve long maintained that autism, special education, IEPs and all, anything my two boys can do in … And as I mentioned, I don’t exactly keep their formal speech goals in mind every minute of every day — mostly, we just plod along as best we can. The conversational turn-taking goal, though, I always remember. It comes so naturally even to the shyest of us, even if the conversation is purely superficial. Hey, what’s up? Not much. You? [...]

By: Noelle

Noelle — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 02:30:43 +0000

As a bilingual special education teacher in an inner city school, I wish I had the pleasure of coming across more parents like you, who truly consider what’s best for their children and look at the big picture when making these difficult decisions. Congratulations on your children’s success! Perhaps someday, bilingual special education will be the norm and a variety of programs will be available to our children (the only options in my district are integrated special class and self-contained class). Meanwhile, there are a variety of monolingual programs for children with special needs, including those for children with autism. I am (not so patiently) awaiting the day for my district to recognize the inequality and need for more bilingual special education programs, because my name is going to be the first on the list to teach a bilingual classroom for children with autism.

By: Juana Veronca

Juana Veronca — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 11:17:41 +0000

I believe Kimberly, that you made a wise choice for your situation, choosing to address the early autism diagnoses over putting your children in Spanish Immersion classes.
We do not have Spanish Immersion classes here now, where I live.
I did work as a Bilingual/Newcomer/ESL teacher for 9 years in the public school. I saw first hand how children, new to this country struggle with learning English, especially if their parents’ dominant language at home is Spanish.
I also had kids with Special Needs. We sought IMMEDIATE services for them and thankfully got them.
I am the Mother of a Special Needs Child (Down Syndrome) , who now at 18, is at home with me. I am “Lifeskilling” her.
I decided at the very beginning that even though the people in the elementary schools were saying that the fact my husband spoke Spanish to her, that it would hinder her learning English, that I would NOT follow that advice.
Why??? Her father is Mexican!!! There is no way I was going to make my husband speak English to suit someone else!!!
I have never been sorry. My child understands English and Spanish perfectly. She and her daddy have the most beautiful relationship I have ever seen between a father and daughter.
She speaks in one or two word terms. In language output she is on a two to three year old level. This is very fine with me. She is being the person God meant for her to be!!!!!
Juana Veronica

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:33:41 +0000

Because the best academic programs in this country are in English, and we want the best for our children, I agree with what many successful cultural/ethnic parents do for their children here in the USA. They send their kids to Saturday school or afterschool programs, and speak to their children at home in their heritage language. I went to all English schools and spoke Spanish at home with my parents, but we could not afford any Spanish language enrichment programs, nor did our schools offer them. Even though my parents did not have many years of formal education in Mexico, they provided us many trips to the library, purchased books in Spanish, and always encouraged us to read in Spanish so we would have exposure to academic Spanish. Now my siblings and I can proudly converse and read fluently in our heritage language, but we our English dominant, as is expected in the USA. Your children can be be bilingual if provided the resources, support, and encouragement at home!

By: Olga

Olga — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:02:47 +0000

Such a beautiful, thoughtful article. A Spanish immersion school might be a good idea at a first glance, but it might not suit your children’s needs. You have found a good quality school for your children, that is important! I’ve read once that you can’t have them eat carrots and speak Spanish at the same time. I think it’s even more true in your case.The fact that your children have all the support they need now might them become bilingual.

By: Sunocean18

Sunocean18 — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 04:37:46 +0000

Great post! My husband and I always thought we’d enroll our son in a dual immersion school. The possibility is still there, but since my son had an IEP due to speech delay, he will now be starting a preschool program in our school district. Assuming the preschool and the special education services turn out well (as we hope!), it will be difficult to decide whether to pull him from this district or put him in a dual immersion program. We specifically purchased our home in an area with a very good school district, so now to think about putting him in the dual immersion school (not in our district) will be a tough choice. My husband and I practice the ml@H method and my son only speaks Spanish, but the dual immersion program does appeal to us as well. We’ll see what happens. Good luck to your boys!

By: Ali

Ali — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:19:43 +0000

What is the saying? Never tell God your plans… I have often thought that even though my fiance and I want to raise kids in Colombia that if any of our kids had special needs, we might have to change that because of the lack of services available. I hope to get certified in Special Education soon because its such a need here and hardly anyone is trained in providing special ed services.