Diagnosis vs. School District support - CA

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My 3-year-old son was recently diagnosed with a mild case of Aspergers (by neuropsychologist at UCI). Though I've submitted the formal ADOS results to my school district to explore helpful resources and programs, in my initial meeting with the special ed team, they used many "ifs" when discussing his qualifying for services. "IF, when we evaluate him, we determine that he needs assistance..."

We will go through their official process in the Fall and am hoping to enroll him in programs geared towards social interaction and gross motor development. When I received his ADOS results, I was told that we would automatically qualify for services through our school district, but their "IFs" have me wondering a bit. Does anyone have experience or advice for me on this one?

I lived in California and was told that school districts did not have to accept Asperger's dx's for IEPs. They didn't qualify as a disability. My son is autistic and even with his diagnosis (from the MIND institute) they still did their own evaluation.

I have even heard of introverted autistic students not receiving services.

We lived in Rocklin, CA for one year, after having JUST received the diagnosis from Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh (where we lived previously). In CA we had to get ANOTHER diagnosis before the district would take our son's diagnosis (of PDD-NOS) seriously -- so we, too, went to the MIND institute. We then spent the next year going from meeting to meeting, monthly, fighting the district for services. It was exhausting and depressing. The state, on the other hand, was terrific to work with -- they supplied social skills therapy that we felt was very helpful. Our son was five at the time.

We moved back to Pittsburgh, and have automatically received the services that we fought for in California. Our son is now 12, and although he has some issues related to his diagnosis, he is doing very well, and is in general ed classes with no need for special ed now. He has a circle of friends, and I think that his ability to have these friends is due in part to some good social skills therapy that he received in California. He has even said that he remembers early on when we lived in California that he didn't really like people, and that he had some behavior problems -- and now he doesn't feel the same way.

Kris

A person does not automatically receive services with a diagnosis. Usually, they will, but there is still a process that occurs. For a student to recieve special education a school has to determine if there is a disability (that part has been done already) and then the school has to determine if the disability is causing impairment and if there is an educational impact. In most cases with AS, there is an educational impact, but I've seen some children not qualify for special education despite the diagnosis... Here is a page that might be helpful for you in regards to the eligibility process.

FAQ Parents ask about the Eligibility Process for Special Education
http://www.schoolpsychologistfiles.com/ ... tyFaq.html


Erin

School districts have to do their own evaluations to qualify kids for services. We just went through a nightmare getting services for our 5 y/o son with mental retardation. They didn't accept his evaluation from the MIND Institute and had to do their own evaluations to qualify him. It was a nightmare and took FOREVER!

MY advice is to call your local Regional Center. In Sacramento area it's Alta CA REgional CEnter. I don't know where you are, but they are located throughout the state. They will do intake interviews and request all info you have and may possibly want to do their own psychological evaluation, but they will get things done faster than the school district and then they will also advocate for your child with the school district.

Asperger's diagnosis is odd for such a young one. Most kiddos are first diagnosed with High-functioning autism or PDD-NOS and then the dx is changed to Asperger's when they are older. When my daughter was dxed it was HFA, they would not say Asperger's since they said she was too young to be sure it was that classification of Autism- she was 8 and this was through MIND Institute. The school district is starting evaluations on her next year(she's not needed services, but we're qualifying her to gear up for Jr High after next year). She's 10 now and the school psych says she appears to be classic Asperger's.

It seems that the quality of service and interpretation of the rules varies widely among schools and districts in California. Our school has been great, and we have no diagnosis beyond the one the school tentatively came up with, but our experience is not uniform. Many parents have had to try out various schools and districts before finding one that worked for them and their child.

Now, the use of "if" isn't by itself an indicator of much. It sounds very CYA to me. The school is trying to not lock themselves in on a child they do not have yet and do not know or have experience with. I can understand that, it's a cautious approach. More telling will be what comes about as you get closer to enrolling.

Long run, trust your instincts. If don't believe a school team is working with you appropriately and trying to give you what you need, look for alternatives.

But that is still a way off. For now, maybe gathering a sense of other parents experiences in your district and learning the reputations of the various teams and schools is the best thing to work on. Still, things change. A great speech teacher who is at one school one year, may not be there the next .. and what is great for family A may not end up so great for YOUR family. sigh. In a way, I'm glad I didn't know that I was headed for any of this in the preschool years. We dove straight into the deep end and were lucky to discover there was an alert life guard on duty.

One key thing to remember: I honestly believe that with the right placement, EVERY child can thrive and enjoy learning. If your child isn't thriving and isn't happy, question the status quo. Not to say there shouldn't be bumps - there always be - but it should "work." If you child is thriving and is happy, then you and the school are making the right choices, and should have confidence in them.

Thank you all for your very useful and insightful replies!

Thank you all for your very useful and insightful replies!

I forgot to mention -- the place that I received the most information about good school districts in California was an asperger's/hfa support group -- those parents all had great info about problems and/or good aspects to the local school districts, information that would be rough to come by in any other manner.

Kris