HELP with preliminary results from school evaluation

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^this is what I am worried about! You explained it perfectly! Thank you. I feel that the mood disorder diagnosis would be more harsh. If he has ASD tendencies then the only reason they won't acknowledge it is because they aren't ready to give that kind of support. Sure lets wait a few years until he is in middle school and let them deal with it. By then he will be so broken that nothing will fix him. He is already broken to this school. They have even said "he should be making progress by now. Making changes to his behavior" my son does not learn from consequences like other children and even if he does there are times that he has no control over his actions. There are definitely times he knows what to do and sti just can't seem to keep from doing the wrong thing. His self esteem is tested everyday when he can't control his own actions

mom2tkh,

*nods*

I can't think of a worse thing than to wait for middle school with a kid who clearly needs help now. Another thing I observed is compassion and patience goes down as the child ages. I have noticed this just from pre-k through 2nd grade. By middle school, the expectations go way up and you have social and executive function challenges that make elementary look like nothing. The schools seem increasingly hard-pressed to deal with kids who don't fit the mold, and they have less patience.
In addition, the academic requirements of later grades means that they really do not have the extra time or ability to deal with disruptions in class. Bad combination.

Those are all points I will bring up to the psychologist. Of course I understand that I won't change his mind on what diagnosis he gives my son but I just don't understand how he can overlook all the surveys that clearly say my son is on the spectrum. Not just my surveys either. His teacher sees it too whether she knows what she sees or not. Her data says spectrum also. I am going to ask him how much input the school has on "what area he qualifies under" because if the school doesn't want to recognize the ASD even when it is clearly there on paper then I will find a district that will help him for his actual need not just what they want to call it.

You sound like you are exactly on the right track.

I have one more recommendation for you - bring an advocate with you to the school every time you talk to someone. Some states offer advocates for free (contact your state's board of education in the US) and some charities also offer it for free. Even if you can't find a professional, find a parent with a special needs child elsewhere in your district to go with you, hopefully one who has been awarded an IEP and knows how the process should work in your district (even if it's not for the same reasons, the process is the same.) This sounds silly, but believe me - schools often change their tune just by having someone else in the room.

Thank you! I was planning on bringing our behavioral therapist with me to my meeting tomorrow but the psychologist said he doesn't want to discuss the results with anyone but me and my husband until they are final. Is that a red flag?

You have the right to bring anyone to any meeting at any time. You DEFINITELY want to bring your son's behavioral therapist if you're discussing his BEHAVIOR, right?

Can I ask what state/country/province you are in? There may be free legal services for you - and it sounds a little bit like this school is doing some dancing to see if you will go away quietly (like ours did.) Read up on your rights on Wrightslaw.com at the very least, and see this: http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/20 ... p-meeting/

Thank you. He said it was only because the results were not final so he didn't want to discuss them with her. I live in Texas in a tiny town. I do think they are trying to just do the easiest thing for them for the time being hoping my sons behavior will change. It's not going to change unless they help him properly.

Good news! I remember doing some research for another poster about the process in Texas, there's a lot of help out there!

First, check this over: http://www.disabilityrightstx.org/files ... _final.pdf This is where you can check your experience for red flags, it's a very good overview of the process, what you should expect, and what your rights are.

Second, there is free mediation provided by the state board of Ed http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=5089 I'd give them a call just to get questions answered - for instance, the one about bringing an advocate, and I'd explain your concerns about the diagnosis and how it will be handled.

Third, there's a lot of information available here: http://www.thearcoftexas.org/site/PageS ... _Education and here http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147491399

Thank you so much for the links. Now our meeting is going to be delayed again because of icy conditions. I guess that gives me more time to get some help about the situation. This isn't a formal meeting and I think that is what I don't know about. This is just our results meeting. I don't know if the same rules apply about advocates.

I think you can have an advocate with you no matter what - but it's worth asking about.

I emailed him since we won't be meeting until Monday and this is driving me crazy.
This is how that conversation went:

ME to the psychologist :
Okay I was just really confused as to how it seemed like you were leaning towards ASD and all the surveys were showing that also. Then it was all the sudden a mood disorder. I was also hoping to get an ARD meeting in before break but it doesn't look like that is going to happen with the weather being the way it has. I will see you Monday at 8:30.

HIS RESPONSE:
I will explain my reasoning. Kiefer's presentation is complicated and I really expect it will become clearer over the next couple of years. But I don't think we can wait to get him some help. He needs it now. I promise I will explain everything on Monday. I am sorry we have to wait to talk .

I would like to offer up an explanation myself. Psychology is not a hard science. It is a soft science that started with Sigmund Freud. Psychology is very subjective in nature meaning the doctor goes by what he observes and fits what he observes to the categories in what is called the DSM or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. There are no objective tests for any of the disorders in the DSM. As an example, there is no test that determines the presence or absence of a pathogen in a laboratory.

When a psychologist or psychiatrist says that one has a chemical imbalance in the brain there are no medical tests to determine what this imbalance is. In fact, I don't even think we even know what a balanced brain is supposed to be.

In the DSM, what they do is they notate what traits their patient has and this is how they come up with their disorders. They group these traits. These disorders are grouped further into further groups like mood disorders, personality disorders, autism spectrum disorders, etc. Sometimes they will use subgroups for the groups. For example, personality disorders are grouped under what is called clusters.

Psychologists look at this manual and the rules for diagnosing these disorders and look at the disorders and the clusters and try to diagnosis the patient as best as they can based upon this manual. To complicate it further, sometimes they may use other manuals. Observations can be colored by one's personal experiences, beliefs and biases. One psychologist may disagree with another.

Some of them may not even be up to date on the latest edition.

Since it is based upon subjectivity to keep it as objective as possible and remove some of the subjectivity I would have him see more than one psychologist preferably at least three, 4 or 5 would be better, to determine what they say. If 2 out of 3 says he has an ASD and one does not then your son, the patient, more than likely may have an ASD and needs to be treated as such. If the doctor is an ASD specialist and if he or she says your son is on the spectrum then you have more credibility and it increases his likelihood that he is.

Recently, the DSM has been rejected by the NIMH or the National Institute for Mental Health because there is so much subjectivity to it. They are still using it so right now it is the best we have. I think the medical establishment is trying to go towards a more objective approach through genetics and diagnosis by genetics.

The more people with credentials who diagnosis your son with an ASD the higher the plausibility that your son more than likely has an ASD. It won't be absolute but very highly likely. What I did was based upon inductive reasoning and inductive logic. Because of the subjective nature of all of this you have to use more inductive reasoning like I did to be as objective as possible.

Another thing is if you can check the credibility of the professionals please do so especially if they had malpractice issues in recent times.


Momsparky, what do you think of my analysis on this?

Well I got have my meeting with the psychologist today after all. He knows my son has autism but doesn't know if the school is ready to recognize it. I told him if my son has ASD they will recognize it because I won't settle for an ED qualification. He said he was okay with that and just didn't know if I was ready for a "fight" with the school. Yes I will fight for my son to get the services he needs inside and outside of the school.

I think it's true that there is a wide variety of views within the fields of psychology and psychiatry, and that people don't always avail themselves of the most recent data.

Unfortunately, you can't check the credentials of a school psychologist (or you can - but it won't do you any good, really.) You're assigned one and you are stuck with them.

Unfortunately, autism is poorly understood - so many parents find themselves in the position of educating someone with a PHD. This is one reason why it's helpful to have an advocate - it's easy for someone with a doctorate to tell one person (or one family) they're wrong to their face, but it's harder for them to say no to two, especially if the second person has some professional credentials. Schools, sadly, tend to be dismissive of parents - even though in many cases a parent has more years of experience with their own school-aged child than a PHD has had years in school.

Sometimes, parents need to point that out, loudly and clearly.

That is the truth. I think the psychologist that I am dealing with is scared that the school Is going to disagree with him. I tried to tell him you are the phd not them. They should respect your diagnosis.

You're probably right-- my point of view should probably be discarded. Not so much for optimism, but for hopelessness and black cynicism.

One would HOPE they would be intelligent enough, in the 21st century, to understand that a mood disorder DOES NOT IN ANY WAY EQUATE TO "DOING IT ON PURPOSE," and still requires services and accommodations. If they don't-- well, I doubt the full weight of the law can convince them to treat ASD in a sane manner either. They're probably still seeing a cross between Rain Man and Adam Lanza-- and that may be the kind of treatment that diagnosis garners.

Please bear in mind that I'm typing from the depths of my own PTSD-level abject terror.

We've toyed with the idea of having my therapist write up a 504 based on an assessment of "anxiety disorder," with a lot of the same accommodations-- that outbursts/meltdowns should be treated as mistakes not misbehavior, that fidgetiness and excessive talking should be handled with things like rubber bands around the chair legs, Velcro inside the desk, a notebook to doodle in, extra breaks if necessary, that good behavior should be pointed out and rewarded more than bad behavior is pointed out and punished.

We're not doing it-- dragging him for a private evaluation on Monday instead-- because I DON'T think anxiety is all of, or even most of, the problem. I'm still a MOTHER-- I want to identify the problem, address the problem, and give the kid all the skills possible to make the best go of his life he can.

It just so happens that I've also been discriminated against because of my diagnosis enough times that the FIRST thing I am going to bring up to the evaluator is that we need to keep that fact in mind-- that I want to get at the truth so we can find the best treatment for the problem, but that he needs to weigh that against the possibility that having those three letters or four letters (or not) can very well have as much impact on his life as having the condition (or not) or getting the right help (or not).

My PTSD, of course, may or may not be your experience. Personally, I'm listening for the sound of breaking glass (that's a reference to Krystallnacht) while I'm looking up countries in the developing world and trying to choose five or six that would be good places to run to in the event that they DO start "mandating that those with certain dangerous conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or high-functioning autism be placed on a registry similar to that for sex offenders."