HELP with preliminary results from school evaluation

Post Reply New Topic

Well the results are finally in and my son is diagnosed with ASD. After I spoke with the psych about my concerns with labeling him ED instead of ASD he understood where I was coming from and couldn't deny an ASD diagnosis.
I was right about him thinking the school was going to disagree. He said he didn't know if I was ready for a possible fight with the school over the ASD diagnosis. Apparently after he talked to the principal and told her I would go for an outside evaluation if they tried to put him under the ED qualification they decided to agree with the actual diagnosis.

The psychologist tried to say he was trying not to label my son too early. He is 6 and isn't early intervention better for kids with ASD. He was wanting to wait a couple years since he is so high functioning. That would have put him in 3rd or 4th grade. In my opinion that is just way too late.

I am just glad that he finally will have a chance to get the help he needs. Thank yall for all of your support and help through this process!

Good deal, congratulations! Next step: get an IEP in place that sets goals for the non-educational issues that concern you (google "functional skills" in Wrightslaw) I think there are sample IEPs stickied on the top of this board.

Keep this distinction in mind when you're talking to the school - If there are things (even non-academic things) your child needs to LEARN, he needs an IEP. If there are changes the school needs to make to provide an appropriate environment so your child CAN learn, he needs a 504. Don't let them confuse the two: breaks and extra time and chewing gum or toys and such are well and good if that is genuinely all that's needed, but they aren't going to replace teaching your child to show appropriate social behavior, or to handle his body in space, or to manage the volume control in his voice.

Good luck! Sounds like things are going really well!

Thank you! We will absolutely have an iep. We have a meeting January 7th. He was already under a 504 but showed he needed more support. That is how we even got the special ed evaluation. I requested the autism evaluation because the school didn't think that was something that needed to be evaluated. Apparently they were wrong.

I am just ready to see how this meeting goes and what accommodations we can get so that he can start doing better in school. I have been on wrights law quite often lately. I need to get my stuff together for the meeting though. I'm glad we have a little time before the meeting and he gets a break from school too.

Just to be clear: your child doesn't need accommodations alone (that's what the 504 offers.) He needs individualized education. Hopefully, your school won't be one of the ones that you have to stay on top of, but just in case, here are some things I wish I'd known (had these troubles in elementary school - our middle school never gave me a problem; it isn't every school.)

He needs to be implicitly taught things that other kids do not. The IEP (individualized education plan) should be, essentially, an outline of a curriculum just for him, along with a grading rubric (goals) that shows his progress in learning the stuff he needs to know.

Schools like 504 plans - and also to treat IEPs as though they are 504 plans - because there is no accountability on THEM to teach; they just plop down the accommodations and that's supposed to fix it (and, sometimes it does - sometimes, just not having to wear a scratchy uniform sweater if that's what is really the culprit of everything - sometimes that is enough, right?)

Problem is, if that doesn't work, schools are notorious for putting the responsibility back on the KID: e.g. "Well, we provided a homework planner, but your DS just WON'T use it properly! Can't you come into school and help him write down his assignments?" (You think I'm kidding? I was asked to come in to school once a week to clean out my son's locker and desk.) If you're dealing with emotional outbursts, be prepared for the school to try to put that on YOU. "We followed the accommodations, but DS's behavior isn't improving: is he getting enough sleep at home?"

It is their job to see to it that your child is taught to use whatever strategy they plan to employ to help him. They have to do it. Be prepared at your meeting to say "so how are you going to implement that?"

Thank you! That does sound like something my school would do for sure. I will be prepared for that in our meeting. I guess I didn't think about how accommodations and individualized education were different. I thought that the iep would still be called accommodations. I think I just had my words mixed up. I also have never been to an iep meeting so I don't know what to expect.

No worries - the reason I'm posting is that I've found that school teams can often be overly literal (ironic, ain't it?) and having the "magic words" is important.

For us, the IEP meetings generally involve an entire group - his "team" (which is how it's referred to in general,) consisting of all DS's teachers, the school social worker, the speech therapist, the school psychologist and my son's SPED teacher. My son has ONLY functional goals in his IEP - academics are not a consideration (so don't let them tell you "his academics are fine")

It can be a little intimidating - so make sure you bring your child's therapist or your best friend or somebody who is connected to you and your child but not to the school, not because the school might screw you over (they most likely will get on board and do fine from this point) but so you have a sanity-check. It's supremely difficult to manage your own emotions AND be professional AND provide oversight - bring backup. They don't need to be a professional (though that can help.)

Our behavioral therapist is planning on coming to the meeting with me. Thank you for all your advice about the meeting. It's nice to have a little personal insight from others before the meeting.