School System not acknowledging diagnosis

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I live in Alabama where ignorance and descrimination still run rampant. My 16 year old son was diagnosed with Asperger's over a year ago. He had been receiving services under OHI because he was dianosed with ADD. He had never had behavior problems at school until I complained about the handling of an incident after a new Principal came to his school. After that it was one thing after another.
The school system does not want to appropriately address my son's academic and social needs and have instead punished him by placing him in Alternative School. I am now homeschooling him because he was not receiving instruction at the Alternative school and it was much too stressful for him.
I am trying to get a positive behavior support plan rather than a punishment plan for my son. Has anybody else had a problem like this ?

I don't know . . .

I had a horrible time in California trying to get appropriate services, and I really got the impression that we would have to SUE to get exactly what we wanted. They would give partially what we wanted, but it was a thinly veiled version of what the district would provide all along. Their whole goal is to save money, and if what you wants costs them money, they will not provide, and ignoring the diagnosis is part of that. We moved across the country, and got exactly what we wanted without having to fight.

The trouble with suing the district is that it costs money, and even if you win, it may take years, and by then your son will be graduated.

Homeschooling might be the very best option in your situation. See if possibly the state of Alabama will provide some behavioral intervention of some sort [although at 16, I wonder if they would].

I hope that you will get some other posts that are more helpful.

My experience in public school has taught me one thing:

Screw the public school system.

The problem (and the school districts know this) is that even if you sue, if they can stall things long enough, your child will not be in the district any longer and as such, it becomes a moot point because IDEA does not have an provisions that are punitive. I know of one district that actually defied a federal court order and go away with it.

As this point, your son has 2 years left of school (and I am sure if you put up a fight, your son will get at least Ds in all of his courses and get a diploma, just to get rid of him). You can try to fight but it will probably be useless. I would suggest finding your son assistance out of the school setting at this point.

We've been mostly fortunate with the schools my son has been in, but I know the experience varies widely. I think it is worth the battle when you have a school that you believe is capable and willing, but beaurocratic or blind in a few spots. When you have a school that just wants to bury its head in the sand about the whole thing, however, I'm not sure you have TIME to battle. As parents, our first duty is to our kids, and sometimes the damage can rack up too fast while we're trying to get someone else to do the right thing, so the only answer is to pull out and make it happen ourselves. It doesn't pave the road for the next child, but sometimes the scale tips that way and you have no choice. Many AS kids are being homeschooled as a result, and that is working for the kids, and I am very glad for it.

If you have the time and energy to go to battle, please do so, but don't put all your eggs in that basket. As someone dedicated to working for and through the school system, I don't like saying that, but I am also quite pragmatic. If your son is happy homeschooling, make that as enriching as possible and assume its the road you'll probably finish high school on. I really, really wish we could make all the schools positive learning environments for our kids, but I don't know how to get there while also serving our kid's more immediate needs.

Sorry for rambling, lol. You've hit on a difficult issue. I wish you all the luck in the world tryng to write the positive plan, but this is a battle I haven't had to fight - yet.

Do you need ideas for what should be in the plan? Would you like a list of some of the things that we have in our kid's IEP's?

Thanks for your responses to my post. I wish my son was content with homeschool but he
is the very social type and hates not being with other kids. Plus he desperately needs the social skills. I am not afraid to go to Due PROCESS. I have actually been before. I represented myself
so I didn't get anything accomplished because the Due Process Officer allowed the School System to dismiss most of my case. The Due Process Officers knew very little about Idea Law
and I was disapointed about the way things were handled. I am going to consult with a lawyer
and decide what to do.
Iwill keep you posted.

This story seems familiar to my own.

My parents struggled with my school and wouldn't do my needs. They only cared about themselves and wanted to do what as best for them. My mom says they were just lazy.

I haven't read too much into this, but it seems that the state you live in, is behind, in terms of disability law. If anything can comfort you, I think you're doing the right thing, by homeschooling him, rather than the public schools punishing him for behavior that's clearly not in his control.