So frustrated, but should I be?

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I spoke with the special education teacher at Zeke's school today about some of the red flags we're seeing for Asperger's. I told her we've decided to do a screening in April, and she said that it wouldn't change anything as far as his IEP, even if he is diagnosed. I find this very frustrating. Just for a little background, he has been diagnosed with SPD and severe ADHD, and he has a lot of social, emotional, and behavioral problems at school, which is why we have the IEP. He's also very intelligent and is in the gifted program and does very well academically. Maybe that is why she thinks he doesn't need any additional support? But I feel like he's not getting enough. Right now, his IEP consist of these goals: to not argue with teachers, to not say "no" to his teacher, and to be involved with writing social stories as needed. Also in the IEP is that he will do one 30-minute social skills group each week and do any special testing (like MAP tests) in the special education room where there aren't as many distractions. Should I expect them to give him more support? Am I over-reacting?

Is she the one in charge of the IEP? How is he being screened for ASD? Is it an outside eval?

Whoever is doing the evaluation may have a different opinion about what services your child needs, and I don't see how this teacher can know whether your son needs more or not at this point before he has been evaluated.

One of my sons is in a gifted class with SPD, mild Dyslexia and possible ADHD. The service team at school tried to not give him services he needed because of the gifted placement, but there are new laws (check in your area) about "twice exceptional" children. This means that a gifted kid may be meeting academic standards but still qualifies for services because they are unable to reach their academic potential without them.

I would not take this teacher's word as law. Talk to the evaluator, consult people, check the laws in your area, then advocate for your child.

An ASD diagnosis by itself isn't likely to change much, unless the evaluator identifies specific areas of need that you can turn into goals.

You need to focus on getting very specific about these problems, documenting them, and adding them to the "present levels" section of the IEP . When is he getting in trouble? What expectations (such as regulating emotions, working independently, or turning in homework) is he not meeting?

You might find that a good educational advocate can help you turn the problems into goals and get them into his IEP.



What kinds of support do you think he needs? Needs drive goals, goals drive services. So you have to identify issues in the "present levels" section of the IEP, then write goals to address those issues, then convince the IEP team that he needs help from an OT, SLP, resource teacher, or aide in order to make progress on those goals.

That's good to know, Zette. Thank you so much. We're new to IEP's and still have a lot to learn.

Here's a couple of books that might be helpful:

From Emotions to Advocacy by Peter Wright
When the School Says No...How to Get the Yes!: Securing Special Education Services for Your Child by
Vaughn Lauer