my school district is denying my Aspie services

Post Reply New Topic

I just moved to texas from coastal MS and my son was diagnosed at 3 by a behavioral health pediatrician with Aspergers and the new school district we are transferring him to is denying him services. They said their GARS test shows that he is not on the Autism Spectrum however he clearly has some of those traits, lining up toys, flapping his arms. They are moving him from a straight special ed class to a mixed classroom setting for 30 days and if they see he "is fine" there , then they told me to find a public pre-k. My child is so Aspergers and I am not sure what to do. Our ARD meeting is on monday, can a school district turn over a diagnosis of Aspergers by an MD?

Welcome to WP!

Tim

Welcome.

Why is the school denying your son services? You have the medical diagnosis. Seems strange.

I think the school can deny services based on their own evaluation. Have they given him a thorough evaluation with an autistic specialist hired by district? If not, then they are not in a position to refute your diagnosis simiply based on observation.

equinn

Asperger's is not recognized for being a developmental disability like "autism" by all states. And different states have different requirements and standards by which they provide services. In many states, they districts conduct their own assessments with their own educational jargon. They are not medical diagnoses and they don't override dx but they serve the district's guidelines. In a case like yours, where they can reject a "medical dx" they have the power to deny services. But in a case like my son, these same circumstances provided services 3 years before we had my son officially diagnosed. Many people have to wait years before they can see an autism specialist (developmental psychiatrist) so the districts can reach out those kids.

Having some autistic traits doesn't necessarily mean he's disabled. Has he received specific therapy for specific problems? This would help determine whether he needs the services of a special ed class.

I assumed that if he had an AS diagnosis, then he had more than a few AS characteristics--hence, the diagnosis.

It's not so easy to receive a dx of AS/HFA--but with all the news coverage and growing awareness, I suppose it could be misdiagnosed/overdiagnosed.

What are your son's issues? If the school doesn't feel he needs services, maybe he's functioning fine.

In my case, my son couldn't function. He was all over the place. Kindergarten was not good. He needed services in the way of a 1:1 aide.

We looked into moving to a suburb of the Houston area about six years ago, right after our son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS while we were living in Pittsburgh, PA. Even though my son was mildly affected, I felt like it was a strong likelihood that he would be cordoned off in a separate section of the school with other special needs children. It seemed, after months of research, that there was very little help to be found in that particular school district, which was relatively wealthy and one would have thought they would have good services available. I have no idea what would have actually happened if we had stayed there, but we just got the impression that our son wouldn't have received the education we were hoping for. We ended up moving to California, which ended up being a bad move for educational reasons, and we moved BACK to Pittsburgh a year later.

Having said this, I think that getting involved in a parent's support group in Texas would be key. Those parents are going to have a handle on what is the best that you can expect from a school district there, and can tell you the in's and out's of how to get the services that your son requires. I got involved in a support group in California, and it was absolutely vital in figuring out what to do.

Kris

Have you contacted the state board of education about this?

apparently in Texas, even if you have a diagnosis of Aspergers, they don't have to provide special services or an ARD/IEP even if you child has been diagnosed with it by an MD. Ultimately, the school psychologist and Educational Diagnostician can trump an official MD diagnosis with their standardize tests. I also re read through his autism assestment summary and found several misleading areas that I have since corrected in a summary that I will take in hand with me tomorrow. I also thought I would spell out some of his current traits that I consider more on the spectrum than the average kid next door. Most of you reading these would probably agree, now realize my son is only 4.

-flapping of his arms and wrists
-spinning around in circles
moving his head right and left and then left and right continously
-running back and forth when excited
-the inability to transition smoothly to non preffered tasks
-the inability to play with peers his age or younger in his play space without engaging in
inapropriate physical behaviors.
-the continous desire to open/close doors and hinges
-the continous desire to line toys up in a row
-the inability to pull himself back together after a tantrum
-his physical aggression when he is told no in a prefferred task or disciplinary situation.
-just started to potty train at 48 months old, he has not mastered it as of this meeting.
-does not mind that his pants are soiled or wet.
- will repeat himself until your repeat the phrase when he wants something of value. Often times, if you repeat and say you will get that item of value, he will continue to repeat himself.
-limited diet, eats chicken nuggets, french fries, toast and gold fish daily.
-does not know how to use a spoon without spilling

I've also armed myself with short video clips of the above issues this weekend. I'm also bringing along the official diagnosis by the board certified developmental-behavioral pediatrician. I've already contact my local MAAP division with hopes of arming myself with an advocate for the final meeting that will be given 30 days after this IEP/ARD on monday. I thought when I moved to Texas, they would welcome me with open arms and take care of my little man, we worked hard to get him where his is today, I don't want to lose it now. I am hoping he will enter into kindegarden in a mainstream classroom setting and I think the next two years are important ones with trained educational professionals. I cannot turn him loose with the above issues in a private pre-k setting.

With exception to no mentioned speech problems, your son sounds like mine. Though my son was potty-trained during the day by 4, he was able to stay dry while at school. I'm surprised your son has an Asperger's dx and not classic autism.
I would hate to say this, but maybe he needs to be (briefly) placed in their setting and see how he does? I mean, if he is unable to participate in school then they'll have to re-evaluate the situation. Are you going to be in Texas permanently? I haven't heard good things about it.

floridasue72, you sound extremely well-prepared for this meeting. After reading what you've described about your son, he most definitely should be getting services. Try to keep in mind that while you are trying to get services for your son, services which might be deemed "expensive", the school district's job is to keep from spending money. This sets up an automatically adversarial situation between you and the school district. What you should be saying is that services NOW will save them money in the future. They can educate your son NOW, working hard on his lack of skills in certain areas, and they won't have to provide too much for him LATER. My son is a prime example of that. We had a special ed kindergarten 50% of the time, then mainstreamed the other 50%. He had an aide full time in first grade, multiple aides part time in second and third grade, and NO aides throughout fourth and fifth grade. That is a good deal for the school district. Without this kind of education, they may have had to keep him in an autistic spectrum class with 1:1 teacher/student ratios. THAT'S expensive.

Kris

My school district won't even return my phone calls.

My son wasn't diagnosed until 3rd grade; his issues are fairly mild. We have him with a wonderfrul OT who supported us and advocated with us to get him services before he started school. It was a battle. We finally got services (1st grade) for him under speech and language . Keep on them. There are many advocacy groups for parents - Montana's is PLUK "Parents Lets Unite for Kids". You might try to find one is your area.

Good Luck,
Susan

I think you can demand he be tested for learning disabilities. My son has PDD-NOS and due to his testing (IQ, etc), which was private testing, the school councellor said it looks like he will qualify for some services. So far he has functioned pretty well in a regular class and seems to do ok with the work, but could use help in some areas. In our area, they don't usually cover just Aspergers traits but will if they find an educational need. I can't remember what the report said but there are tests that will show communication/verbal skills, etc and they should provide help for those things, as an educational need. Good luck!

No a school district can not diagnose or undiagnose Asperger's Syndrome. Only psychological professionals can (Neurologist, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, extra). A single test is insificient to determine diagnosis, and while people on the spectrom can improve they are never cured. If they are refusing your sons rights to appropriate accomidation them you can take them to court, or threaten them with litagation that tends to be a pretty affective method. Just note that appropriate does not equal best. I've read a parents book on Asperger's Syndrome form O.A.S.I.S and it had stuff on this in there. In fact in their intro they said they've made it hard enough that it can be intimidating when slammed on a table at school meetings. I'd recomend you check out the book or their website, maybe it will help.

The districts don't "change" the diagnosis, they administer their own evaluations that are education-based. Asperger's is not recognized universally like autism is.