How much information to release to the school?

Post Reply New Topic

My oldest daughter (7) is recently diagnosed with a 'mild' case of AS (whatever that means!). I have spoken to the asst. principal about this, and he's assured me they are willing to work with us as much as possible.

They would like for me to sign papers to release her therapy records, etc. to the school therapist/counselor - and I am hesitating. I want her mainstreamed as much as possible (long story, but I've seen other schools where kids get labeled and put in 'special' classes really quickly). Our daughter is a dist. honor roll student in a bilingual class. She's NEVER had any problems at school to date (besides being late a few times due to getting ready, etc). I think that's pretty normal for most kids, not just an AS kid, actually.

I don't know if I want them to HAVE that information. I guess I like controlling that as I don't want her forced into a different class, etc. based simply on the label of AS. Does that make sense? Sometimes she may need a time out - but she's so far ahead of the class (according to her teacher, not just me the Mommy) it's not an issue IMO.

Any suggestions? The asst. principal says they don't NEED the records, but he'd prefer to have them to determine the best way to proceed. I'm walking in unknown territory here, and I just want the best for my little girl.

Thanks everyone!

I don't know that I would give all the records to the school either. If there is ever an issue where you guys disagree on accomodations than they may try and use the records to their benefit according to their interpretation. I don't say not to give them anything of course - just not a free pass. We had reports from the doctor and things like that but that way you can filter the information they receive. You don't know what the therapist or school may discuss either or really how professional everyone involved may be. So - it can be better to do everything in writing so there is a record.

i wuold discuss with the therapist what yuor comfort level is...perhaps you both can come up with a "happy medium"...releasing records is important~to a point. by knowing what the difficulties are, your child can get the services she needs.

In my district I need firm dx on a piece of paper to get services. If she had no issues in school why did you tell them?

A medical report from the doctor stating what the diagnosis is - is much different than therapy notes. Some schools want the therapy notes which can involve personal information which may be none of the school's business. I blacked out a couple of lines on a report from one neurologist because he mentioned an inherited neurological condition that some members in the family have in the report. I told them why it was blacked out and that I didn't feel it needed to be included in my sons' school records.

We've had many incidents of being late for school (for example, clothing is an issue for her - despite uniforms for school she likes to dress in a certain way) AND I feel it's only fair to update the teacher who deals with her 7 hours a day 5 days a week on her status, in case something would happen (I'm just that kind if person). That example being that we've had her on ADHD meds (Strattera) and went to Ritalin when our family dr. recommended that - the poor teacher suffered as much as we did through that! So I don't think it's fair to not let them know what's going on.

There are things I like to keep my school informed of (like her meds) - and due to the recent escalation we've had with her I finally broke down and spoke to the school.

I do have the diagnosis info from the therapist and psychiatrist. The asst. principal has stated he'd like to take things slowly, so I'm going to go with that for now. If they ask, I think I'll provide that paperwork first, and go from there.

I really appreciate the feedback on this. I feel so unsure on alot of this, but I want to do the best thing for my girls. (I'm pretty sure my younger, a year behind this one, will be diagnosed as well.)

just be wary of what you send the school....i, too, want to be open and honest with my son's school~however, sometimes schools will use info against you.i mean, in my case, does the school really need to know that i suffered from Post Partum Depression with my son ?..NO. do they need to know what sets him off, YES.....

Therapy notes?! HA!! !! ! No way Jose!! !

We're having to get a 2nd opinion now, so I'm even more guarded. I've had so many drs shove diagnoses at me! UGH!! Has this happened to others?? How do you handle it?

Have they given their own evaluations yet? My daughter was evaluated by our regional center-so the district could disagree and then I got a second opinion from the mind institute.

even though we came to the district with a neuropsych, they insisted on doing their own eval....amazingly , they did not have the same findings as the neuropsych......regardlesss, he's getting the services that he needs.

ster my daughter is in the most restrictive autism specific preschool and yet they maintane she is not on the spectrum

Too bad for them I have 2 dx's. Where do they get this stuff?

I am thinking of doing this for next year - what do you all think?

We're getting the 2nd evaluation of our oldest this week (praise God!) and depending on how it goes I may ask the dr. to do an evaluation of younger daughter. What I'm thinking is I'd like to meet with their teachers for next year and explain some things about AS to them, perhaps with our regular therapist...so we don't have some of the problems we've had this year. One teacher is blinded by our oldest daughter's brains, and doesn't see she has issues at times...he's pretty much called me the problem and implied I'm just over-protective. I think that I'm pretty lenient, esp. compared to most AS Moms! I want the girls mainstreamed as much as possible; here they are actually in a Spanish Immersion program (classes are 80-90% taught in Spanish only) and do extremely well. But this teacher has had AS explained to him by the school counselor (per my directions to the asst. principal) and STILL isn't getting it. He's the only teacher for 1st grade Immersion as well, unless I want to remove my youngest from the program - and I don't want to do that!

So, is this a good idea, bad idea...none of the above??

i'd definitely see if the teacher would agree to a meeting with you and the therapist. it takes a long time for some people to understand Aspergers....we were told by one person that our son was "too smart" to have Aspergers, and that because he "wanted friends" he could not possibly have aspergers .....i'd say go in with some books and/or photocopies of relevant articles as well~ sometimes people are not auditory learners~they need to digest the information by reading.

As a parent of a daughter with Asp. and a special education teacher, my suggestion would be to sign a release to allow the school counselor to SPEAK with your daughter's therapaist. I would NOT release therapy records to a school system. Hope this helps.