Testing? | Autism PDD

Okay, it makes more sense to me now. Thanks for the info! I did print out an assessment, he got a score of 145, but that's just my opinion. I think I will give it to them to review. The staff at his school is very knowlegable to autism. He goes to a spec ed grade school, and his ECD teacher used to work at one of the local IE places. I've been assured by others that used to work with her that she is very good at her job. The autism spec was supposed to be working with him from the beginning of the school yr, but one of the autism classroom teachers quit on the first day of school, so she had to fill in. I am excited that she will be at the meeting, though. This meeting benifets them too. They are wanting to move Nathaniel out of the AM class, to the PM class so that when Ian turns 3 in 2 months they can put him in the AM class. They REALLY don't want both boys in the same class. I don't want to move him, because he just got used to this one, but I don't think they are gonna budge on this issue. So, I need to know what they are going to do to help Nathaniel transition, and be able to handle class with 4-5 yr olds. He's very socially immature, and struggling with the 3-4 yr old class.
At any rate, I'll let you all know how it went as soon as I geta chance after the meeting. (it may be awhile, I have family coming from out of town) Thanks again for all the help!
GreatThe meeting went well! Nathaniel has been doing much much better since 2 wks ago, when I made the request for the review! Go figure. lol I was told that they were giving him almost twice as much OT then what was originally stated in his IEP. I was really glad to hear that, because his fine motor skills are not very good at all. The autism specialist did get to observe him, and speak to him. Of course, he was in a good, cooperative mood that day. He answered her questions, and was able to follow basic directions, and was playing with another classmate. I don't think she is willing to put any kind of label on him at this time. Which is a little frustrating, because I feel like they think I'm being a hypocondriac. At one point they asked me if I thought he was mimicing his younger brother. I said no, we thought for the longest time that Ian was mimicing Nathaniel. They asked if they could videotape one of his meltdowns, and his scripting so that they could send it to the dev ped before his appt in May. Of course I said yes. I'd already be doing this if it weren't for the fact that our camcorder is broken.
They also want to put Ian in the classroom during his evals to see how they interact with eachother. If things go okay they won't be moving Nathaniel to the PM class! I was ecstatic to hear that.
All in all, I think it was a productive meeting, and I left feeling good about things!
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If this is the transition to preschool from EI, there may be testing done already that would be appropriate.  A medical diagnosis of autism is not necessary for a child to receive a school label of autism.  There is a very bare-bones definition of autism for schools that encompasses all the medical diagnoses.  It is basically that the child has significant communication and social issues and signs of rigidity and that these symptoms were noticed before the age of 3. If there is an autism consultant that the school district uses, that person will be VERY familiar with the features of autism and can confirm what you are seeing.  The consultant does not "diagnose."  The school psychologist does not "diagnose."  The ONLY people who can give a medical dx (not necessary for school services, BTW) are medical doctors.  Some school districts consider what a neuropsychologist concludes equal to a medical dx from a dev. ped, psychiatrist or neurologist. No other pros can give a medical dx of autism, but the IEP team can all agree on the school label based on their combined educational expertise and some assessments that are being used.  Autism, whether it's a medical dx or a school label, is determined "clinically."  That means, through expert observation.  That is why there is always so much debate.  Because, when it comes down to it, it's "one man's opinion." 

The school performs a lot of educational testing.  That is because EVERY IEP discussion MUST start with PLOP.  Present Levels of Performance. And educational testing is an important part of determining what levels these are.  At the meeting, there should be an educational report, a speech report and most likely an OT or PT report.  You must have signed for these. If you didn't, these tests won't have been performed. If they have not been performed, you can ask for them and then ANOTHER IEP meeting will be convened when the results are in. 

Not every state requires that a specific educational lable be formally given to the child until kindergarten.  But some DO give labels before kindergarten. 

If it will help you to speak about why you believe your child has autism or PDD-NOS, do the childbrain assessment and print it out (www.childbrain.com) and bring it to the meeting.  There are enough symptoms on there to talk about should the assembled multitude want to.  It is actually your right to ask for the reports that will be discussed at the IEP meeting to be given to you 5 business days before the meeting takes place.  That way, you'll know what to expect and you can ask questions ahead of time.  Ask for these reports in the future. The most important thing to remember is that they are discussing YOUR child. Don't sign anything. Take what they want you to sign home and re read it and consider it.  I am not saying that what they want to do is bad. It's just that anything can wait a day to give you time to absorb what went on.  If you disagree with what they are saying, you can ask them for further evaluations -- ones done by independent evaluators that you choose but they pay for.

If they are inviting an autism consultant, that is a GOOD sign.  Please let us know how it goes.

I have a question about the school testing for autism. I keep reading about others on here that say the school tests their kids for autism, but our school district doesn't do this. They test to see where the kids are at developmentally to see if they qualify for spec ed and to see what they might need as far as services, but as far as I know they don't test for anything else. Am I misunderstanding something? The reason that I'm asking is because my ds has an IEP review coming up Friday. The autism specialist is supposed to be attending. I'm not sure what she'll be able to add, because I don't think she's even worked with him at all. All the school wants to know when setting up services is if the child has a formal diagnosis. ( which he doesn't) I just feel so unprepared for this meeting. I feel like they don't want to acknowledge that he's autistic, or provide the therapy that I KNOW he needs, and I'm not sure what to do. I have an appt with the dev ped in this area, but she's soooo backed up for my ds age group that he can't get in until May of next year. When I was at the transition meeting for my youngest they told me that having a diagnosis doesn't matter, because they'd be getting the same services either way, then in the same breath she asked me if my youngest ds actually had a diagnosis.  I'm not sure where to go from here... I think it depends on your state. In our state, I've never never ever ever ever heard of a child getting an ASD diagnosis. I would go to a professinal who specializes in ASD. I'd never trust the school district. They'd be the last resource I'd trust. They really don't know much about ASD, especially higher functioning.
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