Transition from EI to public schools? | Autism PDD

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking here for a while, but this is my first post to the forum, so it might be a little long. Here is our situation....our son is 33 months, and I suspect he may be somewhere on the spectrum. He's been evaluated by a develpmental pedi, and rec'd a dx of Expressive Language Delay. We were also told by that doctor "definately not Autism." I still have concerns, so my son is now waiting for a second evaluation by a team at an autism clinic (one that was recommended by our local Austim Society.) That next eval will not be until March 2007, when my son will be 3 years, 3 months old.

In the meantime we are dealing with EI and in the process of transitioning to the public school system. Does anyone have any advice? I've heard the horror stories and I want to make sure we start out on the right foot. I guess my main question for now is, should I allow the county school district evaluate my son at this point? Or is it better to rely on the private evaluations, done by the doctors of your own choice?

My first instinct is that any help/evaluations we can get, is good...but I'm not certain that is the best way. To be honest, I'm very leary of trusting the school systems on this. On the other hand, maybe they will see something the other evaluators have not, after all, they see a lot of kids.

I just want to get him the help he needs, any ideas of thoughts appreciated :) Thank you.

I think it varies by district really. I think it has to do with experience and funding, but like Tzoya said, younger evals tend to be better.

I don't see the harm in letting them evaluate your child. Especially since your medical one is so far off. If the two don't match, I am pretty sure your Dr's dx and recommendations trump the schools. Either way, letting them eval him and get him started on ANY services or education can't hurt him, you just may need to add more when you have more complete information. The earlier you start being proactive educationally, the better it will be for your son.

I know I have posted terrible issues with school districs, but I have worked with some really FANTASTIC people within them too. Colorado Springs was amazing, and honestly the teacher we had last year was so amazing, I almost want to move to Alaska to follow her! They aren't all bad....you just have to take each as they come.
YOu can trust the school system. I know that sounds hokey, but you can because at age 3, the Feds get involved and there are strict rules about what can and cannot be done, who gives what tests and what their credentials are. What you CAN'T trust them to do is VOLUNTEER all this information. Go to www.wrightslaw.com and familiarize yourself with your child's rights in preschool. He will first receive an educational and speech evaluation. I would also ask for an OT and PT eval. If he qualifies for a preschool placement by the school district, GO VISIT THE CLASS. Helping your child as much as possible is in the school district's own best interest and funding for preschool services, in general, is good. Think of it this way. Do you think your school district is going to want to deal with a disabled kindergartener who has never had any previous help? NOpe. They don't want a child with a disability coming into kindergarten cold. So they will WANT to give your child the services he needs. Just make sure you learn enough about the law to check on them.

Hi,

My best advice is do your homework. Know the key phrases before you walk in the room with the child study team.

In our district when they do the eval they take the mom aside and ask about a million questions while the rest of the team plays with the child for about an hour.

Then in the mail about a week later you get a report with the results of the eval and what they are eligible for.

When i got our results in the mail i wasnt sure they saw the same child as me??? they had rated him in the nine month age when he was almost three. There was no way he was acting that young. I would suggest asking if they would come to your home and do the eval there so your child is in a more comfortable setting and will respond better. I didnt know that was an option.

I went and observed the classrooms and met with the teachers. I made notes of what she said she would not do with Gabriel and the structure of her classroom.

I took these notes to the first IEP meeting and discussed them with the team. The agreed based on my letter, questions, and concerns that an out of district setting would best suit his needs. I also brought Gabriel's OT and ABA discrete trial therapist to the meeting along with written recommendations from the rest of his EI team and his dev ped.

The child study team pretty much told me to find a school and they would pay for him to go there. I dont know if they didnt want to deal with me anymore or if there really was a better placement for him out there. Didnt matter to me because we were getting what we wanted.

He is still in that school and doing exceptional. We have recently started to discuss the idea of putting him in an inclusion class 1/2 day a few days a week.

I kidd you not, now we in the middle of mediation since we cannot agree on after school services. This part is tough and stressfull but it will be worth it.

I hope this helps

All schools HAVE to do their own evals before a child is accepted into a program and, thereafter, every three years at least. Some schools insist on doing their own evals before they pay for you to take your child for a second opinion to a person of your choice (Independent Educational Evaluation) but some schools will let you skip their eval under certain circumstances and go straight for the IEE. If you get an eval done by your own doctor or therapist on your own dime, the IEP (IFSP) team MUST take it into consideration, but they can reject it after considering it. If, in the end, you don't agree with their take on it, you can ask for Mediation or an Impartial Hearing. These are very serious steps, so good negotiating should come way before that.

I vote for the private evaluation, though our school automatically does an eval of their own before she entered school. (course, they don't diagnose--they just want to see where the child is acidemically)

I was one who was *very* unsure of placing our daughter in school, especially at her tender age. It has turned out (so far) to be a very good thing for her, and for our family. (If you don't count the unbelieveably long bus ride)