The school is making me restest my son | Autism PDD

My DIstrict did this to me, too. They PAID for the doctor (and your district can be made to pay, too). What they essentially did was question the doctor's judgement, which made him MAD. He happens to be a reknown expert in autism. He REALLY didn't want to redo his eval and spoke directly to the District saying that a PDD-NOS diagnosis is LIFELONG. They INSISTED. That was a mistake. This doctor (who knew my son for YEARS by then) wrote a 4-page, single spaced report and said that my son qualified for special education classification under autism and that he also qualified under 4 other categories and needed ALL the services from ALL the other categories as well. This sure shut up the school district.

If I were you, I'd do this:

1. Tell the District you'd be happy to have your son re-evaled but that since FAPE means FREE appropriate public education, you want them to call the doctor and arrange for prepayment.

2. I'd then ask the District to bring in an Autism Consultant to observe your son and interview his teachers to come up with a report on how his disability is affecting him in school.

3. I'd remind the school district that "Education" legally means academic, developmental and behavioral progress.

4. I'd get the DIstrict to give him a FULL battery of tests, including any that you can find to gauge his pragmatic language skills and his social skills. Make SURE they give him a Vineland adaptive test, too.

5. If you disagree with the results of any of these tests, ask for IEE's on ALL of them.

By the time you do this, the school will by crying "uncle!!!"

The law states that student's disability must impede his access to education in order for that student to have an IEP. If not, then all he gets is a 504 plan, which has far fewer protections. I think you'll be able to show how your son's autism keeps him from being just like his NT peers and, therefore, effects his education.

my school district is doing the same thing. they refused his diagnosis last may and we went to a second opinion that they paid for and their dr. said the same thing my neurologist said so they had to put him in the class. My son is PDD-NOS too and it is a form of autism, and high functioning form of autism and don't let them tell you otherwise. right now they are trying to pull him out of the class he has now, and me and his neurologsit do not agree we feel he will regress, and they are still denying him the services so we have to take them to due process. This is my first time with this and i'm nervous, and we are just looking for a lawyer. i can't stand school systems, or at least my son's case manager! good luck! and stay strong!

I am going through the same thing with my district. They say that PDD NOS does not qualify my son for any services. He is very smart but has the behavior problems. He was diagnosed with ODD and anxiety disorder when he was six and in December (he is 10 now) he was diagnosed PDD-NOS. A with you they questioned the dx. They asked me how the doctor made the diagnosis. He is very upset with the school system. They are trying there best not to offer any services. I am sorry you are facing the same thing, but I am glad I am not alone. This is a hard battle to fight and so frustrating. Keep working- the law is on your side not theirs.

Lori

My son has had an IEP since he was four. The school accepted the evaluations but they said because he was so young that he MAY grow out of it when the evaluations clearly stated that this is not something that he may recover from. He recieves SSI benifits so I know that the goverment believes what the doctors have said. When I asked them oh lets see for the last four years to have an autism expert come and work with my son they said they didn't have anyone that they could bring in and that he didn't have any issues that they needed one for. My son has been suspended and he has had detention he has hurt himself and other people and also chews on himself in class and choses when he will work or not work and when he will listen or not listen. I have kept a complete record of all the tests. I actually have his whole school file in my house. I keep up on all of the new stuff that they put in his file at the special services office. I have fought and fought and am so tired of the same old thing. Due process scares the crap out of me. I have visited the state board of education website and if you look at the statistics of how many parents have won... Its just discouraging. I also see that with out a lawyer there is NOT ONE single win for a parent with out a lawyer. It made my heart bleed to see that. I know the law is on my side but the school tries to tell me that I am wrong or misunderstanding it or I love the new one .. The blame game... oh it must have been the last person in charge ... hell for the first year my son got NO services because he was put in a file with a sticky not that said can wait till later...now how the hell does that happen... I feel defeated.. but good news!!! I got a full year of school curriculum for .00 from a few good friends who own a local store. They heard my story and reached out to help me. They know my son and know that he is a great child and that the school is just not wanting to help him. I really must thank you all for the posts and I feel for all of you going through this with me. I know you all must go through the emotions that I do. I cry every time I read the posts on here. I am thankful for this forum and thank you all for helping me to not feel so alone. Where I come from PDD is considered a large catagory, with autism is one sub-catagory, there are a couple of other sub-catagories, and anything left over is PDD/NOS. So strictly speaking, a PDD/NOS diagnosis is not an autism diagnosis. This sort of argument was used to deny services to one of my sons. I think that it was just a cover up and we did not pursue that question since we were glad to get our son out of the special ed class, it was soo bad. [For example, one of the kids finally notices me after 1/2 year of picking up my son and says "Hello [first name]" I was about to high five the kid just for saying "Hello," but the teacher started to lecture him about "It's Mr [last name]". That poor puppy never said a word to me again.]

However, this is just word play since a developmental disorder is present. Maybe they use "Autism Spectrum Disorder"?

You might ask for "prior written notice" to see why they are classifying as OHI rather than autism (if this is not already written down in the IEP) [USA DOE form is here:
http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/modelform-notice.p df
an explaination is here:
http://www.specialneedsadvocate.com/prior_notice.htm
or here:
http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/tips/Judy_IEP_Attachment.htm l
(note that the software formatting my reply is choking on these URLs. Look for the obvious spaces and take them out when you cut-and-paste the URL)

I was told to be sure to specify in detail what you want information about. You might ask what additional evaluations etc that they did to over rule your evaluations. I believe that the SD can over rule your evaluations, but they probably need to have reasons.

My local SD is supposed to sometimes adopt the tactic of waiting for the parents to find a good outside placement (such as your home schooling) and then offering such poor services that the parents just stick with the outside placement rather than trying to fight for appropriate services.
Dad2Luke&Alan39145.0125578704I don't know how a school can contest the diagnosis of my son. He was diagnosed at three years old. He is six and a half now. He has a MD and a Neurologist (who performed MRI and CAT scans to rule out anything else possible) and than the Psychologist from the local Child Development Clinic. All of the doctors involved seemed to have the facts down pact. The school analyzed the information and coded my son OHI instead of Autistic in the dealings with the school. They tell me that PDD/NOS isn't autism. I know from the things that I have read that PDD/NOS is the phenotype or commonly called atypical autism... I have been beat in every meeting hands down. I know that logically I should move to mediation but its not quite that easy now. I have since had to home school my son and he is doing so well at home. I am just not sure why I have to restest my son again...and I do have one scheduled with a doctor in two weeks. I am a bit on the nervous side. I know my son has no brain damage and that he is very smart. He has gotten straight A's in school every year. He just doesn't seem to understand some things that we say and some topics are upsetting to him. He tends to act out or wet himself in class. They say there is nothing wrong with him. He can't answer a question with his own feelings he has to repeat stuff from television.. the school can't explain these things they say he just has a good imagination. I am worried that people will only see how smart he is and not that he is functionably autistic... I shouldn't worry... but I just am afraid this is a ploy for them to take away services.. he is the only child in the whole school with an IEP. I wanted to have him back in school by the end of march... anyone have any inspiring words for me or some information that could help. I just don't see why what I have for diagnosis from all these doctors isn't good enough for the school who is suposed to want to help my son.Sorry that this is happening. There are people here on these boards that will be able to answer your questions. I just wanted to say welcome.

All I know is that PDD/NOS is most definitely a form of autism. It's a blanket term for autism that doesn't fit into either the classic autism criteria or the Asperger's criteria. And I have read here that the schools are entitled to seek an educational diagnosis to determine eligibility for services, separate from the medical diagnosis.

There are people here who will be able to tell you what you should do and how to best prepare yourself.

Take care.
I can promise you that you will find support and friends here ((((HUGS))))
The information and experience on these boards is an invaluable asset to me as I'm sure it will become for you too.
Thank you for your kind words it brings tears to my eyse to be able to talk to people who know exactly what I am going through. My son took all the tests that were required and all the tests but the GARS was all inline with the diagnosis. Its just horrible and obvious that my son is autistic. I hope to find some support and some hope that there is something more that I can do.

Oh my goodness do I know what you are talking about. We have a medical diagnosis for my son as well. He was diagnosed as having Autism originally but after some medication the doctor noted in his notes that he may fit better under pdd-nos. The school is trying to tell me the same things they are telling you. He may just have some anxiety disorder or he may have an emerging mental condition or blah blah blah. I have been fighting them for 7 months strait now and am in the process of requesting an outside evaluation. He qualified under asd for speech and sensory issues but they said he had no social problems or stereotypical behavior which we clearly disagree with.

I wish I could be of more help just know you are not alone here :)