I deserve a good kick in the " ". I needed it. I'm a little more thick skinned than that.
To be honest I think it was me more me than the CSE. I talked to an educational consultant last week who has been hired by our district. She said my son is doing well now but that in the future who knows what may happen. She said I needed to get it back simply for a paper trail if I ever need additional services.
While I have you here. We are trying to figure out what to do next year. I do not want to keep him in the self-contained class that he is in. We are a small district and I am not crazy about the mix of kids. (I do like the fact that they have speech everyday and OT 3-4x a week for handwriting). My husband and I feel our choices are to have him repeat Kindergarten in the mainstream or mainstream into 1st. He would be placed in the collaberative class either way. I have had general discussions with our PPS director about both. I know you don't know my son but any thoughts come to mind? Pros/cons? ThanksI just reread this post and think that my gut reaction, which I put in the first sentence, was overboard. However, I'm leaving it in because getting and keeping an autism classification in New York State is SO important. Let every parent you know of an ASD child know that they need to do what they can to get this classification and hold onto it forever. No other classification gives the protections this does. And it totally burns me up that school districts are constantly trying to shame parents into getting rid of the label. I've HEARD in CSE's comments like, "oh, you don't want your child labelled as THAT, do you?" And it's all about money and effort. Hopefully, you'll be able to get this very valuable classification back. I also hope my strong reaction didn't send you scurrying away. I'm sorry.Another message board gave me your name to contact. They stated you were an advocate in NY.
My son's annual review is next month. He is currently in Kindergarten. He is diagnosed PDD-nos, receives speech and OT services(mostly handwriting), is self-contained for part of the day and mainstreamed the remainder. Last year we changed his classification to other health impaired from autistic. We are happy with his progress, the school and feel they have been very supportive of our son. I know how lucky we are. What are your thoughts on classification?
WHY IN THE HECK DID YOU CHANGE HIS CLASSIFICATION FROM AUTISTIC IF HE IS?
SInce his medical dx is PDD-NOS, he qualifies under Autism in New York State. Go to www.nysed.gov and search Part 200. You will get the WHOLE New York State special ed. regulations. Scroll down to 200.13. There you will see ALL THE PROTECTIONS THAT ONLY KIDS WITH THE AUTISM CLASSIFICATION GET. What your school district did to you was scr*w you. Plain and simple. By reclassifying him as "other health impaired," they now are off the hook for giving him 5 days a week speech therapy, an autism consultant in his classroom and parent training for you and and your husband. They just saved themselves thousands every year and tons of trouble. In addition, if your son is ever in any trouble in school, you may have to show that his behavior is a manifestation of his disability or he may be suspended or expelled. If "autism" is not his disability, he can be blamed for behaviors that are typical for autism but not of other disabilities. He now has far fewer protections from that point of view, as well.
It's easy for Districts to help kids when they're young. But, as your child gets older, the District WILL get more and more resistant to giving him help. They'll feel as though they've already tried...how much more can they DO? Well, if he's classified under "autism," they will have a much harder time reducing his services and/or segregating him from the mainstream for "behaviors."
Now it may end up being more difficult getting that classification back since you've already officially agreed that Autism is not the appropriate classification. But try. NY is the ONLY state that gives special protections to autistic children. You've given away those protections at this point. Try to see if you can get it back.
My son is 16 and we live on Long Island. I've been told LI is the last bastion of segregated classes. The upside of that is there are lots of choices. My son was included from time to time with typical kids, but was ALWAYS placed in a self-contained class and still is. My best advice to you would be to visit the classes that would be possibilities for your son. Visit the kindergarten class that contains at least some of the kids he'd be with in first grade. Also, visit the first grade class that exists now, but remember that those kids have spent nearly a year in first grade, so they are bound to be far more advanced than the class your son will start with. I'd ask for a one-on-one aide, but that the aide be used as a "shadow" so that your son will not develop a dependency on the aide. Ask that the aide be trained in autism, particularly in positive behavioral support. Make SURE your son gets re-classified under Autism and then ask for all the supports 200.13 gives you (go to www.nysed.gov and search Part 200. Scroll down to 200.13 and MEMORIZE it). Ask that 5 days of speech be included on your son's IEP. Ask for regular visits from the consultant, both in the classroom and as part of parent training.
Inclusion/mainstreaming is tricky with our kids. Some kids simply cannot tolerate larger classes. However, being in more segregated classes exposes them to other disabilities that they can start to imitate. It's always a toss-up about what is best. Ask the CSE to write into the IEP a review date. That way, everyone can get together at some point in the fall and debrief on whether the placement is working. If not, what to do to make it work or find another placement. Good luck with this.