IEP help needed | Autism PDD

According to IDEA 2004 (20 USC section 1414 (b) (2) (A) ) when a school district evaluates a student, they must "...use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental and academic information..."  You'll notice that "academic" is the LAST area mentioned.  If I were you, I'd brainstorm a huge list of issues you are concerned about. Then sort the list under headings: FUNCTIONAL, DEVELOPMENTAL, ACADEMIC.  Send the list to the school district and ask that every one of your issues be addressed since they fall into one of the three broad areas used to evaluate eligibility. 

Autism, the medical dx, is different from Autism the educational classification. You already know your child doesn't have medical Autism.  His dx is PDD-NOS.  However, if he has a dx of PDD-NOS, he DOES have educational Autism.  This is the legal definition:

(1)(i) Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (b)(4) of this section.

Thank you,
what a wonderful place to have found. I feel like I am learning an entirely
new language. I got some wonderful leads from you. I also purchased
Wrightslaw's book on special ed advocay and will try and memorize it by
the next meeting.
Between coming to grips with having a special needs kid, figuring out
what services are available (a lot in my area), what my insurance will cover
(basically nothing), special ed in school and what to do at home, my head
has been spinning.
Yeh, I found the 'too socially interested' interesting too. It seems like they
have a picture in their mind what an autism spectrum kid will act like and
he better fit that. His teacher watches him like he is a science experiment
and will come up with the most bizarre things. The other day she called
to inform me that he 'now is losing bladder control' and stuck by her
story even though my son as well as the recess teacher told her that he
had gone down a wet slide.
Don't get me started. Thanks for all your advice.BTW, if you live in NY there are special protections in our laws for ASD kids.  Let me know if you do and I'll post links.

Welcome!

I find the phrase "socially interested" an interesting term for the autism specialist to use.  My ASD son is very "socially intestered."  He is very outgoing, loves other kids and is enthusiastic to join in their play.  However, even though my son is very interested and enthusiastic, his social skills are not up to snuff.  (Example:  A group of kids are grabbing each other and laughing.  My son joins in.  The other kids eventually get tired of this game and stop.  My son keeps grabbing the other kids when they clearly are done with this activity.  The other kids get annoyed with C and don't want him to play next time.)

I'd recommend having a discussion around the social skills and dig deeper into what is meant by socially interested.  Even if he is interested, does he have friends?  Are his social skills age appropriate?  When he's with other kids is he fitting in?  If his social interactions are not effective, this should be a part of his IEP regardless of how intersted he is.

Take care

Hi micki,

   Welcome to the forum.  There would be other people coming along to welcome  you and address this issue specifically.  There has been several postings on IEPs in the past.  Scroll up to the top of this page and type in IEP in the search box.  Lots of past discussions related to IEP will be listed.  Just pick the ones that seem most relevant to you.  I have pasted some links for you.  You have come to the right place.  Good luck.

Concernedpa.

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Hi-
I am new here and new to autism but I am learning fast.
My 7 year old son just got diagnosed with pdd-nos (as well as adhd and
Ld) and he will get an IEP soon. I am already being told that he seems to
test too high to qualify for much but also told that he is so anxious and
overwhelmed in the classroom that he might need a small special ed
class.
It is a small school district and the autism specialist said after
observation that my son does not have autism because he is too socially
interested. I do have a diagnosis from a respected psychologist though.
The principal at his school was the first one to tell me that she thinks my
son has autism and as a special needs mom herself she has been very
supportive. Of course they could also just be playing good cop/bad cop
with me?
Anyway - this is all still very new and overwhelming but I want my son to
get the help he needs. The school is doing a whole bunch of speech/o.t./
psych evaluations right now and we will see how he tests. I have a feeling
he will test out higher than he functions in class due to the fact that test
are done 1;1 in a quiet environment.
His main problem areas are in organising himself, poor peer interactions
(no agression, his peers just find him too odd to play with), slow work
and poor fine motor skills. Is there anything else I should do? Do I need
an advocate before I sign anything? Any beginner's mistakes I should
avoid?
Thanks so much -all input is appreciated
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