My son was in a BOCES (NY -- public school system that is separate from the District classes) Middle School that was especially for kids on the higher end of the autism spectrum. It was a WONDERFUL experience, eventhough the academics there were a bit hard for my middle-functioning son. He passed his classes and being there helped him IMMENSELY with behavior problems and school phobia. It was SUCH a relief not to have to explain autism 24/7. Everyone understood. This sort of school situation is so rare, it's nearly unique.What did you have to show to the CSE (ppt) committee to be admitted to the BOCES program?Thanks
My son is also going into a BOCES program for the summer and for kindergarten. It's supposed to be excellent.
I don't know what you need to have to be admitted. My son does have a medical diagnosis of autism and that is his classification on his IEP.
Does anyone have any experience with schools that deal only with Aspergers or neurocognitive disorders?
Can you tell me what services are guaranteed for autism in NY or where I can go to find out? Thanks
[QUOTE=jody]Did you get the diagnosis of Autism from a psychiatrist or was a psychologist good enough? Thanks
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Nick's diagnosis was from a pediatric neurologist.
Did you get the diagnosis of Autism from a psychiatrist or was a psychologist good enough? Thanks
There is no medical diagnosis available from anyone but a medical doctor. Our doctor gave our son the dx of PDD-NOS when Jamie was 6. Special education services do not depend on a medical dx and a medical dx doesn't guarantee services. However, it's a good idea to get one. A child psychiatrist who specializes in developmental disabilities would be my first choice. Other possibilities are a pedicatric neurologist or a developmental pediatrician. Be warned that services are based on the child's proven needs, not on the classification or the dx. (except in NY where certain services are guaranteed to children who qualify under the Autism classification).In the hierarchy of Least Restrictive Environment, BOCES is between a public school and an approved private school. In some states I think they are called a county schools. BOCES runs special ed programs and vocational programs, so they are trade schools, too. They run adult ed programs for which they charge tuition in some locations.
Most schools in NY send kids to BOCES when they don't want to deal with those kids in District. Mostly this means kids who have severe disabilities or kids who have behaviors (either voluntary ones or involutary ones) that disturb the regular environment. Examples are loud Tourette's tics, aggression, unsafe behaviors like "eloping." In NY, each school District varies vastly in size. Some SD's have 1,000 kids, some SD's have tens of thousands of kids. The tiny school districts simply don't have enough kids to form self-contained special ed classes of any kind, so they ship their 2 or 3 kids off to BOCES. Therefore, there are some BOCES classes for LD kids, etc. It's been my observation that SD's may send kids off to BOCES for one reason and even when that reason disappears, they are reluctant to take them back into the SD's. "Once in BOCES, always in BOCES" is not ironclad, but inertia makes that tend to happen.
My son was placed in BOCES after 7th grade because of cycles of rage that occurred when the hormones hit. The HUGE secondary schools in our District were too much for him to handle. There are between 3,000 and 4,000 kids in our HS and the commotion just fed into his issues. The school definitely wanted to get rid of him, I definitely wanted him in an environment that was not feeding into his autism. Most school districts are anxious to rid themselves of kids with autism, so choosing a BOCES option is not a problem. Asking for out-of-District options becomes a problem when taking a kid out of the school District presents the S Ed dept. with the dilemma of where to put him. If you have an approved private school option already, you're halfway there. Make a case for why that is the Least Restrictive Environment for YOUR son. LRE is the only reason a child can legally be taken out of the mainstream. Tell the District EXACTLY the reasons you believe your son will only make educational progress in the school you want him to be in. That is the only way they will be able to approve the placement. Good luck.
Do you know if BOCES is the same as approved nonpublic schools? I hate to see my son go through an altercation to get him placed appropriately, but I know that is what will happen because he has a touching tic.I know a boy just like him who wasn't placed in a nonpublic school untilhe broke another kid's nose. Can you tell me more details about what they had available at the neighborhood school and what they couldn't provide? Placement is based on need, not on classification. First, the CSE needs to know that nothing in the District is an appropriate placement. Then they need to go through each possible option, on degree of separation from Mainstreaming at a time. A BOCES placement is more restrictive than the MOST restrictive placement in a neighborhood school, for example. In my son's case, it took a suspension from school for aggression to convince the SD that placement in a school that specializes in autism would be appropriate. It all depends.