Hi there, I have been reading on this board for almost one year now and have gotten lots of great information. I just did not feel that i had anything to contribute to the board, so I really haven't posted up until now.
To give you a quick history.... DS was diagnosed with PDD/NOS at age 3. Went to early childhood 3K, remained at this school and was put into an inclusive classroom with support and pullout in 4k, now is 5.75years old and in inclusive 5K with support and pullout at new elementary school.
Ds is very bright and smart. He has been getting intensive inhome therapy supplied by the state now for just over two years, he is eligible for three years if he qualifies each year. He has made such progress that he will not even be using up the entire three years. His psychologist says that he is definately Asperger, high function, what ever the heck that means.
He is doing great academically, average and above average in most categories, except pretend play and socialization that is, of course. Reading at a second grade level.
We had his IEP meeting on Tuesday and we were told in the last 5 minutes of our alloted 1.25 hour meeting that he would not be receiving special ed any longer and would not get a new IEP. My husband told me that he felt that it was coming and so did Ds's therapists and psychologist, who were present. But, I did not see it coming, until the last fiveminutes of course. I was wondering how they were going to get the goals and everything else in with out going over. There were two more IEP's following oursthat day, it was an IEP marathon for them.
I am just numb right now. I am happy and thankful that he is doing so great academically in school, even his behaviours are wonderful. they say. He is not so wonderful at home, behaviorly, which is okay, he's go tot let it out somewhere. But, socially, he just is not like the others. I have been told by the teachers that he is well liked and sought out. That he seeks out the other children, but the few times I have been there, I have not seen a whole lot of this. I M affraid of him being left behind the other kids and having anxiety and depression being alone.
He goes M-F, fullday on Monday and Friday, until 2:00 T,W, and R. In the afternoons they have a second recess at the end of the day, where they play inside and can do what ever they want. The school says because he has not been there the entire year for the last recess, he is not in the loop of the other kids like he might have been. We just started the fulldays in January. That was brought up at the iEP, that he still is not soming to school every day fulltime. He says he has kids that he sits by and plays with, but he never says that he wants them to come over to play or anything like that. I know, that is a stretch for our kiddos, but that is what I want him to be able to achieve. Be able to WANT and to ASK another child to come over and play.
What my concern is that he now goes to a school which is not his home school, because he had to go where they offered the early childhoood kindergarten. So, next year for first grade, he has to go to his home based school, a new school and a new transition for him. He has not transitioned to new schools well to put it mildly in the past. He has had a terrible time starting in the fall, with help from the special ed teachers and aides. What is going to happen next year?
We have been promised accomodations by the new prinicipal, who was also at the IEP such as a friendship group, breaks when he needs them and a few other items, which for the life of me I can't remember right now. I was just flabbergasted when I realized what was happening. I did make the meeting run over by 20 minutes, because I thought I will be d++++ed if you will unload this bomb on me and my son and then not answer my questions. We did not even get a chance to even make any statements or comments. I think at the very least they should have allowed time for questions that we may have had.
Up until now, I have been VERY happy and satisfied with how the system has taken care of my son, albeit we are only in the beginning stages of this maze. There was an autism "consultant" at the meeting. She shot my son down the first IEP three years ago when he was qualifying for services to start with. She said that she did not agree with the autism diagnosis. And on Tuesday she said it again. She did admit that he benefited from services that he has gotten but disputed that the psychologist(s) that diagnosed him used the most lienient form of tests to get him qualified for services, kind of like, "be glad for what you have gotten". She is not very nice, in my eyes anyhow.
So, I hope the new school will stand by their offer of accomodations for DS in fall.
Does anyone have any other suggestions on what we should be doing or preparing in the mean time?
Also, would you have any suggestions for books for advocacy and knowing the laws of the school systems?
This has been a long ramble, and if you are still with me, God bless you.
Take care and have a great day
Robbin
Did you sign anything?
The consultant is the gatekeeper. It is her role to act like that as I discovered with ours ...
I would ask for further testing.In order to qualify for an IEP, you have to show that your son is having a negative EDUCATIONAL affect from his disability. Education means more than academics -- it's means academics, development and functional skills. Pretend play and social skills come under development and functional skills. Most school ignore everything but academics but that is NOT what IDEA says. You can get an advocate or lawyer to help you, which I would recommend. Also, no school district can declassify a child without 1. Doing a full and complete multidisciplinary assessment, just as they did when they QUALIFIED him for special ed and 2. Getting the parent's signature. You can challenge their decision in many ways. Get an advocate to help inform you about this because it's way too detailed to go into in a forum and it is based on all the information in your child's file and all the reports that were given at the IEP meeting. We don't have access to that here.
Kids with disabilities that DON'T affect their education get 504 plans and those plan can include accommodations and modifications. The drawback is that parents have fewer procedural safeguards. A 504 is probably what your Principal was talking about.