Not at all.....ask for it.....demand it......and then make sure it ACTUALLY happens!!!You're doing the right thing by asking for this, and it's NOT too much to ask. As a matter of fact, when the state had to intervene in my son's education plan one time, the state mediator mandated that my son's school bring in an autism consultant to train his teachers and aides. If you worry about offending those in the IEP Team, you'll never be able to properly advocate for your child. What you do is ASK. No one can be expected to be an expert in everything. Ask about the teacher's and aide's autism credentials. In fact, ask for them IN WRITING. That is your right.
How do I broach that subject without offending anyone on his IEP team?
We recently had a transition meeting for my son going into middle school next school year, and the one thing I forgot to bring up was making sure that the teachers and aides my son comes in contact with in middle school (both sp. ed and gen. ed) have some sort of training in regards to autism. Is that asking too much? How do I bring that up? I don't know what kind of training they already have (if any) on Autism, and I'm thinking maybe it's too bold of me to ask for that. I wouldn't know what kind of training to ask them to take.
Disney Girl...did everything work out for you?
I haven't done anything yet. I'm just not sure how to "present" it, since the IEP is already over. I don't want to call another one, as our school year ends next week. Just not quite sure how to proceed....I think you have a good thought and should just word your request nicely to the staff to have it written into the IEP. I usually write into IEPs a quarterly autism consultation or upon request. If the teachers who will be working with your son don't have the training, they will appreciate it! Are you lucky enough to have an autism consultant in your district? If not, does your state have a regional type of educational resource center that might provide autism training? Perhaps your SLP or a SPED teacher who knows your son would be a good person for the training? You should be able to ask for the training without being responsible for figuring out who is to provide the training. It may be you are worrying for nothing and training is already planned - sadly autism is so common that your child is probably not the first these teachers have encountered and believe me, they will be the first to be asking for the help. As school SLP I appreciate your desire to approach your school staff in a positive way. Best of luck in your child's transition.Disney Girl, I forgot to say you don't have to feel uncomfortable reconvening the IEP to add the training. You could even do it over the phone with a conference call and all of the legally mandated people participating if you want to, at least in my state. I am not shy about reconvening if it becomes apparent that something needs tweaked on an IEP so I certainly would hope a parent wouldn't be shy either! I agree with the other posters that this is a really critical element in your son's education. ! I requested the same and it made it into the IEP under accomodations asA GREAT article about making sure your child's teachers and staff are qualified and trained. Training of school personnel is required under IDEA 2004. I found this article by searching through Wrightslaw. If you use the search engine at www.wrightslaw.com , it takes you to all kinds of links outside that site, too.
http://www.aboutautismlaw.com/sample_chapter.html
That was #1 on my list. but they somehow talked me into being the one to educate all our dd teachers and I just smile and said OK
I am going to have a sit down with each teacher and give a list of what our goals for her are and how to help her and maybe take my ABA consultant...I feel I know as much as any expert at this point plus I know specifically MY daughter better than any autism specialist that knows nothing about her..so I am not too upset..I do feel the school is cheap!
If I can get all the teachers on the same page as me I will be OK..... for now!
As one of the most highly educated of the 'group' that will be seeing your child, I must add my thoughts. I have worked with MANY,MANY aids and prefer to train them to fit each child as situations arise. What is the more important is a patient person, n aware person, a person that reports the little things, about each child, to the staff of professionals. Modification of behavior, conditioning differnt attitudes or behaviors, paying attention to or ignoring unusual behaviors, expecting speech or a sign, participating in an activity or being allowed to take a time-out...these things cannot be 'taught' to an aide. They must be told what to do to fit the specific child..in this case, your child. Please do not interfer. If certain things warrant a closer look, let you child's primary professional know how you feel and the two of you can discuss it.Can you give us a little background on what your position in the school is, what your responsibilities are and how to GET a professional like you written into a child's IEP? Here, in New York, we have the right to have an autism consultant wrtten into our child's IEP if that child is classified under "Autism." That's not true in any other state, so perhaps you can let the parents reading here know how it is that you come to work with the kids and staff you work with. And what, exactly, your educational background is.