Try getting your son into Head Start. Their program is free and they will provide a full time aide for your son (also free). Our school district did not accept the 2 PDD-NOS diagnoses we had. They said they have to do their own testing, which they haven't even started. But Head Start did accept our diagnoses. I've been quite pleased with them.
Okay - ditto what mailyna said too! We LOVED Head Start - but each program is different, so make sure you check them out first.Thanks Tzoya, I gotcha
I went to headstart wacog here in az but he didnt qualify with the income and was put on a waiting list which he never got in (last year either).
Haydens teacher and me have a meeting with the pub. preschool director and special ed. director tomorrow so wel see how it goes! Thanks everyone!
My sons teacher now in his reg. preschool (who is also on the public education board committee) called the public preschool director and told her whats been going on and the director said I never told them he was having problems with his preschool hes in now which is totally false and I even showed his teacher that they had it printed out on his eval papers they gave me! Also this woman told me she dosnt think my sons asd because if he was he wouldnt be able to sit at the table. Anyway his teacher said shed come with me to meet with the pub. pre.s. director on friday and see what she can do. I do have an advocate that is supposed to be getting in contact with me soon, hopefully and Im also trying to get a conference set up with the head director of special education. Sorry thats just a little history!
Three words:
Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE). Ask for this. It sounds fishy to me and just because your son can sit at a table does NOT mean he does not have autism! OMG! My son has always done well sitting at a table!
An IEE is something you are entitled to ask for and they must give it to you and they must pay for it. Especially since you have an Asperger's diagnosis (it looks like) - you have definite cause to ask for this. They are saying he doesn't qualify for ASD at school? This sounds awfully fishy to me - especially when they follow it up with "you can pay 5 a month for pre-school".
We asked for an IEE and they asked us if we could hold a meeting prior to doing that to discuss it. We agreed and at the meeting the director of special ed for the entire district came. She agreed that things weren't done as they should have been and said they would do additional testing. I agreed but maintained that if he didn't get qualified we would continue to request an IEE. Lo and behold - they qualified him! On an override basis - but they qualified him. Then our dev ped wrote a scathing letter to the school district (because they were only offering 10 minutes a week of indirect consultation to his mainstream preschool) and he then got offered 2 afternoons a week of ECSE with pull-out OT and included group speech/social skills.
I'm sorry you're going through this. It's hard enough to deal with the challenges of our kids, but then on top of that you are having to fight for what he SHOULD be getting. Keep persevering - you are doing the right thing!
It sounds fishy to me too. They told me the boys weren't ASD while we lived in DC because Nikolas smiled at her. I think they look for reasons to deny these kids and its all related to money and quotas. Nikolas is in an autism classroom and half of them sit at the table, that's bogus. Plus you caught them in a lie. I agree, ask for the IEE and take the director and the advocate with you. Just their presence will make the school think twice about doing things.Thanks guys for your replies
tzoya, So he should at least have gotten some therapy even if he dosnt get full on preschool right? I knew he should have gotten something!
snoopywoman these people were so annooooying in a "sweet" sort of way if you know what I mean! Can I get an IEE from his dev. ped.? I know my insurance covers him thats why! Being so pushy and demanding is so not me so Im having a hard time doing this but I am so mad and if he qualifies for something and theyr doing this, reeeeally makes me pissed! At the same time I have my doubts like what if hes not supposed to get anything. But so far everyone Ive talked to agrees that he should qualify for at least something.
I know Linda, I hate when people make stupid remarks like that, its soo annoying!
I should be getting my sons full written report from his developmental ped. tomorrow (I better anyway!) should I ask him to write a seperate letter confirming his dx (since they dont believe me) and stating he needs services? I called him before the eval. to ask for a letter and he said everything I need will be in the report and it will state everything clearly for them (of course I never even got my report yet
Whats going on right now is I called the public preschool director and asked her if I can meet with her on friday and haydens teacher is comming with me. She made like she couldnt meet with me on friday and I asked what day can she meet with me then? She "checked her calender" then said I guess I can meet with you for a little while but Ive got somewhere to go after the preschool screenings are done. But then soon after that I got in contact with someone who isnt the advocate im being assigned but someone else who deals with older children and adults more but she advised me not to meet with the special ed. or anyone till I have a representative to come with me. She said to call back and cancell and tell the director that too so it gets them thinking. Me getting my advocates not going to be for awhile tho! I just got a letter stating they have busy caseloads so thats why its 10 days or so till they can contact you and stuff.
O ya and I found out from this advocate that there were 2 special ed programs in our entire town, on at manzanita and one at cerbat. But cerbat closed thier down because they were doing damage to the kids there! She said there was abuse and a small room theyd lock the kids in! How HORRIBLE! That is really freaky! So manzanita must be loaded with kids now which will make things all the more harder and more reasons for the cases to be severe. I know its probably alot on thier plates to handle right now but I REALLY dont think this is fair at all!
I dropped my son off at school today and I told his teacher an advocate advised me to cancel the meeting till I can get my representative to come to the meeting too. Which now that I think about it I hope she didnt take that as she wasnt good enough or something, I feel bad!
You do not pay for an IEE. The school does - which is why our district wanted a meeting first. They did NOT want to pay for an IEE. I believe they get to choose who you see, but they may vary by state.
I will write more later - but I have to go eat supper!
Sounds crappy. What state are you in? Sounds like something CO would pull. He should have an IEP? Self help skills?No forum can answer all the questions that are going to come up when an initial eval does NOT recommend services. You really must become more informed by finding out the legal rules. The best way I've found to do that is to get a copy of From Emotions to Advocacy and to also get a copy of your own state's special education regulations from your State Ed Dept.
A child won't necessarily even get services if it's determined he doesn't need them. That is why and IEE is SO important --- to get a second, unbiased opinion.
Snoopywoman- I think tzoya said if he isnt qualified for speical ed and he dosnt have an IEP already in place you have to pay for it but if he does and is qualified already then they have to pay for it. He should have one tho which everyones been telling me so Its so frustrating!
Daneils mom- I know I keep hearing that, it totally sucks!
amberwaves- I live in az and theyr HORRIBLE here!!! Ive researched online and ive heard tons of bad things about it in az. It seriously makes me want to move back to hawaii where were originally from since its rated pretty high there. Did you say your daughter was lucky to get a full day of preschool? Not sure if thats a typo but thats so stupid if not! Thats probably what theyr going to do to my son
Ugh I totally need this! My sons deductible is ,000 to begin with to start the therapy his dev. ped. told us to. Not to metion his copay for every session is . which would be at least a bare minimum of 0. a month. and thats just for OT! Then theres speech! WHAAAAA! ok now im being a big crybaby im sure lots of you pay ALOT more!
Good luck to you!
I called headstart and they said they base special needs slots on income too??? Do they vary by state maybe? AZs poor so I could see them doing that if so. But most likely I was just talking to someone who didnt know what they were talking about and Im going to go by there and fill out another app. on monday.
That's correct. They reserve 10% of their slots for kids with disabilities - and you don't have to qualify based on income. It is according to the CHILD'S high needs - not necessarily financial. But any stressors, life changes (move, divorce, etc.) are also counted for points in terms of getting you in - so be sure to mention those as well!It was my understanding that with a disability you don't have to be low-income. We're above the income limits, too.