What is AI certification? I've never heard of it before... I haven't heard of it either. One thing I would suggest is talking to the school district where you are going. This is what I ended up doing to determine if I wanted to petition to put my child in another district. ( We live on the boundaries between two different school districts). I talked to all the therapists that work ith the schools they suggested, I talked to their coordinators for special education about my son's IEP and what they would allow or what they would want to change, etc. So I would say find the school district talk to them first and see what they are willing to offer. We are from near Kansas City so unfortunately, I can't say for sure. It seems to vary based on the school district but so far I haven't seen anything that gives us extra service based on the fact that he is autistic. Overall, we have been happy with my son's service and progress but we haven't demanded a whole lot yet. The real test will be next year when he goes to Kindergarten.
AI is Autism Impaired. That's the term the schools here in Michigan use to refer to ASD kids for them to get the special "Autistic" services within the district. I guess I'm just not sure it's worth the trouble and red tape of having everybody at the school re-evaluate her to get her AI certified. I mean, I've already had her dx'ed by a child psy.
I guess my main concern is that I want to be sure that her dx holds up when we move out of state in a few months. I thought that possibly having her dx'ed by the Michigan school standards would maybe hold up better transfering to Kansas (where we are moving). I dont want there to be any chance she is not eligible for the same services she is getting here when we move.
I am not sure about the AI thing. My son has mod/severe autism and I haven't heard anything about that. He is still in preschool so maybe it is different in grade school but we are in Kansas and that hasn't been brought up at all. As far as I can tell he doesn't get any special treatment because he is autistic. He gets speech therapy and they do some ABA but he doesn't get hours and hours of it week...more like 2-3 hours a week with a speech therapist and the rest of the time in special education preschool. It seems that a lot depends on the school district. They have been great but made it clear from the start that they wouldn't pay for full on ABA one to one which is what the child psych recommended originally. Do you know where you will live? I used to have the name of an advocate in the area but she no longer works in the area. We are moving to a suburb of Wichita, not yet sure where exactly. Hmmm...I was afraid the services might not be comparable to here and it sounds like I may be right. Well, if you are from anywhere around Wichita or can help me in any way, I'd be very grateful. Thanks.Hi,
I'm pretty new to this board and have lots of questions, but this one is the one I'll ask tonight....Here's the situation. We recently moved into a great school district (not by chance, either! It took much planning and research). Libby (almost 3 mild ASD recently dx'ed) started at the new school and she is in the ECDD classroom. I meet with the teachers and therapists next week to establish a new IEP and see how their evals of Libby are. To my dismay, my husband got the job offer of his life out-of-state and so we made the tough decision for him to take this job. So we will be moving out of this great school I worked so hard to get her in by Jan-Feb 08. My question is this: Should I put my foot down and demand for the school to get her AI certified before we make this out-of-state move? How long of a process is this? And is AI cert. necessary for her to obtain ABA or other therapies for ASD in any school she may attend? I'm so new to all of this and trying to make the best decisions for her future and all this moving is just really really hard. I would welcome any and all advice on this AI certification thing....I'm not really sure I completely understand what it is for and what it means. And since she has a mild case of Autism is it possible she would be rejected services by the school standards? (I had her dx-ed by child psychologist)
Thanks so much.