thanks new york mommy. thats a great idea, but im not certain my neurologist will do that. the old one would have but he moved out of state. what he did do however, is write up a 20 page report on my son for me which i should be getting anyday. also, the psychologist i just started seeing usually does the same and specifys whether a child should be nt or spec ed classes and they are usually 15-20 pg reports even listing types and lenghts of services. but a friend of mine had that report and the school system stil put her severely autistic child into nt class with no pullouts. needless to say, hes not in any schooling at all right now. but i love your idea and will run it past all is docs. im trying to dot my i's and cross my t's before dec6 and cover every possible base. im just SO FLABERGASTED! and please, dont let anyone tell you that just because you have autism doesnt mean you qualify for ieps and services. autism isnt add/adhd. autism is defined (usually by school systems, somewhere) as a developmental disability (usually nuerological/brain) that is anticipated as lasting forever. and sensory impairment/severe is generally the only accompaning factor that must be present.
thanks. ive got all the evals.....they do by well respected nuerologists and psychologists.
our state only cosiders speech delay as it applies to articulation , stuttering, being verbal. it doesnt include communication.
im going to go for the fed level specific learning disability if i need to which i could use communication which would include syntax, semantic, pragmantic, and expressive/receptive. also according to an report put out by our school system a few years back and not since updated it states autism is reason enough and the delay doesnt even need to be 25% but must accomany one or more of some other extras.......sensory impairment being one. so according to what their report states he qualifies. if all else fails ill lay on the table how do you test a child with aspergers with savant rote capabilities because im unaware of any aspergers children his age within our school system without an iep.
for anyone in Maryland having probelms.......i have that report information and link to it.
and this may prove to be a very valuable link. its the national assoc of state directors of special educators report on disability categories, states terminology, definitions, and eligibility criteria. it comares how the and how many of the states define it exactly as/similar to/different from the fed. definitions, what states include request and demand what. its not broken down into states, but rather into number of states. but it provides for some loop holes in fighting your state based on majority or interpretation of federal definition.
http://www.nasdse.org/publications/disability_categories.pdf
one thing id love to find if anyone has it is the report/publication for maryland or baltimore county that defines/states what they classify as disability in the school system, what they consider a deficit for each named disability, and how they make their decisions. just like the above report, but on the state level. kind of like their rules governing their idea.
Find a neurologist or a developmental pediatrician. Get a full evalution and report with a diagnosis and take that back to the school system. DO NOT settle for this.
and I did want to add ... the neurologist that evaluated my son and gave me the medical dx of autism went so far as to call the special education office before our CSE meeting to make sure they understood that my son had autism, and that he needed everything she recommended in her report. It made a whole world of difference finding a doctor that would go that far.
thank you all for your kind words and support. its why i love this place! i also found out that with his speech delay being expressive/receptive that wont count for a developmental delay in school. just things like articulation.
right now im working on finding a test that will test his cognitive without being mostly rote memory or puzzles. im also trying to find out how they test an aspergers child with savant memory since most aspergers children qualify for iep and school services at that age. it just seems that if a child has defecits across the baord that limit their functionability, you have to take that into consideration and find an appropriate test. although rote memory is great at seeming and faking functionability, the truth is its mostly a facade. what good is regurgitation of facts or knowing every car/truck/construction equip name, dinosaur and animal name if you dont understand the object itself. what good is reading a word at 2.5 or knowinig a word when its spelled if you have no understanding of phonetics....you simply memorize the visual object and its sequence. i really hope somehow the school systems change and people stop looking at autistic children and thinking that they cant be verbal or have intelligence.
thanks again!
my son will soon be 3 and is in early intervention, private services. he is autistic with many co-occurences. However, he has an almost savant ability. Its rote memory. he memorizes more than most (runs in family) but alot of times doesnt understand what he memorizes or cant apply it and still has expressive/receptive lang delay, sens processing disorder, adhd, etc.
well, hes about to do the academic (cognitive/socio-emot) eval with his spec ed here at home in an hour and she has told me if he passes (we expect he will especially since this was the test they gave him when entering him and he memorizes alot of evals/test after the first time) that the school system (child find) can and probably will deny him spec ed classes, or entering into school at 3 and put him in normal classes with no speech, ot, prt, etc. as a matter of fact, hell go from age 3 to age 4 with no intervention at all. our preschools for NTs start at age 4 unless you have one of the only 2 homeschools in a large county with 3's. (thats nt 3s by the way).
and none of his 20 evals, doctors notes, therapists notes will mean anything to change their mind. if he passes cognitive hes normal.
WHAT DO I DO????????
All I can say is (since I really don't know what to do to help) is WOW! He is VERY good with memory skills. Do they know how gifted he is with that? Request a different test with his memory to prove that? the state uses only one test, period. he could do poor on all else, but if cognitive is okay, he can be held out of school. another test is not an option here. its the eidp, i think. used to be the elad, but it changed?That does not seem fair at all...have you consulted an advocate...if not...I would.I don't understand why they feel if his cognitive is normal then all else is fine. I'm not 100% sure about this but the evaluations should all be done separately. Just because his cognitive is normal doesn't mean he can hold a pencil the right way and write letters, therefore needing OT.
And I like what Payne's Mom says about requesting a different test to be done.
But definitely ask about why his entire eval is only being done around the cognitive...they should be doing it all separate, at least that's how it was for Mason.
You can get an advocate or lawyer and do a "Stay put' SO then you would keep early intervention servies till get it worked out. WIll probably need independent evaluation . drs. Recommendations and letters on this specific skill. Do not know all laws in all states you would have to check. They cannot deny him services totally.. Good Luck..someone else may know the laws better than me but I do know stay put ,we had done that when my son was 3 to get him the appropriate placement....MELHere is a past issue of the Special Ed Advocate from Wrightslaw. It concerns eligibility for special ed services. It does focus on ADD/ADHD, however it applies to any disability.
http://www.wrightslaw.com/nltr/07/nl.0808.htm
well, advocates (lawyers) are expensive! 150-300 per hour. some charge fees of a few thousand. most who have had any success will tell you you need to spend a few thousand for a lawyer..........for each iep.
and its now official! he past the cognitive and well. the few, and i mean few, parts that involved he/she, or cognitive he failed completely, but the rest he aced so theyll consider her functioning. its such a joke. i was just told, even with an advocate and the person in charge of spec ed for my county if i get anything the most i may be able to get is a label of emotionally disturbed, and that would so hinder him and he wouldnt be entitled to speech or ot, and would be put in different classes than an autistic child. emot. disturbed is a joke label in this county.
im so upset and mad - how would they treat an aspergers child with a savant skill. put him in a typical class, ugh! i wish i could afford to move 45min away to york pa but im a single mom and with his feeding and behavior and sleep issues i cant even put him in daycare. I am so very sorry to hear this. ((hugs)) Wish I knew or could do more.
You can do mediation as a last resort.
Just wanted to respond , DON"T LET THIS HAPPEN! I did, mostly my fault for not pushing the issue, but now dd who no longer qualified at the age of 3 1/2 easily qualifies at the age of almost 5. If you know he needs it, see what you can do.
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