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We are preparing for the transition to Kindergarten this fall for my 4 year old son who has HFA. His IQ is above average (I had him tested privately for admission to a private school), and he does not really have many behavioral issues. However, I worry that it is unlikely that he will be accepted in any of the private (NT) schools that we have applied to because of his diagnosis. I have concerns about his safety (elopement) and his ability to focus and stay on task if he is mainstreamed in a large public school classroom. I have been also told that he is unlikely to qualify for a TSS, and frankly, the quality and reliability of the TSS's in my area is a little scary. So my question is, assuming you are stuck in a cash-strapped urban school district and can't sell your house because of the market, how do you argue for an educational aide for a high functioning child? What would persuade the other members of the IEP team, and how can I be sure that this person will be someone with some expertise working with children like my son (i.e., not the lunch lady, as I have heard has happened)? Should I bring in an advocate from the start in such a situation? I have already been advised by a professional who has been to a lot of IEP meetings in my SD that my son (whom she has never met or seen evaluations on) is unlikely to qualify for any services(no speech, no OT) if he is verbal and can hold a pencil. Thank you.I am guessing that our resident professional advocate, tzoya, will chime in here at some point - but in the meantime... If you have your child attend a private school, it is my understanding that they do not need to provide him with an IEP. And they do not have to give him services. Schools don't have the luxury of hiring someone with good experience in working with kids with autism as an aide. First of all, a para is not a very well-paid position (I am one part-time, so I know!). A good deal of them do not have a completed college degree - which does not necessarily mean anything, but they may not have a lot of formal education (however, some of the best paras I know do not!). School districts often are not having a huge amount of funds to do intense training. Paras are often a "learn-as-you-go" job. I started mid-year and I have had one training - it just happened to occur two weeks after I started my job. I have a LOT of personal and professional experience in working with kids with disabilities (most of the professional experience was before I became a stay-at-home mom). So, the school was happy to not have to provide me with a ton of training - although they are better than a lot in providing training. I'm a little confused. Are you wanting to have a qualified aide in the public school system OR a TSS to help in the private school? I wasn't quite clear from your post. If you want a para, I would bring an advocate. Have they done an evaluation on your son? How thorough was it? If he is an elopement risk - they will soon realize (hopefully!) that he needs an aide. I would very strongly emphasize to them that if he does not have someone with him, he is likely to run. If they aren't seeming to take you seriously and refuse to provide an aide, then you may have to bring out the whole liability issue. I wouldn't at first - because you don't want them to get on the defensive. Just be prepared that even if you do get a para - there is no way to guarantee that you get one who is qualified and trained to deal with your child. Even if they have a lot of training - each child is different and it will be a "learn-as-you-go" experience in a lot of ways for them, regardless. The funding situation is not going to get any better any time soon. And while schools cannot legally cite funding as a reason to not provide services - I know many school districts are in DEEP financial trouble and are doing anything they can to cut costs. In Minnesota, our lovely governor has talked about raiding all the school district's reserve funds and taking those funds to pay for other things in the state. Seriously. So you can imagine how panicked the schools are and trying to do everything they can to cut where they can. Unfortunately, they will try to cut from special ed as well. Federal funds never provide enough to cover the costs of special ed. Local school districts often make up close to half of the funding - if not more. And most, frankly, just don't have it right now. Anyway, I'm sorry you're going through this and I hope others chime in with their views. Please keep us posted! You can get an aide for hf kid (my hf asd ds has full time aide) but as snoopywomen pointed out - it does not necessarily mean a better school experience. Often aides are used by the teachers to remove the kids from class as soon as any unexpected behavior occurs. This really does not help the kid learn anything, does not do much for inclusion and leaves the kid socially isolated. If your main concern is your kid being a runner by all means bring this up and see how the school would safely deal with that - an aie is what he might need. My ds's aide is the nicest person but she really has not received much training on asd (and won't) and in many ways she is just as much a hinderance to academics and inclusion as a help. Since I feel so ambivalent about having an aide, why does my ds have one? Because the school district had placed him at our current school, the school did not want him, I would not agree to move ds and so the district gave the 1:1 to the school to appease them and prevent having the whole thing go into due process. It really was more inter-district politics than consideration for ds's true needs. Thanks, everyone. I am considering a public school setting for the purposes of this question. Although we have applied to private schools with the understanding that we will have to pay for services outside, in the hopes that small class size and closer supervision would be ideal, we do not have much hope of being accepted. A student must be given "all necessary supports and services" if that is what it takes to keep him in a less restrictive environment. This specifically includes a one-on-one aide, if necessary. Safety is the MAIN reason kids are given aides. If your son tries to elope, that's a reason to get him an aide. Use the phrase" to keep my son safe" and you'll have more of a chance.Thanks, everyone. Has anyone been able to hire (and pay for) their own aide for public school?At one point we were offered a placement in a general ed classroom that the general ed part of the SD was not prepared for. Since our son is challenging, our lawyer suggested that we offer an aide as a "parent helper" (not an aide). We got a sudden lesson in the legalities of such things. Keep in mind that placing an aide probably proves that the school district placement is in appropriate and might give you ammunition for getting an aide in the next IEP. So it is unlikely that the Sped folks will help you. My understanding is that anyone in the classroom is there only with the permission of the school district, probably the teacher and the principal to start out with. This probably include the special ed folks as well. Locally the union has rules that a volunteer cannot do the work normally done by a union person. So we were able to do this only for as long as it took the school district to hire an aide, and only with the help of the principal bending the rules. I think that she did this only because she knew that otherwise the inclusion placement would have been a total shambles and not very good for the other kids in the class. My take on this is that you really need a lawyer with a good understanding of your local laws to find out if this is legal. Then everyone in the school has to be on board. Also, the aide has to know how to work in a general ed classroom. No talking when the teacher is trying to teach would seem obvious but I have heard of aides who forget. |
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