eligibility meeting/other health or asd It does not matter what your child's medical diagnoses is in regards to educational labels. There are specific guidelines that must be met according to IDEA for them to meet criteria to receive an educational label of autism. As an example, here's a link to Wisconsin's criteria for Autism services in a school: http://dpi.wi.gov/SPED/autism.html I'm honestly not sure if the specific criteria change from state to state, but I do know that medical diagnoses plays no role in meeting educational criteria. Also, label should not effect services. Your child so be receiving the services he needs as specified in his IEP regardless of his disability category. Here diagnosis is everything.  Any "label" our schools come up with has to be verified by a doctor (psychology, psychiatry, neurology, developmental pedi) and services approved by that doctor before the school actually provides anything.  The school district takes a very literal definition of autism out of IDEA; and the only diagnosis they recognize as "autism" is classic autism.  Everything else under the PDD umbrella is an OHI; and while yes, you get services, it isn't anywhere near the quality or quantity as those provided to a child with an "autism" diagnosis.  For instance, my daughter (PDD-NOS), who has severe hypotonia and sensory issues, only qualifies for 90 minutes of OT through the school every 6 weeks (needless to say, we're not relying on the school for this).  Her little friend in the same group (had we enrolled her in that program after all) with the same issues has an "autism" diagnosis.  He receives one to one OT and PT three times a week.  My son (asperger's) would not have qualified for any services at all.For all kids with ASD label here, it's mandatory that they have services/supports in 2 areas: Social and Transitions and they are addressed in IEP format.   There can be more areas depending but those are manadatory to every child with an ASD dx.  They are all also eligible for ABA teaching methodology. OZZIE-ROZIES-MA40137.7885648148 What does ABA teaching methodology really mean?  My son has it in his iep, but he does not have any discrete trial ABA.  I dont really understand what it means- I was told the classroom teacher would use aba methodology, but when I asked her what it meant, she clearly had no clue.  [QUOTE=PhoenixRising]Here diagnosis is everything.  Any "label" our schools come up with has to be verified by a doctor (psychology, psychiatry, neurology, developmental pedi) and services approved by that doctor before the school actually provides anything. [/QUOTE] Hm...this sounds very illegal to me. Goes against everything I've learned in my law classes. Interesting. [QUOTE=JessicaO] [QUOTE=PhoenixRising]Here diagnosis is everything.  Any "label" our schools come up with has to be verified by a doctor (psychology, psychiatry, neurology, developmental pedi) and services approved by that doctor before the school actually provides anything. [/QUOTE] Hm...this sounds very illegal to me. Goes against everything I've learned in my law classes. Interesting. [/QUOTE] I agree Jessica.  Per federal law, services are to be provided based upon the childs deficits, NOT upon a label.  That said, individual states will try to get away with whatever they can to save some $$...   My son is already eligible under other health impaired.  It was time for a new ESER and my son has since been diagnosed as aspergers. The district is suggesting to leave his eligibility the same. Stating that changing it to aspergers will not change what we are already doing.  I want to know if first of all aspergers is a qualifying eligibility, and second does it open more doors to more services. My meeting is in a couple of hours and I can not find any definite information. Any help would be greatly welcomed.  Thank you In our school district, nothing changes unless the official diagnosis is "autism."  All of the other spectrum diagnoses get lumped under "other health impairments."Thank You  Phoenix Rising.   That makes sense I guess.  I have recently learned there is quite the controversy reguarding aspergers.  I thought it was autism, such as in high functioning, but I understand there is talk of removing the term aspergers altogether in the big doctor book . It is all a lot to try and work with when the proffessionals are not even in agreement. Thanks for responding.Locally Autism includes autism-like conditions, and so Asperger's would be classified under autism (if they found it eligible at all and many times they don't). I would imagine that the answer to your question would depend on your district.  Its not supposed to matter but it might.  Where I come from getting eligibility with an Asperger's diagnosis is a challenge, and I would take OHI if that would get services.  But I would guess that I would also want to check your state laws about OAI .  Our son was classified under SLI and when they decided to exit him all they had to do was show that his language was OK.  We have not been able to get re-qualified since.
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