Help with an IEP review and placementyou guys have been extremely helpful...even though it's not verbalized. Friday morning we're having a placement review for my son, C. He is 6 yrs old and around the middle of the spectrum...verbal but with LOTS of behavioral issues and communication problems. The emotionally disabled classroom he's in now is doing nothing to advance him towards his IEP goals, and allowing the other children to "rub off" on him with some really bad and violent behaviors. I called a review to determine the proper placement for him, because this is not it. This classroom is full of 8 other children with emotional disabilities...they throw things, hit, yell, scream, etc and C is soaking it up like a sponge. With his autism diagnosis, I think he needs to be at the local Autism center school so he can get the proper supervision and techniques on a daily basis...these folks just aren't doing it. What I need help with is convincing them that this is where he needs to be. They have declined it in the past due to the fact that he's not autistic enough...meaning he can talk. Whatever. I need him moved ASAP. Whatever you all can help me with to convince them would be appreciated (sample IEP/Behavior plans...anything you've used in the past, resources you might know of, etc). What exactly do I need to tell/give/write them? Thanks My son was also in a emotionally disabled class, from K-til end of 1st semester of 2nd grade. I had the same concerns you do. It was a long bumpy road, but his placemt has now been changed to autism support and he is doing great! I don't know what your child exact dx is, but the main problem in our case was the school psychologist gave him a dx of emotional disturbance, dispite the fact he was dx by an independant psychologist, and neuropsychologist as having pdd-nos. We thought with this pdd-nos diagnosis surely they would change his placement to the autism support class. They did not. They claimed they needed an "Autism" dx for that, and that pdd-nos was not sufficient, because it was not a disability catagory. Such BS. I argued that what they were saying was just semantics, but arguing was futile. He was progressing (though not as much as I believed he could have) in the Emotional disturbance class, and that was good enough for them. Suddenly he began to refuse to do work, would not co-operate and threw himself on the ground everytime he was asked to do something. When it was time for his IEE, the school psych. changed "his" dx to Autism, and viola - like a magic wand was tapped and we got everything we had been asking for for the past two years. If you have an actual autism dx there shouldn't even be a question as to where they should place him. I don't know if things differ from state to state but I know that our problem was not having "technically" the right dx. even though to me autism, aspergers, ASD, and pdd-nos all mean the same thing, even though they all can be to a different degree of severity. Also, I was just a constant pain in their rear-end. If he had a difficult day, I would call them or write a note and ask them why. I would question his progress constantly. I would call, write, call, write, until I'm sure I drove them mad. I felt it was all I could do at that point to help my cause, just be a constant pain the the butt until I got my way. I hope you are able to get his placement changed...good luck
First of all, a medical diagnosis of autism and an educational classification of autism are two different things. The school is going to look at how his disability affects his education (or not). I would, however, seriously be questioning the "ED" classification for him, when autism is not an emotional disturbance - it's a communication and social impairment disability, but not emotionally disturbed. School districts are reluctant to do out-of-home-school or out-of-district placements, particularly because of the expense. If that's what you're ultimately pushing for, you may have to take it step-by-step... Perhaps the strategy to put in place would be to push for mainstreaming him with behavioral supports. Hopefully, you have documented the escalation in problem behaviors since he's been placed in the ED room. Showing that evidence, as well as evidence that he is not adequately progressing towards his IEP goals are the weapons you need for requesting a functional behavioral analysis (FBA) be performed to determine what is triggering his behaviors, and then using the results of the FBA to develop and put in place a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) in place - something that PREVENTS the unwanted behaviors from occurring in the first place, or defusing them quickly by the teachers paying attention to the signals - not a plan on what to do WHEN the behaviors occur (often, the school districts think that's what a BIP is). Restraint/seclusion often result simply in escalation of the problems, not in solving them. Academic supports can be supplied with picture schedules, transition strategies, reading/writing supports through OT, ST, sensory breaks, etc. If a strategy isn't working, then you can call an IEP meeting and go through discarding that and trying a different one until you find one that fits your child and is helping him function and succeed in the class environment...that's the whole point behind an IEP - making the education individually fit the child without lowering the bar of expected progress. After all those strategies have been tried, if they fail and the standards of FAPE are still not being met, you're in a much better position to argue for placement in the autism school where you ultimately wanted him placed anyway.
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