Update on difficult child and IEP Meeting

[jal]

Had an IEP meeting yesterday to go over the Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation. I have long suspected that along with-Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) difficult child had sensory processing disorder (SPD) (sensory processing disorder). psychiatrist had been saying it was ADHD all along although none of the umpteen medications we tried ever worked. School Occupational Therapist (OT) confirmed it. Now he will receive 1 hour Occupational Therapist (OT) a week broken into 30 min sessions. Has anyone had a difficult child with sensory processing disorder (SPD) and has found success with the Occupational Therapist (OT)?

Our difficult child has never had any formal testing by the SD and the new psychiatrist wants the WISC-IV, BRIEF and NEPSY. SD has agreed to do all testing. They have also offered extended school year with a summer program.

On a really bright note, difficult child has only been in the therapeutic school for just around 3 1/2 months and has made large strides in behavior, writing, spelling and math. I got teary when they showed us the difference in his beginning work until now. We all see marked progress since the introduction of the fluoxetine. I am very proud of him and thankful for all our supports.

Now if I could just find daycare...UGH!

 

[Martie]

Hello,

I am a moderator of this forum who has been "on leave" for personal reasons.

I would like to know if the SD placed your son in a therapeutic school without an evaluation or did you place him there yourself?

If he has not been evaluated, he should be in my opinion. I know that several parents have had a positive response to SI issues through Occupational Therapist (OT). In IL, it is very diffiuclt to get extended year services, so if they are being offered, I would grab them for sure.

I am happy to hear your son is progressing so well. An extended year should help him continue to make gains.

Good luck with finding day care---I have no suggestions. What does his school suggest?

Martie

 

[jal]

Hi Martie,

SD did not do any formal evaluations before we all agreed to place him. difficult child was on an IEP in kindergarten. He had a para, movement breaks and the school brought in an independent to do a FBA to put a behavioral plan in place. He made it through kindergarten (it runs only half day here). School also gave us a para for daycare in the summer as difficult child was becoming unstable due to a medication wash. difficult child ended up in a 3 wk stay in psychiatric hospital and then returned to school for first grade.

By day three he could not function in the class. He had a huge meltdown that resulted in him throwing chairs, hitting his para and teacher and kids calling their parents saying they did not want to go to daycare if he was going to be there.

School had no more supports to offer us beyond what we were already getting (para, movement breaks, behavior plan). They do not have self contained classrooms. It took about 2 months to get difficult child into the therapeutic school as we had to approve the program and they had a child that was graduating out.

We have always had problems with-difficult child and knew school would be rough. As I mentioned they did the Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation at the new school and gave us the sensory processing disorder (SPD) diagnosis. The other tests I mentioned will be preformed shortly. We had a neuropsychologist done when he was 4. It agreed with-the psychiatrists diagnosis of mood disorder and ADHD, but what we did not know it at the time was the report was not valuable due to the fact that there was no actual scoring.

difficult child's psychiatrist had always stood by his diagnosis pf bipolar and ADHD. Poor difficult child has never responded to any medication ever given to him (and there have been a lot of trials). I kept questioning difficult child being on the spectrum and sensory difficulties and I was told No by psychiatrist. We recently started with 2 new psychiatrists in January and both concurr Aspergers. By adding a little prozac we have seen HUGE changes. His anger and frustration have practically melted away.

The school also agreed to do a neuropsychologist evaluation next year. They felt that he'd have a bit more academics under his belt to test his level. We agreed to that because we are involved with a major autism research project and will be receiving a neuropsychologist evaluation from that process in the next few months. The switch to the therapeutic school has been the right decision. His academics have exploded, he loves school and we are really happy with the supports he has in place. We also receive in home intensive therapy 2 times a week for him too (not provided by the SD).

School does not really have any ideas about care. One they suggested was full. I have a lead from a past co-worker who has a difficult child with-Aspergers and will be following up on that.

Thanks!

 

[Martie]

Thank you for the clarifiying information. I am glad everything is working out so well for your difficult child. However, what your SD did as illegal unless they accepted all the evaluations as "their own" which seems unlikely if they were not scored.

It seems as though you have a very good plan in place and have found the right diagnosis which despite diagnosing being "out of favor" at the moment, I think is very important in finding an effective Tx/intervention plan.

Martie