IEP DX ASD of Pddnos & ADHD

[lolita]

ok makes sense now. I'm gonna start on my letter. Thanks for all the info!

[TeDo]

Send the letter to his school Principal AND to the Director of Special Education.

DITTO!!!!

I planned to go into the first meeting and see what they offer.

Absolutely not! Send the letter requesting that your son "be evaluated for Special Education Services including but not limited to academic, psychological, behavioral, speech-language, and occupational therapy evaluations" ASAP. This starts a Federal timeline, yes 30 days, to do the assessments and put a report together summarizing ALL the findings. THEN go to a meeting AFTER READING THROUGH THEIR REPORT carefully and bring all YOUR information, including your neuropsych. Fight for an IEP that addresses the neuropsych's recommendations. IF the still balk, get an advocate but I know there has to be someone that won't charge for this. In our state, we have many.

Our SD fought the new dx and fought against the needed supports their own autism specialist recommended. If they say your son doesn't qualify, ask for a FULL explanation IN WRITING. The rest we can advise you on IF you need to push further/harder. Good Luck!!!

[buddy]

Whew, finally, TeDo.. SMILE... I knew you would be along..... LOL

I knew you could totally relate to this.

[lolita]

Tedo! Thanks! one more question. I just reviewed my son's school reports. THE school district did DO their own EVAL. on April 14,2010 they did a Hearing Screening, Vision, Educational, and Speech and Language.

According to them they found all the screening within normal limits! NOT eligible for Sp Ed services. THEY never did a Psych EVAL... KNOWING my son was in a Psych Hospital Dec, 2009 for 2 weeks!

NOW I am armed w the complete Psych eval from MY PRIVATE EVAL. Now what do I do?

[buddy]

You are now requesting a complete educational evaluation. Speech Language (and I am a speech language path so I really do get this one, lol) can be a category on its own. I am not sure why the child study team only had him evaluated for that at that time... and it is true, he probably did not qualify under THAT category.

NO biggie... still write your letter to be evauated for a COMPLETE eval... use TeDo's words...

You can state that he has received the medical diagnosis of PDD-nos and ADHD and has extreme challenges in school.

Do not emphasize the phosp stay IMHO.... work on his needs and skill deficits and how it impacts school. Again, if he has a neurological issue and they focus on behavior, you may not appreciate the kind of help he gets. when she says PSYCH she means educational psychology which is "ability" or IQ testing. NOt the kind of psych work up he got at the hospital for mood disorders, medications etc... very very different.

Others may view this differently but that is my experience.

[lolita]

He got the full iq testing at the asd hosp.

[lolita]

I'm typing from my phone in bed..sorry so short. Yeah. IMO that psych hosp 2 wk stay was a joke, just "warehoused" him if u will. Complete waste of time & $! Never even gave a dx! I took him out AMA!

[TeDo]

THE school district did DO their own EVAL. on April 14,2010 they did a Hearing Screening, Vision, Educational, and Speech and Language.

According to them they found all the screening within normal limits! NOT eligible for Sp Ed services. THEY never did a Psych EVAL... KNOWING my son was in a Psych Hospital Dec, 2009 for 2 weeks!

NOW I am armed w the complete Psych eval from MY PRIVATE EVAL. Now what do I do?

You need to put a request in writing: "Based on new information, I am requesting that *son* be evaluated for Special Education services including, but not limited to, academic, occupational therapy, language processing, expressive speech, behavioral, and psychological evaluations."

Because the old report is about 2 years old, they can redo their assessments. If they refuse to because they "just did them 2 years ago" remind them that things change in two years and you want him re-evaluated. If they still refuse, tell them you want their refusal in writing as well as specific reasoning as to WHY. Then take that to an advocate!!!

[buddy]

It is great he had the IQ testing already, but remember it still has to be listed on the educational evaluation. they can though, simply use the results of the IQ test you are providing. They may want to do a different test for IQ too but no matter... the pont is it has to be written in there.

[lolita]

I had to come back and give you guys an UPDATE:
So we went to the Child Study Meeting on Thursday (2hrs!!). I COULD NOT BE ANYMORE HAPPIER!!!!! I did bring my father and a Special Ed Advocate with me. I’m not sure if that helped or not but it sure didn’t hurt anything! The school is now going to do a “FULL EVAL” to include hear,edu, psych, speech/lang, vision, observation, sociocultural, and OT. They said my sons Needs are Sensory, Social Skills, Pragmatic language, Higher level expressive and Receptive language, Emotional regulation and Mental flexibility. His Strengths: creative & artistic, responds well to alt ways of learning, computer skills/typing, musical and ability to self soothe. The lady in charge of the meeting (School Social Worker)kept trying to point the finger at me! Saying in the past that Ms. Rash has NOT been “trying” to work with us! Etc. etc..IT freakin ****** me off!!!! Saying that I NEVER signed the medical release form to share info w them..etc..Over the yrs my son has been to a Community Services Health Agency,(they recommend him to go to a psych hospital) Pysch ward/Mental Hosp for 2 week inpatient stay, (after 2 wk stay they gave NO dx) a Psychiatrist (just gets meds from him, ONLY dx him w ADHD) a psychologist (she recommended MORE Formal testing) and now recently The Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders Neuropsychological EVAL from Children’s National Medical Center! (Their report is a 15 page DX w ADHD, SPD, & ASD!!!!!) FINALLY I had a DX ON PAPER!!! Don’t even ask me how much I have spent on all of this over the yrs! It’s in the thousands! UGGH! So NOW ARMED w the DX finally I can NOW share with the school something..etc..

What did she want me to share??? I NEVER had anything to SHARE!!!!! And I told her that until NOW! She kept trying to play the “blame game”. SO I through it back in her face! I said well you know what? It works both ways! THE SCHOOL KNEW in the 3rd grade at school he spelled out in blocks “I wish I were dead!” (he was upset at school being bullied etc.) That’s when this all started going to see “professionals” THE SCHOOL KNEW he spent 2 weeks at a psych hospital….And what did the school do??? They tested him for Hearing, Vision, and Speech! NOT PYSCH or anything else! In addition NOT finding him qual for Spec Ed services! So you better “CHECK YOURSELVES!” The whole room was QUIET and they were staring at me Like I was a MAD WOMAN! LOL…I really don’t even give a chit anymore! I am NOT playing anymore and I think they know it!

Having the advocate I think helped too.NOW they are expediting a FULL eval and I think suppose to do it in 65 days? BUT they are gonna do it ASAP! Next meeting is March 29th! They will discuss then if he qualifies based on the eval results for sp ed services! HOWEVER, The School Social Worker was ALREADY talking about him being qualified under ASD for special ed services and she was discussing IEP!!!!!! I can’t believe it! I was SO nervous I would have to fight them for it!!!! Cus well over the yrs I have been to MANY of these meetings w/o an advocate too. Maybe having the new dx and an advocate helped. I don’t know…But it seems like they are finally going to implement an IEP! Uggh…Sorry so long!

End of rant...lol