For child with bipolar and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) which IEP classification is best?

[jcox]

My son was diagnosed with bipolar when he was three. He has been newly diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) high functioning Autism. Currently he is in a substantially seperate classroom for children with behavioral issues and has an IEP under Emotionally Disturbed. I am wondering would it be better for him to get him classified under Autism? In my state he would be eligable for that because any Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) diagnosis fits. Would it matter which one as far as accomodations goes? What about placement in special schools, because it has been recomended by the psychiatrist at the hospital that he is at that he won't make it in a regular public school and would do better in a school for Autistic children. The problem with that is there are only a select few Autism schools in my state which are all over an hour drive. I would not want to put him through that drive each day. There is a school in the next town over for children with social emotional and behavioral problems that I believe he would be a good fit for. In this case should I just leave his IEP classification as Emotionally Disturbed?

 

[dadside]

As far as I understand it, the law doesn't care, so the schools shouldn't care. If a student has at least one of a list of conditions, then whatever services (non-medical) are needed to let them reach their potential ought to be provided. While there may be a set of common issues associated with certain conditions, so it may be easier for someone (say, a school administrator) to put them in the x-condition program, the law really does call for meeting specific needs.

However, if the school would find it easier to use a different classification label, I'd not argue so long as the appropriate services were provided. And, if you want a different label applied to make it easier to get appropriate services, that ought to be fine as well.

 

[klmno]

It isn't supposed to matter, however, my difficult child's sd claimed that only behavior type accommodations could be provided under the ed class, so I asked them to change the class to ohi, they countered with having to completely re-evaluation him in order to do that, so I said ok. They are in that process now and while they are saying they doubt he'll qualify for an iep, I'm preparing to aske for an IEE.

So, I would suggest checking with other parents and researching your local sd policies on line and your state doe regs online and see what is conveyed under those. But, it's my inexperienced layman's opinion from what I read here that more is available for difficult child's with autistism. It might even be in your best interest to go for the multiple disabilities class.

 

[Sheila]

I'd insist on both classifications. It gives the teachers much more insight into the students needs.

Though it shouldn't be, kids on the autism spectrum can usually get things that other IEP students have a hard time getting.

There is a reason for the classifications -- it has something to do with accounting between the state and feds. But dadside is correct -- for services, it doesn't matter what classification the child has.