We had our first IEP Meeting last week.
So there is good news and bad news.
The good news is that he *does* qualify for Special Education services based on his ADD. So, he gets 45 minutes per week of private instruction, modified assignments, and a behavior support plan. This is a good thing.
The bad news is that they are not accepting his diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. (Yes, you read that correctly - these are non-medical personal making a decision to disregard a MEDICAL diagnosis).
Why you ask?
Well, that depends on who you ask.
If you ask the school district, they will tell you that because the diagnosis was from a doctor at the Amen Clinic, they are circumspect because "everyone" who comes out of there ends up with a diagnosis of ADD and Asperger's.
Never mind that these are probably the bulk of the people who go to see them. I mean: Hello! If your child is normal, happy & healthy with no problems, you are probably not going to drop $3,500 to go get them evaluated, are you?
Never mind that MY portion of the district's evaluation showed Adam to have Aspie tendencies - their response? "We are concerned with how Adam behaves in an educational setting, and since his teacher's portions of the evaluation came back normal, that is what we are going by".
If you ask ME, they are doing this because children on the Autism Spectrum are eligble for a ton of services that no one else qualifies for and they are expensive. The school district is broke, and doesn't want to pay for any of that.
Oh, and they found him NOT to have dyslexia, despite the fact they are not qualified to diagnose it!!!
So I signed the IEP, and checked the box that says "I agree with the IEP, with the exception of ___________". In that blank I wrote: "Mother disagrees with portions of PsychoEd Assessment that says Adam is not Learning Disabled or does not have Asperger's & would like to pursue further assessment."
When I handed this to Adam's resource teacher, she refused to begin services for Adam until she checks with her boss to make sure we can go forward with the IEP now that I have written that.
I can certainly see her point (she does not want to get in trouble with her boss), but if you know anything about an IEP, I can say I agree ONLY with the services they offer, and agree that those should go forward, but that I disagree with everything else. That is my legal right as a parent.
We'll see what they say on Monday.
Also, I called the Department of Ed on Friday, and spoke with a lday for an hour. She is mailing me a complaint form. She told me that the school district has NO business refusing to accept a medical diagnosis because they are not medical doctors. I think this could potentially be a class action law suit, as I know at least one other Aspie parent that the SFUSD has done this too. It sounds to me like the district does this to lots of other parents.
The lady at the Department of Ed further advised me to make sure they write into the IEP notes "Parents submitted documentation of:" and then list all the diagnoses.
I have asked them to do this, and dropped the list off today.
They are very tricky, the school district - they kept telling me "the services cannot being until you sign off on the IEP". They are trying to get me sign off on & agree with the measly 45 minutes per week, so I can't come back & ask them for more, which is exactly what I am going to do.
Some of the parents here suggested I get Adam re-evaluated at a hospital, that way the school district can't come back and say that "everyone" who goes there comes out with that diagnosis. We have an appointment on December 3rd - this was the soonest I could get.
In the meantime, I have a son who has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, who is getting NOTHING in the way of support for it.
I got a call from Adam's RSP teacher after school today, saying she had gotten a hold of Dr. Mills (the Assessment Admin) this afternoon and that she would either try me later this afternoon or hook up with me tomorrow morning.
This can't be good, right?
I mean, if Dr. Mills okayed the services, wouldn't she have just said that?
So now I get to worry overnight. Great.
I KNOW that they are supposed to go ahead and start the services as soon as they have my signature, no matter what else I want amended (section 300.300 (b)(3), and that is all well and good to say that, but in the meantime, Adam just gets further & further behind.
So, if they say no go tomorrow morning, what should I do?
So there is good news and bad news.
The good news is that he *does* qualify for Special Education services based on his ADD. So, he gets 45 minutes per week of private instruction, modified assignments, and a behavior support plan. This is a good thing.
The bad news is that they are not accepting his diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. (Yes, you read that correctly - these are non-medical personal making a decision to disregard a MEDICAL diagnosis).
Why you ask?
Well, that depends on who you ask.
If you ask the school district, they will tell you that because the diagnosis was from a doctor at the Amen Clinic, they are circumspect because "everyone" who comes out of there ends up with a diagnosis of ADD and Asperger's.
Never mind that these are probably the bulk of the people who go to see them. I mean: Hello! If your child is normal, happy & healthy with no problems, you are probably not going to drop $3,500 to go get them evaluated, are you?
Never mind that MY portion of the district's evaluation showed Adam to have Aspie tendencies - their response? "We are concerned with how Adam behaves in an educational setting, and since his teacher's portions of the evaluation came back normal, that is what we are going by".
If you ask ME, they are doing this because children on the Autism Spectrum are eligble for a ton of services that no one else qualifies for and they are expensive. The school district is broke, and doesn't want to pay for any of that.
Oh, and they found him NOT to have dyslexia, despite the fact they are not qualified to diagnose it!!!
So I signed the IEP, and checked the box that says "I agree with the IEP, with the exception of ___________". In that blank I wrote: "Mother disagrees with portions of PsychoEd Assessment that says Adam is not Learning Disabled or does not have Asperger's & would like to pursue further assessment."
When I handed this to Adam's resource teacher, she refused to begin services for Adam until she checks with her boss to make sure we can go forward with the IEP now that I have written that.
I can certainly see her point (she does not want to get in trouble with her boss), but if you know anything about an IEP, I can say I agree ONLY with the services they offer, and agree that those should go forward, but that I disagree with everything else. That is my legal right as a parent.
We'll see what they say on Monday.
Also, I called the Department of Ed on Friday, and spoke with a lday for an hour. She is mailing me a complaint form. She told me that the school district has NO business refusing to accept a medical diagnosis because they are not medical doctors. I think this could potentially be a class action law suit, as I know at least one other Aspie parent that the SFUSD has done this too. It sounds to me like the district does this to lots of other parents.
The lady at the Department of Ed further advised me to make sure they write into the IEP notes "Parents submitted documentation of:" and then list all the diagnoses.
I have asked them to do this, and dropped the list off today.
They are very tricky, the school district - they kept telling me "the services cannot being until you sign off on the IEP". They are trying to get me sign off on & agree with the measly 45 minutes per week, so I can't come back & ask them for more, which is exactly what I am going to do.
Some of the parents here suggested I get Adam re-evaluated at a hospital, that way the school district can't come back and say that "everyone" who goes there comes out with that diagnosis. We have an appointment on December 3rd - this was the soonest I could get.
In the meantime, I have a son who has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, who is getting NOTHING in the way of support for it.
I got a call from Adam's RSP teacher after school today, saying she had gotten a hold of Dr. Mills (the Assessment Admin) this afternoon and that she would either try me later this afternoon or hook up with me tomorrow morning.
This can't be good, right?
I mean, if Dr. Mills okayed the services, wouldn't she have just said that?
So now I get to worry overnight. Great.
I KNOW that they are supposed to go ahead and start the services as soon as they have my signature, no matter what else I want amended (section 300.300 (b)(3), and that is all well and good to say that, but in the meantime, Adam just gets further & further behind.
So, if they say no go tomorrow morning, what should I do?