Emotional Disturbance & Assistive Technology

[Guest guest]

At the last ARD, our school administrators refused to accept the

medical diagnosis of autism.....we're waiting for another evaluation

that will hopefully be 'acceptable'. Meanwhile, the school

administrators seem hellbent on classifying my child as having

an " emotional disturbance " . Anybody know why? Will this label take

them off the hook from teaching him?

If anyone has had success in getting assistive technology--please give

me advice on how to do the same!

Thank you!

[Guest guest]

From my experience, do not let them remove the autism label. If that

is what he has been diagnosed with then they have to accept it. I

don't know what school district you are in, but autistic children

require a lot more assistance than most school districts are willing

to give. When my son was younger, they made me change his diagnosis

to Other Health Impairment. They said it was to make him be TAKS

exempt. Then over the years, they stopped treating him as autistic

and treated him like a behavior child. When they tried to make him

participate in groups and took his desk away from him, I put my foot

down. I told them autistic children do not always work well with

others and they acted like they didn't know he was autistic. Now it

is a whole new ballgame. At your ARD, you need to request an

assistive technology evaluation. What kind of speech does your child

have?

My son was granted a computer to help with his speech. Sometimes they

try to do a picture board, but different children need different

things. Let me know how I can help you out.

>

> At the last ARD, our school administrators refused to accept the

> medical diagnosis of autism.....we're waiting for another

evaluation

> that will hopefully be 'acceptable'. Meanwhile, the school

> administrators seem hellbent on classifying my child as having

> an " emotional disturbance " . Anybody know why? Will this label

take

> them off the hook from teaching him?

>

> If anyone has had success in getting assistive technology--please

give

> me advice on how to do the same!

>

> Thank you!

>