Guest guest Posted June 1, 2001 Report Share Posted June 1, 2001 Thank you so much for all the information! Rena some ideas Some ideas came to mind to assist Rena and other overwhelmed newly dx...... Help with the school..... Find your parent advocacy agency...every state has them and they have advocates that can help you understand your rights under IDEA (that's the law that school's provide special ed services under) and can help you attend meetings. By the way, you can request a team meeting at any time to change something on his IEP. Is there an autism specialist in your area? In our area, schools have access to an " educational cooperative " where there are " specialists " in low incidence disabilities (autism, deaf, deaf blind, learning disability, etc.). This person observed my son at day care, at school, etc. and was able to help the school see the areas he needed help in (someone to add more input and make sure the school is doing their stuff) For community/home support--contact your local human services/social services at the county. There are programs for people with developmental disabilities (autism is one) that provide respite, training for parents and caregivers, home support for teaching independent living skills, home modifications, therapy/support for caregivers, etc. These programs are based on the premise that it is less expensive and better for families to have children who require a " facility " level of care to remain at home and provide the support and services there. These programs can help financially too with state " supplemental " medical insurance (Medical Assistance for children with disabilities--called TEFRA here, I'm not sure if its a state or federal term) Has anyone else had the experience of hesitancy to dx at an early age? I met another mom whose child has run into this too. My son was dx at four, and others are earlier too. I think it depends on the specialist---and not wanting to label. What specialists don't understand is that when you are living with it, you don't care what it's called as long as you can get some help. ___________________________________________________________________________ Visit http://www.visto.com/info, your free web-based communications center. Visto.com. Life on the Dot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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