California family - Received permission to share with Texans

[Guest guest]

California is just a wee bit more progressive than Texas, I added CAPS

to show difference :>)

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Yes my son has an IEP - but it took a long, long time. I wasted

several years trying to work nicely with the school district and

then running into dead ends. I realized that I was making the same

phone calls and writing the same letters over & over and nothing was

happening. And in the meantime, my son was having more problems in

school and socially. My son reached a point where he was afraid to

go to school anymore and he refused to leave his room when the

tutors from the school came to the house. It's a long story, but his

doctors backed me up and told me that it would do him psychological

harm for him to return to the public school.

Things really changed for the better when I hired an advocate and

later hired a lawyer. Suddenly my phone calls to the school district

were returned and the meetings with the school district were much

more professional. I kept a good paper trail and the lawyers for the

school district QUICKLY OFFERED TO PAY FOR MY SON'S TUITION AT A

PRIVATE SCHOOL I found that specializes in kids with AS or similar

learning disabilities.

The classes are small (6 to 8), the setting is peaceful (they rent

part of a church with a lovely stream and waterfall on the

property). And my son is finally happy to go to school. He's being

challenged intellectually and the social outings sometimes push his

limits, but that's good. I found the school on my own and had to pay

for the first semester out of pocket, BUT NOW THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IS

PICKING UP THE REST OF THE TAB, which I could never afford on my

own. His new school has changed his life & has made our family life

more peaceful, too.

I will contact the Cal. Dept. of Rehab. It's on my list. I am trying

to work with our local Regional Center. I had an interview yesterday

that went badly. I know for a fact that they have taken students at

my son's school as clients and are offering social skills classes to

them, but when I talked to a counselor yesterday, I was told that

they only offer services to the mentally retarded. The gatekeeper

said that she doesn't provide services to kids with AS since the IQ

is high enough that they should be able to figure things out on

their own....(I used to hear this from the school district, too.)

Anyway I'm trying to regroup and figure out what to do after meeting

with the Regional Center yesterday. Oh well, one step forward, two

steps back.

I thank you all for your warm welcome & am looking forward to

working with you all on figuring this all out.