Re: was Dade vs Broward now PDD vs Autism

[Guest guest]

I just think that not all children who have neurological and/or psychiatric issues have autism, so I don’t necessarily think that at the end of the day its "all" autism. I have also seen children who have some aspects of autism but not enough to really have autism. then again, what is autism, how is the word defined and being used by us and others?? The word autism usually is used to classify people according to shared traits, and if one child doesn’t have some of those traits then that child may not fit in to the label of autism. It depends on what the word autism is used to mean. Whether or not my son has autism is not something Im not too concerned with - I know his issues, his symptoms, his strengths, and I also know that he hasn’t and doesn’t fit in with "classical" or typical autism. This is not to say he doesn’t have some autistic traits and behaviors. I think that’s why he got the PDD NOS label, because I think its used when there arent quite enough traits to be autism but enough to be related to autism. But my main concern is that he is in the right environment for him. Here he is in a supported behavior classroom. I imagine they must have something similar in Broward? We did varying exceptionalities here one year and it wasn’t a very good match for him, he didn’t have enough social opportunities in that classroom.

thanks for your ideas.

From: cheryl

Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 3:32 PM

To: sList

Subject: Re: was Dade vs Broward now PDD vs Autism

All of our children have varying exceptionalities whether they are diagnosed with autism or pdd-nos or aspergers but as has kindly pointed out at the end of the day it is still autism. Either way they need support in any environment. Perhaps a higher functioning varying exceptionality classroom is the way to go because it is very hard to get a unique aide in a regular classroom. Get a good advocate with you to the iep and get accommodations & modifications placed on his iep for different academic work/school settings etc.. It could be an OT for handwriting/computer support, assistive technology assessment needed, extra time for testing, etc. You may also want to try a social skills group outside of school & maybe some sort of sports. The structure does help.

Good luck.

From: "airbucketcomcast (DOT) net" <airbucketcomcast (DOT) net>To: sList Sent: Tue, February 2, 2010 4:25:11 PMSubject: Re: was Dade vs Broward now PDD vs Autism

yes I agree it is autism, I'm just saying that he has some features of autism but lack a lot of the more common features that would make him a good candidate for an autism classroom. He doesn’t have issues with social reciprocity, he is hyper aware of others and what they are doing and how they're reacting to him, etc., and he doesn’t like being alone/is very social. He has social quirks and lacks some social skills but not so much in the areas of reciprocity etc. He becomes very agitated when another child doesn’t respond in a typical way to his advances of friendship (I.e, he will say hi and ask if a kid wants to play or something) or to conversation. His big issues are more frustration, OCD, fixations, control problems, explosiveness, low tolerance, and emotional labilaty (don’t know if I spelled that correctly, I mean no emotional boundaries or control). Not meaning to pigeonhole or be a know it all, just speaking from my experience of autism.

From: Karp

Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 2:33 PM

To: sList@ yahoogroups. com

Subject: Re: was Dade vs Broward now PDD vs Autism

Hi Clara,

I think that a very large percentage of our kids have been diagnosed PDD-NOS. At the end of the day, it's still autism.

From: "airbucketcomcast (DOT) net" <airbucketcomcast (DOT) net>To: sList@ yahoogroups. comSent: Tue, February 2, 2010 1:53:32 PMSubject: Re: Dade vs Broward ESE

I wonder if that expertise in Broward would extend to more ED issues/mental health issues that are a little different from autism? Although my son is diagnosed PDD NOS, he doesn’t ever go into the "autism" classrooms because he doesn’t fit in there and has issues that are outside the realm of autism and also different social functioning than you see with typical autism. He has mostly been in the supported behavior classrooms with social supports you would see in the autism rooms.

From: Hilda S. Mitrani

Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:47 PM

To: sList@ yahoogroups. com

Subject: Re: Dade vs Broward ESE

I have kids in schools in both counties. Certain elementaries in Dade are okay but Broward has been helping children with autism for 25 plus years, starting with its revolutionary Baudhuin program. Miami-Dade started an autism task force a couple of years ago.DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS. Dade vs Broward ESE

As our family gets closer to moving to the east coast of FL (from the west coast of FL) I am trying to gather some opinions on anything better or worse between Miami Dade ESE and Broward ESE. I have not heard anything and perhaps no one living in Broward would have a reason to know, but I am still trying to get some opinion if anyone has knowledge of which district may have a slightly better ESE dept/classes? my son is more SED than autism. OR if anyone knows of another list serve or forum on which to find out more about the two counties compared. Thank you.

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