Re: Update. Was: Please keep my son in your thoughts...

[Guest guest]

My experience from Austin, TX...

Last year when Dylan was in the 6th grade (and before the Asperger's evaluation by the school), his IEP was attended by the Head of Special Education for his middle school b/c the Special Ed folder teacher was absent that day. She was very focused on standardized test scores and D's grades too. In fact she said, "Kids like Dylan don't belong in Special Education. It's not what the program was designed for. He's way too smart." I just sat there, stunned. (And by the way, she isn't the head of Special Education this year. I think she was fired. Woo-hoo!) I'm fully aware of the numerous phone calls, emails, and messages home I've received since he was in Kindergarten. The teachers/assistant principals/principals/counselors weren't messaging me to tell me how smart he was! They were doing it b/c he was struggling so much with his behavior

and social skills. He had no friends. He couldn't stay quiet...or my favorite "he refuses to be quiet and sit still." Hmmm.... do you think this is because he's an evil, spoiled child or do you think there's something going on that's not helping him be successful?

Thankfully that stuff stopped when he moved to a new elementary school in 3rd grade who chose to see the good parts of Dylan and amazingly, the nicer and more flexible the teachers and admin were, the better his behavior was in school! They also switched him to Special Education instead of the 504 designation. He still had problems, but his earlier elementary school decided the solution was always to send him to the principal's office. Then he would have to write sentences about "being bad" (1st grade). At the time, he was protected under a 504 accommodations for ADHD so even though Aspergers hadn't been introduced...that's the best they could do?

So because he passes all of his classes and gets commended on his TAKS test he doesn't need help in school? He only gets help if he fails? Did it matter he had zero friends and the reason he made good grades in 6th grade was because I busted my ass on a regular basis to be in contact with his teachers and find out what work was missing so we could work on it at home on the weekends? I arranged for him to stay after school whenever needed for special help with projects too. Just coordinating all of that was exhausting. But he did good in school academically so no help was needed. Really? He had no friends, not one, was being bullied at school, and was in the process of being evaluated for Aspergers. A kid with no problems (academically, socially, whatever) at school is not going to be evaluated for Aspergers at the recommendation of the Special Education department

from his elementary school in 5th grade. They made the recommendation at his last IEP eval.

K, I need to chill out. My whole point of writing this is it really depends on the school. Dylan had a great elementary school from 3rd-5th and although he's had some problems at middle school (he's 7th grade now) overall he's doing okay. Hey, he got 2 high Bs and all of the rest A's last 9-weeks so he must be "cured", right?

I need more coffee =)

p.s. For those curious, my son has never been "officially" diagnosed as having Aspergers by a medical professional. In his medical charts, it says he has ADHD. I've never attempted to get him a medical diagnosis (of Aspergers) b/c I've never seen a clear avenue to do that using our insurance. He was evaluated for both by the school district and he qualified for services each time (ADHD in Kindergarten; Aspergers in 6th grade.) Not to say he hasn't had outside evaluations through the years b/c he has, but he was a little younger and we heard "ADHD, Anxiety-NOS, Sensory Integration Dysfunction" from the different professionals. At some point, I gave up on an outside evaluation and just focused on getting him help for his behaviors (impulsiveness, trouble reading social cues, difficulty making friends, etc...)

"Over-optimism is waiting for you ship to come in when you haven't sent one out."

From: r_woman2 <me2ruth@...> Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 8:32:15 AMSubject: ( ) Update. Was: Please keep my son in your thoughts...

>> Today is D-Day. We have our 504 meeting where he will probably be> referred to the Autism Team and something has to happen with the 504> since nobody is following over half of it. The meeting went pretty well. They were NICE to me, listened to me and made some pretty significantchanges to his 504 that were needed, and the assistant principal/504coordinator came up with some good ideas too. And I learned a lotabout how they operate by sitting and listening to them discussthings. They still don't understand his communication issues really,but I think it is better to move forward with what we have and seewhat the Autism Team can do to help. They are all curious to see

whatthe Autism Team comes up with since they don't know what else to do.I WAS very disappointed to hear that the Autism Team consists ofmasters-level people such as OT, SLP, and school psychologists. Thismeans we will still have the problem that the people at the children'shospital that we use, neuropsychologists and psychiatrists withspecialties in Autism Spectrum, have a considerably higher level oftraining than the school staff, so they don't communicate with eachother very well. I'm going to have to figure out how to get this towork better.And I'm realizing that, although I have studied IDEA fairlythoroughly, I don't understand Texas' interpretation of it very well.It is very different from many other state's, as I see on thisdiscussion list and others. They are very fixated on grades and stateexam test scores as indicators of "success", and it is very hard toget them to take

functioning problems seriously. So, I see I havesome further networking, research, documenting, advocating to thinkthrough. They also aren't getting that a child with 130 verbal IQsitting in a grade-level class doing average is a problem. They thinkI just want him to get straight As; they don't understand this is anindicator or problems. So, again, ditto the above.Ruth

[Guest guest]

Your ds's scores should be compared to his scores, not to other peers, for the purpose of deciding if he is working to his ability. That is a common issue I see with kids who are doing ok in school or who have these quirky IQ's or high IQ's. They compare them to what is average and say, "No problem." But of course, if you compare the scores to his output (performance vs. ability level), which is what is supposed to be done, then you can see there is a problem. Any psych should have that concept already ingrained in their brain. If you are still discussing this, then someone is purposely thrwarting your attempts to get your ds help. There are a lot of articles on www.wrightslaw.com about test scores and how they should be used. A recent e-newsletter was sent out about schools and whether they "have" to evaluate kids suspected of having a disability. It can be helpful to read through things as sometimes basic minor points are missed and need to be restated in meetings and in follow ups.

The law is the law, until it gets changed to something else. Even for Texans. lol. So they can do "more" than the law says they have to do but they cannot do less than the law says they have to do. I know schools do what they want regardless but I am saying that they are allowed to do that because people do not point out the law, ask for things in writing and hold them accountable.

Also, remember that school staff will/should have a lot of experience in teaching kids with autism related issues vs. someone with a fancy degree in autism at the medical center. This is not to say one set of people will be better than the other - I mean to say that they are each going to bring in different sets of skills. I don't think it will be a problem with communication really unless any one person has an ego problem or something unrelated to degree levels. Most people should be happy to get ideas for working with kids that they specialize in. I would approach it with that "tone" and see how it goes. But don't assume the worst because they don't have bigger educational degrees. There is a lot to be said for practical experience, too.

RoxannaYou're UniqueJust like everyone else...

( ) Update. Was: Please keep my son in your thoughts...

>> Today is D-Day. We have our 504 meeting where he will probably be> referred to the Autism Team and something has to happen with the 504> since nobody is following over half of it. The meeting went pretty well. They were NICE to me, listened to me and made some pretty significantchanges to his 504 that were needed, and the assistant principal/504coordinator came up with some good ideas too. And I learned a lotabout how they operate by sitting and listening to them discussthings. They still don't understand his communication issues really,but I think it is better to move forward with what we have and seewhat the Autism Team can do to help. They are all curious to see whatthe Autism Team comes up with since they don't know what else to do.I WAS very disappointed to hear that the Autism Team consists ofmasters-level people such as OT, SLP, and school psychologists. Thismeans we will still have the problem that the people at the children'shospital that we use, neuropsychologists and psychiatrists withspecialties in Autism Spectrum, have a considerably higher level oftraining than the school staff, so they don't communicate with eachother very well. I'm going to have to figure out how to get this towork better.And I'm realizing that, although I have studied IDEA fairlythoroughly, I don't understand Texas' interpretation of it very well.It is very different from many other state's, as I see on thisdiscussion list and others. They are very fixated on grades and stateexam test scores as indicators of "success", and it is very hard toget them to take functioning problems seriously. So, I see I havesome further networking, research, documenting, advocating to thinkthrough. They also aren't getting that a child with 130 verbal IQsitting in a grade-level class doing average is a problem. They thinkI just want him to get straight As; they don't understand this is anindicator or problems. So, again, ditto the above.Ruth

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[Guest guest]

>

> Your ds's scores should be compared to his scores, not to other

peers, for the purpose of deciding if he is working to his ability.

Well, Roxanna, you know I know that. Our state ed agency is feeding

the schools something very different though. They feel very strongly

that they are constrained by the fact that he passes his classes and

state exams, often in exemplary manner. The idea of functioning

problems is very foreign to them. This is consistent in all 3 schools

with all administrators we have been in in this district. To give an

update... We (the 504 team) DID decide to refer him to a SPED eval to

include the autism supplement, given by the school district Autism

Team. Since the autism was " missed " in the last SPED eval and this

eval will be very different because of that they decided to treat this

as an initial eval instead of a re-eval. I don't understand the

technicalities behind this, but I am not complaining because this is a

good thing. It will give them the space to disregard the mistakes

made in the first eval without implicating the school district and

thus move on beyond said mistakes. Anyway, I have included in my

parent request of things to be considered the effect of High IQ on the

evaluation. I am requiring them to consider how high IQ affects eval

methodology, standards of measurement, placement, and the legal rights

of high IQ students with learning disabilities. I included some

specific articles by federal education people and the publishers of

the WISC-IV so they can't claim ignorance and try to have nothing to

discuss. My plan is to refuse to move forward with the evaluation

until these things have been discussed and resolved. So, they will

finally have to deal with this.

>

> Also, remember that school staff will/should have a lot of

experience in teaching kids with autism related issues vs. someone

with a fancy degree in autism at the medical center.

I honestly haven't found this to be my experience in my neck of the

woods. The people with the fancy degrees also have the most practical

experience. I know because I use their interventions in our home

program and they work. Because the public schools around here

typically don't address the needs of bright kids with learning

disabilities, including autistics, they know next to nothing. They

don't have ANY experience teaching kids like my son (or evaluating them).

Ruth

[Guest guest]

I meant in regards to the autism team. I thought you said they were bringing in the autism people. They would have specific knowledge of working with kids who have autism, yes?

RoxannaYou're UniqueJust like everyone else...

Re: ( ) Update. Was: Please keep my son in your thoughts...

> > Also, remember that school staff will/should have a lot ofexperience in teaching kids with autism related issues vs. someonewith a fancy degree in autism at the medical center. I honestly haven't found this to be my experience in my neck of thewoods. The people with the fancy degrees also have the most practicalexperience. I know because I use their interventions in our homeprogram and they work. Because the public schools around heretypically don't address the needs of bright kids with learningdisabilities, including autistics, they know next to nothing. Theydon't have ANY experience teaching kids like my son (or evaluating them).Ruth

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