Ok, I have NO idea where to go from here...

[Guest guest]

So I just heard from the Children’s Hospital here in

Newfoundland, and the wait time for the Aspergers assessment is a year I am

saddened by this, but also told by a psychologist that both works at the

hospital AND at a private office, that a formal diagnosis may or may not change

what the school can offer in the way of support/services for my son.

Of course, I’m completely lost. I have no idea what to ask

for in an IEP. I have no idea where things will go as it is, because as of

right now, the teacher was reading over ’s “special needs”

file from our school in another province, and then he was passing it onto the

guidance counselor, and then it was going onto the Speech Language specialist

in the school. This will be the IEP team (also the principal and myself). Going

into an eventual meeting, what sort of things should I be asking for???

To clarify, in Newfoundland, a school can provide as much as

possible to a child WITHOUT any type of “diagnosis” (Be it from a

hospital, psychologist, or just coding from a school psychologist, etc) up to

age 8. After that point, they MUST have some type of assessment for services.

This means that it will likely bump my son to the top of priority list for next

school year. Surely, no assessment of any kind will happen THIS school year. I

do believe they’ll be doing some type of speech assessment with him, and

I would love for that to include pragmatic speech, etc. As I think I mentioned,

an academic assessment almost 3yrs ago noted some issues with receptive

language, but the description the school psychologist provided for the test

made no sense to me in terms of how it related to LANGUAGE. It seemed to have

more to do with processing information in general, which as we all know, can be

a problem with Aspie’s.

Anyway, I’m feeling sort of lost and left out in the cold

to figure things out on my own while I sit around and wait for an assessment??

I did call the Autism Society here in the province, and the guy there said

there’s many things we could be implementing with our son even BEFORE an

official assessment comes along, but I am completely clueless of where to

start.

Any ideas of where to start? I’m trying to “calm

down” but feeling a little overwhelmed at this point Any sort of

direction would be GREATLY appreciated

Thanks ladies, this is an incredible group !!

=)

[Guest guest]

Hang in there. And trust your instincts. My son is almost 18 and was diagnosed 6 years ago and as he gets older and changes, some days I just don't know what to do myself.

Please stay in touch with this group, and look for other that are AS related. I've found great suggestions and also comfort from reading the posts from other families. Check out the archives in the groups to see what was posted in the past. You are not alone!

The more you know about AS and child development, the easier it will be to figure out what is best for your child. Read the books and check out the web sites related to Aspergers.

Look for local groups in your area because the people there can help you navigate the school system. I totally agree with the suggestion to find an advocate to go with you to any meetings with the school district. I wasted precious years trying to get an IEP in place by myself and as soon as I came to the meetings with an advocate, my son's problems were taken much more seriously. Your school district may be sincere in wanting to help, but I'm in California where the money is tight in the schools and parents usually have to ask for help again and again before they are taken seriously.

While you are waiting for a formal diagnosis, get a notebook and take notes on any quirky behavior or anything that you notice that seems to be different about your child. Note what problems your child is having with homework or comments that a teacher has made about your child's strengths and weaknesses. Note any calls, emails, or conversations with anyone that works with the school district. This paper trail will help you later on. It can help you work with your school district and again as your child gets older. My son is almost 18 and I'm currently trying to get services in place for him. During the interviews to see if he qualifies and it is really hard for me to remember at what age he did such & such or what his Kindergarten teacher said. I wish I had kept better notes when he was younger.