Re: Just disgnosed

[Guest guest]

>

>

> Hello Everyone,

> My 5 year old son was just diagnosed with Asperger's and we are still reeling

from the news. Anyway, I am just wondering if anyone has had their young child

in any " intervention " or " inclusion " programs at publis schools and whether they

helped? We are getting ready to ask for our eligibility meeting and we don't

even really know what to ask for (as far as the IEP goes). Of course we are

still waiting for the formal eval from the neuropsychologist. I mean, can we

ask for social skills workshops during class hours? Role playing? I have a

hard time believing that a teacher with 20-25 kids is going to be able to

construct a program that requires almost " everyone " to assist in building the

necessary skills that my son needs. As you can tell, I am feeling a little

overwhelmed and the books are only fueling my feelings of powerlessness.

>

> Thanks for any feedback,

>

> Rae Buchanan

>

My stepson is going into the 4th grad this fall and is currently erolled in an

IEP for this upcoming school year. It will include group therapy sessions with

a counselor from his school, also speech therapy. The speech therapy isn't to

help with speaking, since he is a very clear speaker, it's to help him recognize

pitch and actual meanings of things people say. For instance, when I look at my

husband and say " Shutup, " like I don't believe what he just told me gets

very upset and thinks I am being mean and literally telling him to shutup! We

then have to explain to him that what I meant was like oh my gosh I don't

believe what you just told me, not literally Shut up. He will be in his

classroom for 85% of the time and involved in his IEP for 15% of the time. When

he was in 1st grade 's mother completed all the necessary work and forms in

order for to receive his IEP but since he scored too high on his IQ test

they refused to give him his 504 accomodations. Which is wrong. Hopefully we

will see lots of improvement this upcoming year. There is a good Child Study

Program that my son attends his weeks therapy at. It's at our local Children's

Hospital. I don't know if you have anything in your area like that or not. His

therapist got us on the waiting list and also the testing and the clinic works

with his school so they are working together and not being counterproductive.

[Guest guest]

>

> can we ask for social skills workshops during class hours? Role playing? I

have a hard time believing that a teacher with 20-25 kids is going to be able to

construct a program that requires almost " everyone " to assist in building the

necessary skills that my son needs.

Yes, you can ask for social skills during school hours. As you might imagine,

what schools do varies widely. A typical scenario might be individual or group

social skills or pragmatic language 1 or 2 times a week. The person teaching

varies. Some schools use speech therapists, some use counselors, some use

special ed teachers, some use a combination. The student is usually supposed to

practice what they are working on throughout the day in all his classes. What he

works on will probably be individualized for him considering what his needs are.

He could be assigned an aide, if he needs help focusing or extra direction. The

aide could be just for him or could be shared. It won't be his teacher

constructing the program, it will be a team of people, including yourselves.

You're getting ahead of yourself though. The need must be established first.

Having Asperger is not a need. You must think beyond the diagnosis. Be

prepared to answer as to why he needs social skills training. That won't be

hard--just talk about his symptoms and how they cause him trouble; just don't

get caught off guard.

Remember you can always call another meeting to adjust the IEP. It is an ongoing

thing. So, don't sweat it and think it has to be perfect. The big thing might

be to get started on a good footing with the school district. If they won't let

you see the IEP beforehand, you might want to automatically call a second

meeting to continue this upcoming meeting. Make sure you sleep on things and

don't get railroaded into anything.

You'll probably want to call another meeting when the neuropsych report comes

in. Most kids with Asperger don't just have social skills problems. They may

have slow processing speed, weak working memory, executive dysfunction,

coordination disorders, attention problems, sensory problems, other processing

problems, etc. It is all part of a larger neurological picture.

Ruth

[Guest guest]

If necessary, he can be taken out of the regular classroom to receive therapies, help, whatever is needed. Or an aide could help him in the classroom.

Roxanna

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." E. Burke

( ) Just disgnosed

Hello Everyone,

My 5 year old son was just diagnosed with Asperger's and we are still reeling from the news. Anyway, I am just wondering if anyone has had their young child in any"intervention" or "inclusion" programs at publis schools and whether they helped? We are getting ready to ask for our eligibility meeting and we don't even really know what to ask for (as far as the IEP goes). Of course we are still waiting for the formal eval from the neuropsychologist. I mean, can we ask for social skills workshops during class hours? Role playing? I have a hard time believing that a teacher with 20-25 kids is going to be able to construct a program that requires almost "everyone" to assist in building the necessary skills that my son needs. As you can tell, I am feeling a little overwhelmed and the books are only fueling my feelings of powerlessness.

Thanks for any feedback,

Rae Buchanan

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