Re: advocating the iep

March 11, 2011

Hi,

I wish I had answers for you. But I was JUST told after years of therapy and

such that my child has some signs of AS. It took me requesting an IEP after 5

years of problems in school and then they tell me the same thing. My son Corey

has an IQ of 218, so they say he doesn't meet the needs of a special education

student. Corey can't have a normal friendship, relationship, can't go into the

lunchroom and eat. Heck he hasn't had lunch at school for over 2 years because

he gets extremely anxious and scared. they believe he is just a problem child.

the teachers love him, he gets along with the adults, st most times, but refuses

to do homework because he feels he shouldn't have to because he is above average

intelligence. Does your school have an advocate that can help you? I was told

that once you have an IEP that you have the upperhand. Again i'm new to this so

I am only going by what Corey's counselor has told me. Good Luck though and keep

us informed. Trish

>

> My son is up for his iep. I am frantically researching how to keep him in

services and not move over to the 504. He is above average academically. Now,

how many parents of aspies have said that. I have from teachers, at the school,

that due to his academic proficiency he does not need services. He holds it

together like a rock star at school. Most days, when he gets home, he can't

even due a one page homework hand-out. How can they say that doesn't affect his

school-work. His games skill, at school, are right on. At home, there are many

times, if I walk out of the room, he may jump over the play table and grab his

sister's neck when not going his way. He goes for a week without handing in the

homework in his backpack, due to the commotion at the lockers when arriving at

school. Any advice on how to keep him in the system (legally, and medically)?

It is not like autism just goes away. Please help.

>

March 12, 2011

I am in the same situation, my son is in 2nd grade, does well in school and

poses no behavioral problems in the classroom (other than calling out

impulsively), most adults think he is adorable and interesting, and the kids? -

he's had a rough time because he tells the boys that he likes the girls better -

so they give him a hard time. He is diagnosed just recently with AS and ADHD -

but the school says his social problems are not their concern since academically

he is doing above average. I KNOW when he gets into the higher grades he will

not be able to cope with the schedules and responsibilities that come with it.

Handing in homework? I can totally imagine that he will not do that. He won't

even bring the right books home, I am sure. My dev. pediatrician says I need

to get an advocate and a lawyer because the mental health issues that will arise

without social intervention (she wants me to get him an aide during

lunch/recess)and executive functioning will be horrible. I am waiting for the

formal reports and then I will begin the fight with the school. Ugh.

March 12, 2011

I'm not sure what state the two of you are in but.. I am in michigan. What you

have to do is get hold of a copy of the " Autism Spectrum Disorder Eligibility

guidelines " or whichever catagory of impairment the school had previously had

your child placed for special ed services.

In Michigan there is a line very close to the very first section that states:

Acedemic-The students ability to progress in the general education curruiculum

must be considered. One aspect of adverse affect may be reflected in the

students' grades, but that is NOT the only factor which must be considered.

Determination of adverse affect can be based on social/adaptive functioning.

it then goes on to explain that social/behavioral affects a students social,

behavioral, and emotional response.

anyway i guess my point here is that according to LAW (and your state may word

it different i do not know) a-acedemic b-behavioral and c-social are all suppose

to be included when they make a discision to discontinue or to refuse assistance

within the school.

Make sure all contact you have with the school finds it's way to actual letters

either requests, reiterating what was gone over ect. so that you have a paper

trail to follow later if legal action is needed. Also contact an advocate group

in your area (I used CAUSE). Their determination to stop services is based upon

the findings of the professionals who evaluated him/her (a full evaluation is

done every 3 years to make sure the child does or doesn't still need services)

Get hold of copies of their reports and if you dont agree with them or feel they

are not based on fact you can find yourself an independant evaluator to go into

the school and observe/ make their determination and you can use their report

along with the ones from the school at the IEP.

another thing to consider is that everyone sitting in the room while you have

your IEP is part of the IEP team sooo.... consider how easy it is for the school

to lord over you and take any discisions away because naturally they are already

stacked against you. (they have the majority of the voice)

I used to discribe williams IEP's as a feeling like i was sitting in front of

the firing squad... I would feel intimidated from the moment I walked in also

unheard. I would get upset and have a difficult time articulating my thoughts

and ideas (they count on this)

What worked for us and it was a huge battle.. was to bring his pediatrician/

psycologist/ hospital speech therapists/ grandmother/ aunt/ ect we brought them

all to the IEP with us (in this way evening the table also giving strength to

our argument). We had his cause representative at the meeting via teleconference

(he helped keep the school within legal bounds and would clarify the law when

they'd step over it). the nite before the IEP I visited the school to make sure

the conference room had both capability of using teleconference and an available

speakerphone (their phone did not work) so I went and bought one.. I also

brought with me a tape recorder (this cut down on the amt of intimidation we

usually recieved. I spoke directly to his teachers about how they viewed his

progress, behaviors, social interaction and took notes. I also took the time to

type up everything I wanted to say, points i wanted to make ect so that if they

did intimidate and upset me i would not loose my place or loose my words (i

could just read it off the paper) lol.

In our case our son had multiple behavior problems, acedemically he struggled

and he had no social skills (all these seen within the school system) struggles

at home i'm afraid have to be adressed at home.

Keep in mind a medical diagnosis has very little to do with placement at school,

it only forms to help sorta guide which catagory he might be placed in. If

services are started or will continue You have to show that his behavior, social

or acedemics suffer WHILE at school. If your child has for instance a

receptive/expressive language issue you could use this as your argument because

not understanding or not being understood would affect all aspects of education

because language is the basis for learning.

I hope this helped and good luck!!

Tami Skinner

tjskinner1@...

> >

> > My son is up for his iep. I am frantically researching how to keep him in