MET meeting results

[Guest guest]

I thought I'd post what happened in our MET meeting yesterday, in case this

experience could possibly help anyone.

We had our 7 yo dd assessed by the school district for special education

services under the ASD label. She has been homeschooled for the last year and a

half, and will start at school tomorrow. We had a good discussion with the team

about her strengths and weaknesses, and our concerns. I knew from the reports

from the school psych. that she didn't think she met the requirements for the

language criteria for ASD, and the social worker didn't think she met the social

requirements. However, I thought that we might still have a chance, since it

was a Team decision, and both of the above mentioned they thought she needed a

social skills group etc. There was also an ASD consultant there, that works for

the schools. All staff noticed a lot of rigid thinking in our dd. But, when we

came to the ASD eligibility form, they didn't think she qualified because they

didn't think her issues would be " lifelong " . They had particular trouble with

that word. We objected, but it didn't help. The psychologist proceeded to

check no to every single criteria! All of the other staff agreed, but my

husband and I signed as we disagreed. I was surprised that despite all the

concerns raised and problems testers found, they didn't check " yes " to any of

the ASD criteria. They did say verbally that she may very well have Asperger's

however.

On the positive side: her new teacher was there and is aware of her needs/our

concerns. The ASD consultant will be meeting us at school tomorrow to observe

our dd and help the teacher with suggestions as needed. They scheduled our dd

to be the topic of a " Staffing " meeting to be held on March 2, to discuss how

the transition went and possibly to write a 504 plan. They said they would be

doing now what would be written in a 504 plan anyway. I was disappointed we

couldn't get that in writing yesterday. However, we are taking her to see a

developmental pediatrician next month, so we may get a new report that could

help in the March meeting.

Its frustrating, nothing comes easy with AS, so it seems.