Sweetum
05-11-2012, 01:08 AM
I am not 100% sure this is appropriate to ask but I will ask anyway.
If not appropriate, please accept my apologies in advance.
We have a meeting with the school district tomorrow to discuss the Autitsm diagnosis that DS got. At this point, the school district has not provided an IEP snce their assessment has scored DS above the state levels for requirement for services. The diagnosis we got is from a local reputed children's hospital and the assessment and diagnosis occured after the school district said that they are unable to provide services.
(While the school district said so, they have provided what is called diagnostic services for a period of about 3 months so, DS goes to their speech classroom for 3 days a week for observation)
With the daignosis, we are looking for the following:
- services for ABA, speech, social groups and OT (based on our experience/research and the recommendation in the report from the hospital) a total of a min of 25 hours in line with the recommendation (which I think is the general recommendation too)
- we want these services to begin immediately
- we want these services to be extended through summer (also recommeded by the hospital)
So, at tomorrow's meeting we will express these and are thinking that the following are the possible outcomes:
#1 SD agrees that DS requires an IEP based on the new information and they schedule an IEP immediately
#2 They would want an independent evaluation (they pay) to be done (not sure if this is realistic)
#3 They disagree that their assessment missed it and while not disagreeing with the diagnosis, they don't think he needs support for education (which is what their role is)
scenario #1:
this is the best case scenario from the above 3. The only catch is that they may set the IEP meeting for a date just before school year ends and may end up not providing support through summer. The hospital report, however, recommends support through summer.
scenario #2:
I don't think, thinking again, this is a possibility. however, #3 might result in us asking for an independent eval.
scenario #3:
somehow, I feel this is most likely scenario :( it seems like the only productive thing that can be done now is to say that we want an independent assessment. here again, we are afraid that they will take too long for it and we won't get done before summer starts and things will get carried over to next year which means that we lose a lot of time (we already have). DH and I are thinking that although we signed the non-IEP, we will still point out elements in their assessment that point to autism (likely also in the hospital's report) and argue how they can hamper a child's progress in a school setting. they may bring up scores at that point, to which I am not sure what to say.
Anyways, I have tried to summarize this. It's complex and long and I understand if I don't have any responses, but I feel I have at least jotted down my thoughts....
thanks for reading.
If not appropriate, please accept my apologies in advance.
We have a meeting with the school district tomorrow to discuss the Autitsm diagnosis that DS got. At this point, the school district has not provided an IEP snce their assessment has scored DS above the state levels for requirement for services. The diagnosis we got is from a local reputed children's hospital and the assessment and diagnosis occured after the school district said that they are unable to provide services.
(While the school district said so, they have provided what is called diagnostic services for a period of about 3 months so, DS goes to their speech classroom for 3 days a week for observation)
With the daignosis, we are looking for the following:
- services for ABA, speech, social groups and OT (based on our experience/research and the recommendation in the report from the hospital) a total of a min of 25 hours in line with the recommendation (which I think is the general recommendation too)
- we want these services to begin immediately
- we want these services to be extended through summer (also recommeded by the hospital)
So, at tomorrow's meeting we will express these and are thinking that the following are the possible outcomes:
#1 SD agrees that DS requires an IEP based on the new information and they schedule an IEP immediately
#2 They would want an independent evaluation (they pay) to be done (not sure if this is realistic)
#3 They disagree that their assessment missed it and while not disagreeing with the diagnosis, they don't think he needs support for education (which is what their role is)
scenario #1:
this is the best case scenario from the above 3. The only catch is that they may set the IEP meeting for a date just before school year ends and may end up not providing support through summer. The hospital report, however, recommends support through summer.
scenario #2:
I don't think, thinking again, this is a possibility. however, #3 might result in us asking for an independent eval.
scenario #3:
somehow, I feel this is most likely scenario :( it seems like the only productive thing that can be done now is to say that we want an independent assessment. here again, we are afraid that they will take too long for it and we won't get done before summer starts and things will get carried over to next year which means that we lose a lot of time (we already have). DH and I are thinking that although we signed the non-IEP, we will still point out elements in their assessment that point to autism (likely also in the hospital's report) and argue how they can hamper a child's progress in a school setting. they may bring up scores at that point, to which I am not sure what to say.
Anyways, I have tried to summarize this. It's complex and long and I understand if I don't have any responses, but I feel I have at least jotted down my thoughts....
thanks for reading.