Working with Schools to Develop an IEP
Question
We are already making preparations for the upcoming school year. Can you give me information on working with the school IEP for my Aspergers son?
Answer
When you have a child with Aspergers (high-functioning autism), IEP negotiations are extremely important. As the parent, you hold a vital position on the IEP team and unfortunately, many moms and dads often feel undermined and in some cases, bullied into accepting the opinions and terms decided by the educational staff. Your input is not only important, but also necessary in the development of a well-rounded IEP for your youngster.
In the days and weeks before your IEP meeting, there are several things you can do to make the experience more pleasant and the outcome more positive. This IEP is imperative to your son’s future.
Here is a list of suggestions for IEP preparation:
- Know your son’s strengths and weaknesses so there are no big surprises during the IEP meeting. If you know your son’s abilities and weaknesses, you will be better prepared to request additional services when needed and not offered.
- Make notes, ask questions, and request clarification before and during the IEP meeting. When goals are set, be sure you understand the wording and that your thoughts are taken into consideration.
- Represent yourself as an equal member of the IEP team. Dress respectably, speak intelligently, and do not feel inferior. Yes, the other members are education professionals, but you are an expert in your son.
- Request access to all updated evaluation reports before the IEP meeting in order to prepare for the meeting. You should not have to settle on glancing over the reports or hearing the results second-hand during the meeting.
- Request time to review the IEP before signing. There is no reason to rush through this process. Take the IEP home, read over it, and make changes if necessary. Do not sign until you are sure your son has the best IEP possible.
- Schedule private evaluations, if you desire. Medical evaluations, including medically referred psychological testing, will present a complete diagnostic picture. Educational evaluations are primarily geared towards diagnostics that affect only the specifics of the education process. These two diagnoses can be different. Without a medical evaluation and official medical diagnosis, your son may miss vital services.
When you have a youngster with Aspergers, the IEP should be treated as the important document and process that it is. The IEP is the backbone to his educational assistance. If you have any questions about appropriate goals or specific questions about the IEP process, there are many great resources available online.
The Aspergers Comprehensive Handbook
Comments
He is very, very smart and articulate and funny. We have been in the psychiatric loop since he was 2 and have gone through a roller coaster of medications and diagnoses. He was diagnosed with Asperger's at 8 and since then I have read everything I can find on the subject. I fought with his school for a year and a half for an IEP plan and we are very happy that one is now in place.
The problem I face is that there are no agencies where I live that deal with Asperger's. And from what I can understand from DDS the medicaid and SSI that he has been on for severe ADHD does not cover any treatment for autistic spectrum disorders. Tell me how that makes sense? There is nothing in my area for my son. He can't go to daycare durring the summer because they are not equipt to handle him, he cannot participate in any extra curricular activities because of his melt downs, and even worse, I cannot find any resources for social skills training, or manners training, or parenting classes for me. And what really pisses me off is that all this stuff is recomended to me and then I can't find or when I do find it it's 300 miles away. The therapy that he goes to every week seems to serve no purpose. I cannot find theraputic babysitters equipt to handle my son because he is not "developmentally disabled."
I am having a very hard time accessing resources for my son.
It seems that everything is a fight.
Sorry to vent, but it is very frustrating and if you have any information that may help, I'm all ears. Maybe you have more connections in this field than I do. I live in Russellville, AR.
Thank you,
Robin
1. placement in a classroom with an in class support teacher.
2. to address attentional issues
small classroom setting
fewer problems
worked assigned in small segments and provide feedback
on next steps after that.
Do not provide more than one instruction at a time.
3. To address disorganization
Reduce the number of motor skill tasks he needs to do.
provide an extra set of books
provide online notes and assignment so there is always one
place to get information.
4. Issues with planning large projects
Student should be given work in small segments
Student and teacher review at each step progress.
However, her grades plummeted when she was half-way through 7th grade. Now she is in 8th grade and her school does not have resources to support an aspergers child. Is there anyone out there from Birmingham area that can tell me where to go to get a social worker or advocate so we can help my daughter?
The school district where we live does not currently have any official plan for students with autism. A group of parents is going to be presenting some models to the school board for good autism plans from other school districts around the country to give them a starting point from which to try to develop an effective program to deal with the huge increase in the numbers of kids on the spectrum in our town (all across the spectrum - not just high functioning). I am wondering if anyone here knows of good programs or autism plans that school districts use? I have heard of the NEST program in NY, but I imagine there are many others as well. Any suggestions would be really helpful!
There was also an incident, which I brought up at our recent meeting, where my son was actually bullied by a substitute teacher. This teacher grabbed a pencil out of my son's hand, snapped it in half, and threw it against the board...all with absolutely no warning asking him to put his pencil down. I know my son can exaggerate and his perceptions are a little off at times, but I just figured I would let them know about it at the meeting since it was coming up soon and I didn't want anything taken out on my son, not to mention I did not want to give them time to think of an excuse. Then my son found out this same sub would be subbing for a teacher he has 3 times in one day, and he refused to attend school that day. I chose the lesser of 2 evils and kept him home, since his anxiety is very bad when he is home alone while we are at work. He called me and I stayed on the phone with him for 20 minutes so he would go into his room and get dressed, make his bed, and get some things done. When I brought this up at our recent meeting they were all very surprised, saying this teacher would never do that, blah blah blah. I said something must have happened for him to refuse to go to school, he was visibly upset. So they called the sub in, who initially did not want to enter the room but instead sent a "message" that he had heard about an incident with a pencil but it was not him, it "may have been a sub prior to him", though he could not think of their name. We insisted he appear, and he said he would never do anything like that, maybe my son confused him with this other "mysterious" sub. So we called my son in, who confirmed it was indeed this sub. When questioned by the Sped director, my son said he "threw the pencil". I asked him if he grabbed it out of his hand and broke the pencil in half like he had originally stated and he said yes. I think he was a little intimidated to actually say that in front of the entire team and this sub who he is scared of. Then the subs story changed, he said that he "may have taken the pencil out of his hand and placed it on the desk next to him". Hmmm.....something did not add up there. They "cleared the air" according to the team so that he would not be scared in the future and they talked about safe places, safe people, etc. It is very obvious this was a cover up, I believe my son 100% in this case. I consider this bullying on the part of the sub, but it is very difficult to accuse with no proof, and my son's perceptions have been known to be a little off. If nothing else, he now knows not to mess with my son.
I think this year is not going to be a good one at all. I do have an advocate, and she has been reinforcing our thoughts at the meetings, but she is going to have to step up here. I cannot do this on my own. Thank you for all of your advice!
Matthew is neuro-typical...well mostly. He has ADHD and has some sensory issues but for the most part he is fine. Nicole has always been a challenging child. From infancy, I knew that something was different. She was always hypersensitive and 'abundant'. In first grade she was diagnosed with ADHD. She was placed on medication. The first day, she came home very excited. She said "Mommy! I didn't go on Step today!" Step is like a time out. She was very proud of herself. I was sold and we continued the medication. She was also tested by the school district in first grade and was found to be 'highly gifted'. She tested in the 99%tile and was placed into a self contained, center-based program for highly gifted children. The nice thing was that most of those kids were just like her and the teachers understood her. For once she 'fit in'. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last long. In fifth grade she couldn't take the stress of school, especially a gifted program. We had to move her back to a regular classroom. That helped some but it also created more problems. The other kids just don't understand her and she didn't fit in again. It was hard. Junior High was good for her. In some ways it helped her and some ways not so much. High School has been good so far.
She has seen several different psychiatrist. Along the way they have diagnosed her has ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, Tourette's, Sensory processing disorder, depression and anxiety. While she does have the symptoms of these conditions, none of them really explained everything. I have brought up the possibility of HFA multiple times but none of them would even consider it. I had heard about the Melmed Center so one day I just decided to stop in and make an appointment. So we are now on our 3rd psychiatrist (well actually she is a nurse practitioner) and finally have a diagnosis that fits.
On our first visit the nurse practitioner asked me if I thought it was possible that she was ASD. I said YES!!!!! I wanted to scream! We spent 2 hours there. An hour into the appointment, the real Nicole showed up in all her glory. She decided that she didn't want to be there anymore so she completely shut down. She would not make any eye contact (even less than usual), would not speak, would not even acknowledge the provider. It was good that someone finally saw it. Nicole could usually hang on for an average Dr visit but this was just too long. I'm sad to say that I was ecstatic when she started to meltdown. I feel guilty but it seems like no one ever believed me so it was good to finally have proof.
So they have diagnosed her as Aspergers, ADHD, sensory processing disorder and OCD secondary to ASD. They are taking her off the lithium (THANK YOU, JESUS!!!). She is on 3 other medication to treat the side effects of the lithium. So, we are hoping to get her off those meds to. That will bring us down to Abilify and Vyvanse. The Vyvanse isn't working (she failed their ADHD test miserably) so that will be the next to go. They are going to put her on Intuniv.
We had her tested for food allergies about 3-4 years ago. I didn't was to do the gluten free/casein free diet without some proof. She tested positive for wheat, egg, peanut, rye, buckwheat, pecan and cherries. Once we removed that, her symptoms have been better. She has made a lot of progress in the past year. I hope it continues.
Our current goal is to get her on an IEP. She is only on a 504 and is in the 'falls far below' category in math. I'm worried about her graduating.
It does not matter that your son attends a private school. Under a section of IDEA called Child Find, the local public schools are obligated to locate and serve all children in their district with a disability. The Wrightslaw website and books are excellent for learning your child's legal rights. By the way, it is important to understand that it is not enough for the district to find that your son has a disability - they also have to determine that it is affecting his education.
Good luck, and keep posting your questions here - lots of parents have been through it all with their school districts and can point you in the right direction.
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Kicking him out of school early no matter how it's phrased is kicking him out. Not OK, against the law and should never be allowed.
Stand tall, put on your big girl panties, find your backbone and fight Denise! I know you can! Yes the pre-stress and anxiety must be extreme right now but you can do it! Beckie and I know you can. We'll be rooting for you!
way she treats the students. We live in a rural area, therefore, a small
school with only one teacher per grade (there are only 15 in students in
his class). At a recent meeting (to work on a Ziggurat), she expressed
wanting to build a relationship with our son who is SCARED of her, the sped
teacher pointed this out to her. Her response: gloatingly "they are all
scared of me." Prior to this school year he was started on anxiety meds,
but according to the teacher and principal his anxiety is excessive. We
feel it's due to her and don't want to increase the meds due to her bad
example. How do we work with a teacher like this? FYI...the principal seems
to be in her pocket.
Nonetheless, his attitude and behavior towards us is in decline since he
repeats her negative comments to us. For example, you already said that
once you don't have to say it twice or three times, I have 2 ears to hear
you don't need my eyes, too, etc. We are not sure how to handle this along
with his increased impulsivity...