I have a couple of updates. First, my son was denied an IEP by the school in December. Long story but they mainly said he is doing well enough (reading and writing at one grade below his grade, which is good enough and average, according to the SE coordinator). He was enrolled in Response to Intervention at that time. He did not have a "good enough" diagnosis because the ADD diagnosis was unsure and his speech was understandable most of the time.
Secondly, yesterday I received the final results from the Neuropsychologist and he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. I wanted to
thank you for your comments about social functioning and how it relates to autism. After you posted the above comment, I started researching and autism seemed possible. It softened the blow when the Neuropsychologist first suggested the possibly a couple of months ago.
Now, of course, I want another IEP eval. Should I get an advocate this time? The SE coordinator was difficult and blew off every concern the teacher had and we had in the first meeting, saying repeatedly that he was in "normal" range and we don't want SE. I also don't want to make the group mad, as we are going to have to work as a team for a long time. I think with his new diagnosis and test results showing that his IQ is above average, we probably can get the IEP this time but I am so lost with these things.
Thanks!
There are three questions that need to be answered as YES to qualify a child for an IEP:
1. Does your child have a disability? What type?
2. Is your child not making effective progress in school due to the disability?
3. Does your child require specialized instruction to make effective progress or require related
services in order to access the general curriculum?
And these are the categories used to determine if a student has a disability that makes them eligible for special education (these are based on state and/or Federal laws and regulations):
Autism
Deafness
Deaf-Blindness
Developmental Delay
Emotional Disturbance
Established Medical Disability
Hard of Hearing
Mental Retardation/Intellectual Disability
Multiple Disabilities
Orthopedic Impairment
Other Health Impairment
Specific Learning Disability
Traumatic Brain Injury
Visual Impairment
Question #1:
1. Does your child have a disability? What type?
Yes: Austism And it's on the approved list, so no argument (They answered no in your first meeting)
Question #2
Is your child not making effective progress in school due to the disability?
This is where the school can argue with you, and did. You have to have documentation proving he is not making
effective progress. And obviously there will be an argument as to what
effective progress is. (As you've already seen- he's a grade level behind, they are calling that acceptable. )
Question #3
3. Does your child require specialized instruction to make effective progress or require related services in order to access the general curriculum?
Again the school can argue here. They will want to know exactly what specialized instruction can be given to allow the student to access the general curriculum. And they won't want to hear about "accommodations" as the teachers are supposed to do that for all students, and accommodations are not special education, and can be handled in a 504 plan.
So this is the information you'll need to present to the IEP team to deem him eligible for special education services. I would at least talk with an advocate to see if they could help you answer these questions.
It was at the end of 5th grade that we finally did neuro pscyh testing with my son. He tested onto the spectrum. I always knew he was different, but he was passing in school, and his teachers just naturally made accomodations for him, but there were red flags in school every year. Each year brought a different problem. We started asking for an IEP in 6th grade- denied, he was passing. (See question 2 for them passing = effective progress). We finally got the IEP written at the beginning of 8th grade, and that was after a miserable 7th grade year where he was passed by the skin of his teeth- mostly d's a couple of low c's. The difference was this time we had support from the behavior therapist and one of his teachers in particular who were able to answer those 3 questions in a way that made him eligible.
He now has a behavior plan and and his IEP is written specifically for organization and completion of work as he reads above grade level and does math at grade level, and his NECAP scores put him in the proficient range, so he didn't need "individualized education" in that regard. But they did put him in resource once a day, every day, where he finishes all the work he didn't do in class and they make sure to "chunk" out projects for him. They also keep track of his homework as this year he has decided he was not doing any school work at home.
Good Luck!! Get or talk to an advocate and be ready to answer those 3 questions!!