I can't tell if there are many others with my problem here in this district. I do know of one parent I correspond with. She has a long history with this school district. Her DS, now in HS, is ASD and only this year got an IEP because he is failing half his classes (I think he is quite bright but is having emotional difficulties). I do the math: CDC says 1 in 9 kids on spectrum? So let's say here it's only a quarter of that (why? just to be generous with CDC statistics). That still means that there will be at least 2-3 children per grade in our school. The principal states she's "very familiar with Asperger's" and yes, she's the same one who told me it cannot be dx at dd's age. There is an "autism team" which I've heard good things about except that the Autism Leader stated dd does not have asd because she "demonstrated shared enjoyment and joint attention in activities". The thing is, dd, when one on one with an adult who she knows does very, very well. Their report stated dd "giggled and didn't appear to know the appropriate responses", "ignored some questions, particularly when they involved discussion about emotion". Their example of her joint celebration was a "high five". The report stated she "was unaware of the social skills needed for certain situations", "she had an auditory disregard for questions", "when asked higher level wh questions she provided the result rather than the cause", "she exhibited breakdown in language", "she had difficulty generating cohesive responses", "she had responses that sounded scripted", "she repeatedly attempted to change the topic by disregarding the question", "she exhibited a difficulty in perspective taking", "she used language that appears unusual for a child her age".
Now, in my opinion the most uninformed person could pretty much look at the list above and see autistic traits, however, the AUTISM LEADER summarized her report as follows:
"XXX did not demonstrate a profile of behaviors consistent with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. She displayed good social skills, use of language was not impaired, and did not exhibit atypical sensitivities. She did display sensory seeking behavior, difficulty maintaining attention, minimal hyperactivity, though not to a degree that would interfere with educational progress."
That's it. Sounds like a sweeping under the rug to me, but maybe their educational definition of ASD is Kanner's-like with impaired verbal communication, etc. My dd is hyperverbal (unless she is anxious) so she would not fit that classification at all. However, it was mentioned that the Asperger's should not have delayed verbal skills and my dd's verbal skills were delayed. So, we here know that there is no "cookie cutter" for ASD that you can a have a person with so many of the qualities and then say they gave a high five so they don't qualify.
Anyway, to answer your question, the advocate I am working with is from a large town 50 miles away and he states that my school district is notoriously bad. However, another advocate said she was very surprised, that our district is usually "good". So who knows?
As crazy at seems I think I know why they don't like me. I've cited IDEA more than a few times. They HATE that. They really, really HATE it. They even mentioned NCLB and IDEA have done a lot to damage the Schools. I live downtown (in an old house built in 1920) of a town of 60,000 people (in our entire zip code not the town). Picture this: The downtown area is half lower income and half moderately middle class fixer uppers. This school has 6% limited english speaking kids, and 40% of the school is eligible for free lunch and another 15% have reduced lunch. Most of the middle class families in the area opt for private schools. In a town on 60,000, we have 5 major private schools here. That's a large percentage of the student population at private school, not to mention homeschooling. Anyway, the principal drives a brand new fully loaded Mercedes. Now, I don't begrudge her having a nice car but you drive up to a place with a minimum of 55% of the kids in YOUR school are so far below the poverty line that they are eligible for state subsidy in a brand new Mercedes? Am I creating a picture for you of my take on the situation or am I coming across judgmental?
I always smile and am gracious and helpful, always donate to the myriad of fundraisers, etc. But COME ON. I'm feeling like I'm just the overreative mom they can just push around with the way they're dealing with dd at this point. That's why I have no problem keeping her home from school (except that I don't want to reinforce the anxiety) but I have no respect for their "policies" anymore.
Ok, this was a long vent. Hopefully you can see through the anger to the real issues I've got going against me here.
, I may put my air matress on the floor of her room and get her to sleep with me on it and then move her to her bed and then eventually move to my room. I want to say thanks, I have no one to talk to that understands what I am dealing with.
