WAY OT...anyone have experience with PDD?

[Denine]

My next door neighbor's son has PDD. He is 4 and receives tutoring at home about 20 hours a week.
She said it is like living with an 18 month old all the time.

They hope to help him improve with the tutoring. She sent him to pre-school last year, but she said there was no improvement. She sees it with the tutors.

 

[belle&beast]

I am going through a similar situation, We are now trying to get help through the school. We just hired an advocate. Good luck!
Tara

I think this is a great idea for all parents! I work in the schools and I love when we have the advocates present at the conferences because they really help everyone involved in the IEP process.

 

[Taratink]

Belle&beast
That is great to hear. I was afraid that bringing an advocate with us would make us look like we wanted a fight. The laws and rules are really overwhelming. I am stressed out to the max and I need an expert to help out.
Tara

 

[Mouse House Mama]

My next door neighbor's son has PDD. He is 4 and receives tutoring at home about 20 hours a week.
She said it is like living with an 18 month old all the time.

They hope to help him improve with the tutoring. She sent him to pre-school last year, but she said there was no improvement. She sees it with the tutors.

If she sent him to a regular pre-school then I would have to agree that tutoring (therapy) will of course show more improvement. At age 3 where I live the children are re-evaluated and then they decide if the child needs to go to a specialized school to receive their therapy or continue at home. My friend and her therapy team decided at that time that school was a better choice for her son. He has improved immensely and now also recieves therapy at home as well as a full day of school. If her son is 4 and she states it is like having an 18 month old she needs to get him re-evaluated and I would say by an outside agency so she can get him the help he needs. Sometimes you have to fight with the school district so they provide what the child needs when he/she is school age. They may just try to put the child in special ed but that teacher may not be trained in the type of therapy (or leaning system) that the particular child needs. They tend to lump all developmental delays together and that isn't always for the best. I hope it all works out for her. It can be very frustrating when you are trying to get the best for your child.

 

[hannahsmomma]

I just wanted to send out an update to everyone who offered support. We had dd's eligibility meeting this morning and it went really well. We are blessed to be in a great school system that has a classroom just for kids with mild PDDs. So she will be with other kids who are like her and not with kids who are on the other end of the spectrum. We will also be rewriting her speech plan to include help with communication. Yeah!! I am starting to feel so much better about things...thanks again for everyone's help.

 

[Taratink]

You are soooo lucky. There is no place for PDD kids at our school. There is no good place to put my son. They really don't know how to deal with this condition. We live in the suburbs of Boston and we should be more advanced than this. It is so dissapointing. I am thrilled for you and wish you the best.
Tara

 

[MEM]

Belle&beast
That is great to hear. I was afraid that bringing an advocate with us would make us look like we wanted a fight. The laws and rules are really overwhelming. I am stressed out to the max and I need an expert to help out.
Tara

An advocate is a great idea! Best money we ever spent. Some school systems, including ours, depend on you not knowing your rights. We were told "this is what your son is entitled to and it is not negotiable." We hired an advocate who pointed out to the director of special ed all of the laws he was breaking.

 

[belle&beast]

An advocate is a great idea! Best money we ever spent. Some school systems, including ours, depend on you not knowing your rights. We were told "this is what your son is entitled to and it is not negotiable." We hired an advocate who pointed out to the director of special ed all of the laws he was breaking.

An IEP meeting should be full of negotiations- it is a team developing what is best for the child. I'm glad you have an advocate. My experience with advocates is that they help both sides to see the other's point of view and everyone leaves the conference feeling like they have been heard. I think my school system must be unique because we really want the parents' input on the IEP and welcome ideas and suggestions. We truly view an IEP as a work in progress and use the conference to make sure all members of the team are in agreement.

 

[ILuvTinkerbell1974]

Hannahsmomma.....I just wanted to let you know that I think the school system in Chesapeake is terrific!! I'm glad that they are encouraging you and Hannah (and Ed) in getting her the help in school she needs. In fact, I just had a parent-teacher conference with my youngest daughters teacher tonight and we talked about getting her tested for a learning disability as well. It's great to know that the teachers here care so much about our children! I wish you all the best!!

(By the way, I know Ed as we do business together. I work for Advance Title next door to his office. He and I recently had a discussion about how funny it is that you guys and me and my daughters are going to Disney at the same time! Even though we are staying off-site, hopefully we will see you guys there!)

 

[maxtomsmom]

You are soooo lucky. There is no place for PDD kids at our school. There is no good place to put my son. They really don't know how to deal with this condition. We live in the suburbs of Boston and we should be more advanced than this. It is so dissapointing. I am thrilled for you and wish you the best.
Tara

I'm sure you know this, but according to the IDEA law and public law 92 (I believe it's been a while since I have taken education law) your child is entitled to a free and appropriate education. If the district can not provide this for whatever reason, they must find an appropriate alternative. This is a federal not a state law and supersedes all state laws. You can fight for your child. If you find a school for your child and felt it was the best place for him, you can fight them on it. Many people do and most do win. I don't know if it will cost for a lawyer and if the school hasn't tried all they can. They need to prove that they have. I know all this as I am a special education teacher and have advocated for several people. Most people don't know their rights and usually educational lawyers could help in the process. One friend had a lawyer write to the district and that was all that was needed to put their severely ADD child who also happen to be gifted in a specialized school with other bright active kids. The district settled rather than go to court. It is always worth looking into. Good luck.

 

[maxtomsmom]

To the OP- Hang in there. It sounds like you're doing everything you can.

 

[hannahsmomma]

We are really lucky here...the bad thing with PDD is that the kids are labeled special ed as other health impairment and in other school systems are put in a special ed class which include kids at the severe end of the spectrum. And there is not really a whole lot you can do about that, becasue the kids are technically being serviced. I hope in time that the rest of the country will catch up and start treating our children as individuals with individual needs.

 

[crjack]

You are soooo lucky. There is no place for PDD kids at our school. There is no good place to put my son. They really don't know how to deal with this condition. We live in the suburbs of Boston and we should be more advanced than this. It is so dissapointing. I am thrilled for you and wish you the best.
Tara

That's too bad that your school doesnt currently offer a program. I live in a Boston suburb as well (so.shore) and our school does have one. My son made huge strides and amazing improvements in elementary school, especially in the early years.

To the OP, best of luck. My son is now 12 and there really wasn't as much known about PDD-NOS when he was young. The knowledge and treatment options are so much better now in my opinion. It's still work and you always need to be your childs advocate but with early intervention at a young age I think you will be surprised by the progress you will see.