Ohio has recently revamped its funding structue. Please notice that SBH (severe behavior Handicap) Is funded at a higher rate then LD. LD advocacy agencies have noticed schools trying to reclassify children who are LD as SBH.
I will let you be the judge as to why.
Parents need to be very carefull, when a LD child “misbehaves” it is frequently due to disability or inability, for example If a teacher asks a child to read outloud from his 8th grade social studies book and the childs reading level is on the 2nd grade, he may not do it (isnt that a shocker) some schools like to label this “insubordination” and punish the child. The truth is the child may try and be unable, the child may be so imbarresed that he will flat out refuse, and if pushed the child may become angry and throw the book, this is not a severe behavior handicap, these are unusual reactions to unusual circumstances.
another example a child is told to write a report, the child cant write a report, the child gets sent to the office for sitting at his desk “refuseing?” to follow direction????
If an LD child developes “displine” problems the correct thing to do is a FBA-functional behavioral analysis, after we determine that the iEP is correct and no futher modification is needed (perhaps adding child will not be asked to read outloud in class, or child may have extended time to work on assignments at home with parent) If and only if the IEP was just Perfect, then a behavior modification plan should be added to the LD childs IEP. WE do not change the Identification to SBH.
The laws regarding SBH are not as comprehensive as those for LD, and the primary concern for a child with SBH is behavior, academics are addressed as a secondary (if at all) yes I have children in 10th grade who still cant sit still and follow directions, the schools assure their parents just as soon as the kids can do these things, then they will teach them how to read and do addition and subtraction of 2 diget numbers.
these are the new funding figures
Category 1 - .2892 – Speech Only
Category 2 - .3691 – SLD, DH, Other Health Handicapped – minor
Category 3 – 1.7695 – Hearing Handicapped, Vision Impaired, SBH
Category 4 – 2.3646 – Orthopedically Handicapped, Other Health Handicapped – major
Category 5 – 3.1129 – Multihandicapped
Category 6 – 4.7342 – Autistic, TBI & Deaf/Blind
when your child comes up for re-evaluation, make sure the evaluation is spicifically for LD, do not allow any blanks and draw a line after SLD before you sign giving your permission, so that no one can add (+SBH) .
Re: atten for those in ohio- funding change
PDD falls under catagory 6 (with autism) the highest funding bracket avalable, I was under the impression A school district can not identify PDD or autism in ohio, That it took a nuropsychologist, or phychiatrist.
If your child has been Identified ass PDD only by the school system (only) I would caution you too seek a secondary opinion from a nuropsychologist. I am sorry but this is not a strength of mine ( My strenths are with LD)
As the most common placement for a child with PDD is a self contained multihandicapped unit and the ave IQ is well below average, i would proceed with caution.
I am very concerned about the combination of LD and PDD, Ld requires and ave IQ (ave meaning roughly 70 or above) and PDD I thought required an IQ below 70, I dont see how a child could be both unless his IQ is exactly 70
please correct me if i am wrong, isnt PDD a spectrum disorder of autism? and to be identified as autistic (or with an autistic spectrum disorder)a child has to have significant cognitive/developmental disability affecting verbal and nonverbal communication AND social interaction, and it had to have started before the age of 3?
Im sorry im not stronger in this area, but it sounds fishy to me.
Re: atten for those in ohio- funding change
My son dx PDD by his psychartrist and SLD.The school did testing last year and his IQ was in the 140 but for performance was 107 in a scholl setting they said.He has terrible spelling and writing.The school says visual perception and balance issues.I take his to a psychartrist for behavior issues he first was dx with ADHD then added ODD and anxiety .He also has been dx with Tourettes synmrome.He hates school and most the time I have to walk him to his classroom and hug him and kiss him several times.He is 9 1/2 years old.He has fine motor issues as well and starting witha OT today for those issues as well as the perception issues and balance issues.He cant stand any noise that he cant control heaters,chewing (other people) mainly the sounds are low but he says they bug him and he gets very upset at them.However he likes the TV very loud so you can hear all though the house.He dont play with anyone but his sisters sometimes out side of school and in school really just stays on the outside .He paces the floor a lot at school and home he says he is thinking.He is very aggressive towards others and bossy too.Medicine has helped some and we have tried several different ones.He could careless if something happens to someone but me his sister was reall sick but he didnt show any signs for concern just wanted to watch his cartoons.You cant change his schedule or he flips out.He says he holds it in at school because he is like a bomb he holds it in then when the timing is right he explodes.He has been in speech therapy in the public schools since he was 3 1/2 and still recieves services.
Yes when he goes to the resource room for spelling and writing,phonics he is the only one that has a high IQ the rest are classified DH.He does Math on a high schoool level in his head but not on paper because of reversals and such.He cant sound out words if he comes a across a word he dont recogize he guesses and confuses similar words very often.
Re: atten for those in ohio- funding change
Yes, a child can have PDD and an IQ over 70. You are correct PDD does fall on the autism spectrum but not all students with autism have IQ’s below 70. A child with an autism spectrum disorder does have significant cognitive/developmental issues but does not mean they have to be to the point of being considered retarded. I have a son with PDD who has an average IQ. He does have a significant verbal/performance IQ split with his performance IQ being 22 points higher then verbal. He is sensitive to noise, certian touch, can’t carry a conversation, write legibally, or read on grade level. He can do math at grade level and above, he can learn scientific facts, manage the computer, and enjoys history. You will find children with PDD with a wide range of presentation no 2 will be alike. One intervention may work for one but not another, it can be very frustrating. What has shown consistant success with these kids is early intervention—the earlier the better. My son received services starting at age 2. I went from a completely non-verbal, rocking, head banging, self injurious child in his own world to one who functions well in his self contained classroom. He also does well in his mainstream classes science and social studies. He is learning to do well in our society. Yes his class is a mix of dx’s but most seem to have similar IQ’s and all are making progress. There are some good self contained programs out there where the child actually makes progress.
My son is classified as SLD now but also now has the dx of PDD so the sp. ed teacher said we will proably change his classification this spring but I dont know for sure will that change their funding ? The school just agreed to give him OT (he starts tomorrow) they were saying before he will catch on his his IQ is high but he hasent.