Wow. I just saw all the posts mostly Socks and Janis, regarding my earlier posts. Now I feel the need to explain the situation in more detail. My son is five years old. He started early intervention services through Easter Seals and our Regional center when he was two and a half. At the time he had never called me mommy. He only had a few words that he would use but he could identify all of the letters of the alphabet, upper and lower case, in random order. He had nuclear tantrums throughout the day, every day. He would run off without looking back in the blink of an eye. He had little sense of pain and no sense of danger. He would at times… bang his head against the wall, spin around in circles, shake his head back and forth repeatedly, etc.. His favorite thing to do at the playground was to take handfuls of sand and pour them over his head, again and again. If anyone approached him, he would get up and move away. First I watched as he threw all of the activities Easter Seals offered him on the floor. Then the new pediatrician Easter Seals recommended asked if anyone had mentioned the possibility of PDD (after my son had tried to escape from the building and screamed while I held himm throughout oour meeting). Then the doctor evaluating him for services at the regional center aked if anyone had mentioned the possibility of PDD (even though my son had been unusually well behaved for the evaluator). The hospital tried to do a speech evaluation but wasn’t able to get him to pay attention to anything other than letters of the alphabet. At three years old he began special ed classes for children with autistic characteristics based on the school’s evaluation… the school psychologist reported that she was unable to administer any tests because of his behavior. Within a couple of days of starting the special school, my son was diagnosed as having autistic spectrum disorder by the pediatric developmental specialist we had waited six months to get into see. By then, the DX wasn’t a surprize. After a year in an autism class, he started to show the first signs of being interested in other children. We agreed to move him to a communication handicapped class to give him an opportunity to be around children who had more language and social skills. A few months later, Alex was tested by the school without my knowledge or consent. I was handed the results of tests by the school psychologist and speech therapist when I entered the building for an IEP meeting. The evaluations concluded by stating that he was no longer eligibe for 1:1 speech and they tried to change his eligibility for sevices to communication handicapped and remove his eligibility based on autism by omission. By the way, the school psychologist took it upon herself to awnswer test questions meant for the parents. The director of the program wrote in the IEP notes that I had given verbal consent for the testing to be done. She then left the meeting to take a long distance phone call. I did not sign the IEP but tried to set up a meeting to discuss the IEP with the director. Eventually the director of the program called to say she suddenly realized that I hadn’t signed the IEP. I explained that I didn’t sign it because I had never given consent, verbal or otherwise, for testing to be done and wouldn’t sign a document saying I did. She said fine and told me I didn’t have to allow the test results to remain in the file so I had them removed. She had me sign a new IEP document. I have a learning disability, which the school is aware of, and I didn’t trust my ability to read and understand what had been written in that document. Therefor, on the paper that I signed I worte that I had never given consent, verbal or otherwise for the testing. Later, when I went back and read it, sure enough, the director had written that I felt I had given “adequate verbal consent” for testing. In the early months of 2002 the director told me that my son would be able to remain in his special ed preschool class a third year. All of the other children in my son’s class did kindergarten entry testing and transition meetings and then at the very end of the school year an IEP meeting was called by the school adminisration to discuss my son’s “placement.” I had not called the meeting! I had not asked for anything, no change in or addition of services, nothing! I talked to his teacher and she said she would be recommending that my son be moved to a less intensive class (10 hours a week instead of twenty). Now, my son has made a lot of progress over the last two years but that has been with a lot of work on everyone’s part. He has had not only twenty hours a week of special ed classes but many more hours every week of work at home and in the community that I never asked the school to contribute one dime towards. By the way, there are no private special ed programs for children as young as my son in my county. All I wanted was for him to stay where he was, to get one last year of early intervention during this window of opportunity that is quickly coming to an end. So, my husband got involved and we brought in a court reporter to prevent… what I like to refer to as “misunderstandings.” Now, they are not only threatening to reduces his early intervention hours, they keep threatening that he may not be eligible for any services. They refused to discuss placement or IEP goals or even how my son was doing at the IEP “placement” meeting that they scheduled (and then spent four months postponing after my husband got involved). All they wanted to discuss was getting consent to give my son more tests. We all already know what kind of results they are capable of manufacturing because we’ve already been there and done that. And now, just as I’m thanking everyone on this baord for their support, someone has to try and blame me for creating an adveserial relationship by bringing a court reporter in to keep everyone honest. Well excuse me.
Re: seems to me you are not the one setting up the adversari
I agree, in part, with the Dad, I would also suggest a lawyer, but keep the court reporter. Obviuosly your school is very experienced with getting their way at the expense of their students.
I would also suggest an advocate, someone who can intepret the law and test results for you.
Good Luck!
K.
you're disagreeing with the school over: diagnosis? eligibil
Have you had an independent evaluation(outside the school system)? That step would seem essential with children on the autism spectrum. Have you rejected the IEP and asked for an independent eval.? Good Luck.
Re: What we were Asking For And Why We Invited A Court Repor
i also have an Autistic, age 6 and believe me i know exactley wht you are going through. did you file a complaint? did you request an IEE at public expence? advocates are expensive but there are several orginizations that will come in to do home visits and assesments and will attend a meeting as an observer. in what state do you live? do you have the riggs? i have gone as far as calling the director of our department of education before i filed our SEVERAL complaints, currently i have one in review of 52 pages long, however my next step is due process, i have contacted disability rights actovists and will be represented for free since Autism is a disability through the goverment, ( my child is not severe, he is mild on the spectrum but still has speach, ot, and visual services) he is in the regular ed class, where he now is doing wonderful. now!
according to the federal riggs you have 1 year from the date of incidence to file a complaint, you have a very powerful defence, as a parent with a disability they must ensure you understand anything and everything before placing it for your approval, tape all meetings, even thase little ones if you have to pick your child up at school. carry this recorder with you everywhere, and if the system wants to talk then say hold on just a second i am recording this conversation. i do this and well they do not like it but i have informed them all interaction with me will be audio recorded. also on wrights law there is a great article about writting on the documents you sign, in that article this mother wrote “I do not agree with this decision but this IEP is better than nothing” she used that in a complaint and won. e me if you’d like
Hope
I hate to be in the position of defending the schools ;)...
but I did early intervention as a developmenal therapist for a few years.
Do be aware they have a zillion governmental regs to meet themselves. For example, verbally telling you your son could stay in preschool would not meet THEIR legal requirements. They HAD to call that end of the year placement meeting or they would be in violation. They probably waited on you for last because your son was staying(re:verbal discussion) and the others were needing more extensive meeting time as they were transitioning.
Everything they are doing is not necessarily wrong. Only 20-25% of kids who leave IN’s early intervention services by simply turning 3(NOT by meeting outcomes) actually qualify for ANY services at the public preschool level..Thats an eyeopener! He may very well NOT qualify for speech based on the state guidelines they HAVE to follow(ridiculous as they may be!)
Im not saying you should be thrilled with everything that has happened-they certainly should not have accepted verbal permission for testing-but do try to sort out the truth and valuable info that is in there somewhere. There are always 2 sides to any conflict-stick to your guns and fight for your child but try to wear their shoes a little bit too
Good luck
Re: you're disagreeing with the school over: diagnosis? elig
My son received his autistic spectrum disorder DX two years ago from a very respected specialist but we are seeking people we will be able to use as expert witnesses at this time.
Can you tell me more about formal complaints?
I had to laugh at what that woman wrote on her child’s IEP. I laughed even harder at the image of saying, “hold that thought while I get out my tape recorder.” Mothers from hell are not born, they are created. What kind of complaint, to who, and what result can be expected?
Thank you for your input.
Not only am I learning my way around the Write’s Law site like the back of my hand but I’ve attended one of his conferences and I am now reviewing all that he taught us in his books. I’m actually feeling pretty good today because we’ve chosen a plan of action and I feel more prepared for battle.
Re: Thank you for your input.
a formal complaint is a form used by parents and school personael to complain about a process protected by IDEA, like in my case i complained that Josh has a DX of Autism, but our division tried to label him Emotionally Disturbed, also the coordinator decided she would quote from a report CDC’S and said ” according to CDC’s evaluation your son was malested, that alone shows why the ED setting would best benifit him” ok first that was a parent initiated report and i keep a copy, no where in that report is any statement that could possibly draw that conclusion, and secondly when i asked for her to show me that statement she said i do not have it here with me but i know it is in there, so as the DEFIANT parent i am i gave her my copy and said now could you please locate that statement? she said well this is not the complete version, so i said it is numbered according to page and do you see here the last page it is the last, well i included all that in my complaint.
your department of education should have a website and in the area of forms, or parent, or special education should be a link of Complaint process or Due Process, they are basically the same complaint form just a diffrent process.
My system HATES me probably as much as i Dislike them.
i have been called oppositional, demanding, defiant, difficult, but i pride myself in knowing that educationally my children have rights and i enforce that right, for no body else will not the system no one.
Re: Thank you for your input.
I know of another high functioning but not at all mildly autistic child that the school tried to say was emotionally disturbed. It seems that the schools want to call them anything but autistic. In my son’s case, they want to call it a language delay and that’s scarey because his language is improving enough that they could end up saying he isn’t eligible for services based on a language delay. I know of cases where this has happened and the children have ended up in a lot of trouble down the road. The people making the decisions about our children’s educations are not experts and even the experts can’t give us a prognosis. And… when the decisions they make go wrong they don’t take any responsibility for it. Who gets blamed? The mothers! Ultimately, it is our responsibility as mothers to make sure our children get what they need.
well,personally I LIKED the court reporter:-)
And let me tell you why. If you tape an IEP meeting,the school must agree and also tape their meeting. They can state on the tape that this agreement to be taped is contingent on it not being released to anyone else in a public forum,AND can not be used in any court proceedings. If you file a state complaint,you must have the tape legally transcribed by a transcriptionist. It makes all the sense in the world to bring someone who can make the meeting very legally binding,and above all else admissable in court. Rose just had the opportunity to use one:-) good for her!
About state complaint and or OCR complaints. They can be very easy to do,and there are many forms you can use. There are specific things that seem to help in regards to documentation,and the DOE investigating. On my webpage I have a link to state complaints,and cooresponding templates that can be used. You might want to check it out.
http://expage.com/socksandfriends
AND..
Rose do not ever feel like you have to explain yourself,clarify,or otherwise justify your position. If there are ones who do not understand ,then so be it:-)
Re: Thank you for your input.
I agree with Rose but I believe part of the problem is the what seems forever changing idea of what an austic child “looks” like. As she stated even the experts do not agree. You can take your child to a couple of different “experts” and get a different label applied according to their beliefs and their experience. Some do not want to use the Austic label at all except in the most severe of cases and others want to apply it willy nilly to anyone who even mildly resembles it. My youngest son is dx’d with PDD-NOS which falls on the spectrum. He has had labels depending on who sees him of various names: static encepholopathy, mixed language social skills disorder, atypical autism, severe receptive/expressive language disorder, ect. When he started school he was served under the speech/language disorder category, and is now served under OHI. The school does not accept the dx of PDD-NOS as an acceptable category but because the PDD encompasses his attentional issues, sensory intergration issues, dysgraphia, ect he is served under OHI. He in a cross categorical self contained classroom. He receives 30 minutes of individaul speech, 60 minutes of group speech (to work on converstaion skills), and 30 minutes of social work services. Never once has he been considered emotionally disturbed. Socially in ept but never disturbed it is interesting how different states interupt things so differently. Yes he is also high functioning just like these other kiddos.
Does the term “steam-rollered” hold any meaning to this scenario? Perhaps “bum-rushed”? How about “fraud”?
IMHO I think that the court reporter is the wrong person from the legal field for you to bring. I think you need an atty, preferably one who is well experienced in “negotiating” with the schools. I think you realize that what has been done to your child isboth illegal and immoral, and you need to get some big guns to help you set things right.
Ever been to wrightslaw.com ? I suggest you begin reading all you can from there to help you better advocate for your child.
As far as your son goes, have you had him checked for elevated levels of toxic metals? And have you tried the Diet to see if that can smooth out the behaviors and increase attention and verbalization?
I wish you all the luck in the world, I am afraid you are gonna need it and then some.