I’m a parent of a 9 yr. old AS/ADHD child who is at a critical point emotionally and since there is such a large array of attitudes and beliefs when it comes to inclusion with children with this dx. I thought I’d post here to get some opinions.
My son was given an IEP for language and was pulled out of class twice a week for lang. He was doing extremely well academically and his biggest problems were due to inappropriate social interaction.
We changed school districts and his behaviors began to gradually get worse. Most of it due to the fact that he was given a part-time aid that he didn’t click with. He was also disqualified from language services. I think that is because he qualified before because his lang. scores were based on his iq potential whereas in this district they must be based on age or grade level norms.
Anyway, now he is in a special-ed class all day, doesn’t have any art, music, or p.e., isn’t being taught the same cirriculum as others at his grade level (despite having a superior i.q.), and isn’t gettting any social interaction with grade-level peers. His behavior has regressed to the point of where he was when he began pre-school. (meltdowns, agression)
He has always been pretty “clueless” socially and lacking in cause-effect relationships.
However now he is on new meds and for the first time in his life is starting to acknowledge his surroundings, express his feelings, and it’s been both awesome and horrible.
He now notices that he has no friends, gets embarrassed over his actions when he has a meltdown, and cries nightly that he wants things to be normal again. He wants to go back to his friends and his teacher.
Every professional I have talked to says that his current placement (bd class) is the absolute worst enviorment for him to be in. I agree due to the fact that my son has no social awareness so therefore he mimics and becomes what he is surrounded by. Alot of the behaviors he is expressing now are behaviors he has complained to me about that kids have done weeks prior.
I am just having a hard time with the question of how is my son ever going to get better when all he is surrounded by and learning from are other children with ED’s? If he doesn’t see positive behavior, how is he going to learn it, when this is how he learns? And how can you starve a gifted child of learning basic ed. when he is capable of so much more?
On the other hand I don’t want him to be responsible for disrupting the learning process of 20 other children in a regular ed. class.
Any opinions?
Re: Asperger's....your feelings towards placement??
Sounds like about as wrong a placement as you could get.
Don’t teach him what he can learn in a setting where he can learn it; leave him out of the stuff he can do; put him *into* situations that will make his problems worse.
THis is NUTS.
It’s also a pretty typical formula for placement — kid is special ed, main problem behavior, therefore go to ED room; scores say “average” for enough stuff so gosh, doesn’t need help there.
My suggestion would be to talk to teachers and see if you can find allies who are willing and able to teach your son, and then try & get him into their rooms. SOmetimes this works a lot better than trying to show admins the numbers.
I am having the same problem!
My son was diagnosed with Nonverbal Learning disorder (under the autism spectrum) and his social skills are a problem. I have my son in therapy after school, but he needs help to cope during the day. I am fighting to get an inclusion aid or my state calls it a child-specific aid to stay with my child the entire day in his regular classes. I am requesting Adaptive PE, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy for social skills, and the gifted classes for areas of giftedness, but I would be happy with an aid that can be trained to work with my son. I am asking for a mediation, then due process with my state department of education because my child is not recieving a free an appropriate education. You may want to check your state’s department of Education for help. It is the law that you have a way to protest your child’s placement. I hope this help. I don’t know if it will work, but I am looking for big changes. Check a website called
Amicus for Children, Inc. Their 7 steps to getting FAPE was very helpful.
latracy
Re: Asperger's....your feelings towards placement??
Yikes! As resident Aspie on the forum I feel obligated to write. :-)
This sounds like the worst of all possible worlds. And I gotta say that though there are supposedly more of us they still have no clue what to do! Sorry I can’t come with you on your IEP.
The language skills he needs are pragmatics, this is social language. He needs on aide to be included in regular classes that he can excel at. I think sometimes they will pull the aide for the “down time” (lunch, recess, etc) when the kid needs it the most.
THe website mentioned (which I haven’t seen) looks like a good idea. You should call the autism society in your area and find out fi there is an advocacy group for parents. They will help you thru all the __ you will have to deal with.
—des
Re: Asperger's....your feelings towards placement??
The school districts across the country are seeing an increased population with a diagnosis of Aspergers. The FAPE website is excellent and I recommend it. Also, it is critical that an student with Aspergers receive social skills instruction. This is usually included in their IEP paperwork and considered part of their placement. Many schools are using their counselors to teach these social skill classes. It is something that your child has a legal right to receive because it is appropriate for his educational needs. Many times it does help to take an advocate with you to the IEP meetings. Definitely call your local autism organization and learn more about your child’s rights for a free and appropriate education.
Re: Asperger's....your feelings towards placement??
Sounds like your school district got it all wrong. They looked at the dx and based on that placed him. My son dx’d with PDD-NOS also has difficulties with the pragmatics of language and other social skills difficulties. Our school district has a hard time with him they say because he neatly does not fit anywhere. This coming year is going to be even worse they are having him skip the 6th grade due to age issues and putting him in a self-contained classroom at the middle school. Although he has an average IQ his academics are behind anywhere from 3rd-5th grade. I don’t understand why school districts have such problems with our kids. We actually have an autism program in our district but it is designed for the more effected students. Until just this year the district acted as if my son did not fall on the spectrum now all of sudden they are saying it is an issue. I think a lot of it is just a lack of knowledge. Your situation seems a bit similar in lack of good placement and I guess we as parents have to fight to get a better fit for our kids.
Lisa
I’m surprised you haven’t gotten any responses— you’ll find the “teaching LD/ADHD” and “parenting ld/ADHD” boards get more traffic. Anyway, i agree it sounds like the wrong placement for you child. If you haven’t already, put your concerns in writing to the school and request an IEP meeting to discuss a change in placement. Sounds like a good behavior plan should be developed to help him succeed in a less restrictive setting- does your district have a behavior specialist or someone who could help the teachers implement such a plan successfully? They are definitely not educating him in the least restrictive environment according to your description— and they are required by law to do so.