Anxiety Disorder - need info

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-15-2004
Anxiety Disorder - need info
3
Tue, 10-25-2005 - 10:31pm

Hello!

My son has received the diagnosis of "generalized anxiety disorder" , after a long line of different diagnoses in the past 3 years (ie.ADHD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Autism Spectrum, Obsessive Compulsive, Sensory Integration, Asperger's, Bipolar, Oppositional Defiant.... )

A little background - DS is 9 yo, 4th grade. He has always been pretty hyperactive, impulsive, has poor social skills (but these are improving) and been anxious. Kindergarden , 1st and 2nd grade were in a private school where he was punished mostly, not helped. We took him out after 2nd grade to see if we could get help in the public school. In 3rd grade (public) the school psych gave him a ED (Emotionally disturbed) qualification and proposed a special day class. DH and I refused the special day class and insisted he try a mainstream class with pullout support. They gave us a regular class with reading resource and I pushed for OT for social skills training, and self regulation (How does your engine run? program). Last April, DS had an incident in the classroom (he spit at the teacher after another child spit at him) and the school switched him to another class (after we got the district discipline office involved - They were on our side given all the doctor's reports and therapy included in our DS's file.) We requested another school psych eval and this leads us to the present!

The new school psych concluded DS has a "generalized anxiety disorder". In our school district (San Jose CA) DS no longer qualifies for special ed! The pullouts disappeared! The only thing they will now offer him is counseling!

I am very concerned about removing his support when it is clearly helpful! I feel so frustrated! I need some resources for anxiety. Can anyone help get me pointed in the right direction? How can I get OT back into his school program? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Paula and Joel

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Wed, 10-26-2005 - 7:45am

http://www.childhoodanxietynetwork.org/

I'd go see Steph on the IEP board to help you with the school issues. She's wonderful. http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppiep

I hope things work out for your son.

Samantha

Samantha
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Wed, 10-26-2005 - 1:53pm

Paula,

Good to see you again. Welcome back!

I woudn't take that lying down. Have you have the IEP meeting to reclassify him yet? if not, and it is upcoming; Refuse to accept their findings, refuse to sign the IEP and request an IEE (see below). If you refuse to sign the new IEP they have to keep the old IEP in place until the dispute is resolved.

If the meeting is done or pending later, I think you should write to the school disrict, dispute the findings and request an IEE: Independent Educational Evaluation. It is Joel's right under IDEA to have an independent assessment if the school Drs and the parent's doctors disagree.

Check out the special ed board too they know more about this stuff than I do.

I HTH and good luck

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 10-26-2005 - 6:58pm

Hey there,

I have a link for you. There is a nice description of anxiety disorders on this site.
http://integrativehope.com/

Click on the anxiety disorders tab on the left.

Renee

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