No diagnosis, but gets autism services??

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-30-2003
No diagnosis, but gets autism services??
4
Thu, 06-08-2006 - 8:08pm

No one is willing to diagnosis my son with anything. When I say no one, I mean his doctor, a psychologist, and a pediatric developmental specialist from a very good hospital. My son is 7 years old. His teacher says it's aspergers. The teacher's aide who has extensive experience working with aspergers students, says that it's aspergers. I've done my own research and it seems like aspergers to me.

The school administrators who know nothing about anyhing, say my son is a behavior problem.

After struggling through the first two years of public school, the county is finally going to officially test him for autism services. The idea is to slip him into the aspergers classroom. We do not have an official diagnosis from a doctor though. Has anyone gotten these kind of services without a doctor declaring "It's Aspergers!"

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Thu, 06-08-2006 - 8:28pm

Sure, because the school does not need a medical doctor's diagnosis. Sometimes, they even ignore the opinions of medical doctors, neuropsychs, etc. although not if they are smart. The school does their own evaluations, and often they DISAGREE with the one given by medical doctors. By law, they don't have to accept outside opinions, only they do have to CONSIDER the outside opinions and diagnosis.

If they decide your son gets an autism label, that is an educational category. Yup, they can do this. This only applies to getting services at the schools. As my son has been to a private ASD school, I have met many children on the spectrum whose school district has them categorized for services under everything from autism to language delay to emotionally disturbed. Many times the way the school has them listed is not actually the most accurate diagnosis, but if it gets them the most appropriate services --- well, noone really cares.

Capesh?

It's a strange, strange world we live in.

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 06-08-2006 - 9:11pm

Ditto what Sarah said.

In most cases you don't need a medical diagnosis to get an educational classification. There are 13 educational categories (ex. learning disabled, speech/language impaired, autism, emotional disturbance, etc) and each has it's own educational criteria including autism. The only time you need a medical diagnosis is if the child does not meet the criteria in one of those 13 categories but still has educational needs. In that case they qualify under "OHI" or Other Health Impaired. To qualify for that basically a child has a medical diagnosis that impedes with thier education. So some kids may have a medical dx of aspergers but not meet the educational criteria for autism so they may qualify instead under OHI.

So for autism he really doesn't have to have the medical diagnosis but if you can get your ducks in a row and gather evidence that he meets the educational criteria that would be to your benefit.

Renee

Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-30-2003
Fri, 06-09-2006 - 8:18am
Thanks. His current ED teacher and teacher's aide were the ones telling me about the asperger's classroom in our county. I really think his teacher is trying to find the best placement for him. Only, they have to jump through all of the bureaucratic hoops to make a placement change. He has been floundering a lot in the ED program within the last few months. Too many behavior problems. Not academic problems. The social aspect of school is too difficult for him.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 06-09-2006 - 9:46am

Ahhhh, he already qualifies for an IEP. Then it might be a little easier. I assumed when you said that no one would diagnose him with anything that he didn't have an IEP or any supports and you were starting from scratch.

Unfortunately, kids with AS can be misdiagnosed or labelled at first. They can seem ED and some may even have mood issues in addition to thier AS making it even harder. However, ED type programs usually are not the right kind of placement for them and they just flounder horribly. That sounds like a good teacher.

Yeah, I think you can get the right services and placement without a medical diagnosis. Really on an IEP regardless of diagnostics, it has to be tailored around what the individual child needs. If this isn't the appropriate placement and that other is then it is good they are starting the process to get him there. But being a bureaucracy, you are right, it takes a little while.

Renee

Photobucket