Well I am not sure what is next
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| Mon, 12-11-2006 - 7:10pm |
if anything. Here is the scoop and I did post it on the IEP board, but I wanted to post it here too since many of you have children with the same condition:
My son has been diagnosed with ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome by qualified medical staff (second opinion on both diagnosis). He is 6 years old. I requested school evaluate him and after much resistance, they performed a multitude of tests and evaluations on him. The evaluation process has been going on about 2 months.
The school psychologist called me today to verbally go over the results which will be mailed to me for my review prior to our next meeting. My son scored above average on most of the tests with average being the lowest score. His IQ is 140.
The sole responsibility of the school is to determine if my child has a disability that prevents him from learning. Based on the testing, they conclude he is learning and is able to learn. We will have a meeting with all those involved with my son (us included) to make the determination if he qualifies for special services. I asked the school psych. her opinion on this and she doesn't believe he needs any services but will more than likely recommend gifted classes for him.
The problem we currently are having in class right now is staying on task and completing his work. He RARELY completes all of his class work. So, it is obvious that while he may be smart he is not able to complete his assignments.
Of course, he needs assistance socially- which isn't the schools issue I guess. He is also very niave and gulable. He also is lacking in pragmatic speech, although he has a vast vocabulary.
I just don't know what to do now?

They can not deny him based solely on IQ alone. They have to evaluate him in all areas of suspected disability, so that includes speech, social skills, attention, and task completion. If you don't agree with the findings you can request an independent educational evaluation at public expense. I'm sure Steph will help you out with the details. HUGS and sorry they are giving you a hard time.
Samantha
Well, while a child does need to be affected educationally to qualify for special education services, that doesn't mean that they have to score low on the testing. Affecting his education can mean a number of things and includes all areas of his education and yes that can include social skills.
As far as not turning in assignments, IDEA is pretty darn clear that no one form of assessment can be used to rule out eligibility. That they also have to take parent and teacher observations into account, etc. So he can score really high on his achievement scores but if he can't turn in work or work independently then guess what, it is affecting his education.
I really wish people would finally get that special needs for our autistic kids often extends beyond the basic academic skills, particularly when they are little and it is all memorization anyway (which they are often good at).
Renee