What school for AS & SID?
I'm desperate to move somewhere that offers real school services. We have had a horrible experience where we live in GA. I am in the process of filing a complaint with the state. My son has Aspergers and Sensory Integration Disorder. He ended up in an all day self contained psycho educational class because he was incorrectly labeled as "EBD" and, the school failed to follow his IEP etc. They have a "seclusion" room they can be locked in if needed. Thats not the type of environment for a child like mine (or any?). Here they say there are no other options. They seriously told me depression and meltdowns are not typical of Aspergers. ???? I give up on living here, I know moving won't fix things and I know I can push for things, but I need to move to a larger area with more supports and hope for better results.I've looked at schools in the Chicago area. There are a lot of Autism therapeutic schools there, here there are none. I'm not sure if that would be good for him, or promoting inclusion would be at this point Or how to figure that out! He says he wants to be in a "normal" class, but I'm not sure he could handle it. Ideally, I'd say he needs a small class with similar peers and regular ed peers. The school board won't tell you where you should move, of course, and it's so hard to figure it out on your own. I appreciate any advice.
Also, after school care is difficult. I haven't been working after I lost my job when we moved here. My student loans are adding interest by the minute and I need to get back to work! I know some of the Easter Seals programs in the Chicago area offer after school care, but have not been able to get in touch with any other parents to find out more. I'm so lost at this point!
thanks
Posted by:
miranova
Reply from:
Michael Bartone
Date: Mar 25, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Reply from:
miranova Date: Mar 25, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Thank you for your response. I didn't go into a lot of details about the current situation. My son was labeled "EBD" in SC before we moved here. At that time Aspergers was not considered a disability in the *state* and there was no spectrum for special education purposes. When we moved here the next year, I had planned on getting it changed since there was no support of an emotional problem in the two evaluations that had been done and GA had the ASD category for eligibility. However, they pressured me to put him into the psychoed class from the very first IEP meeting we had. I did not agree, and they said they'd "give it a try". His IEP transfered & was accepted as 3 hours of resource/day, I found out a month and a half later that he was only getting 1.5/day. He finally had a meltdown (perhaps this wouldn't have happened had he gotten another 1.5 hr break that day. They suspended him pending a tribunal hearing. He had gotten upset when kids were accusing him of cheating at a game at the end of the day during testing week (stressful time always) and tried to run from the room and his reg ed teacher grabbed him. He was supposed to remove himself to the resource room as a safe place, but his teacher was excused from our IEP meeting after a few minutes and she had no clue what to do. When she grabbed and held him, he fought to get away. This is also listed on his IEP. I really would like to find a way to hang a "do not touch me" sign around his neck.... anyways we went to the hearing where he was found guilty regardless of all the things they did wrong. We had an IEP meeting following and the only option that was given was to send him back to the exact same class (the teachers did not want him, I didn't trust them, and he was socially devestated) or into the psychoeducational. So he went from 1.5 hrs/day academic resource to all day self-contained.
I finally had him re-evaluated in this county last year and the results supported his Aspergers diagnosis, and we added this to his eligibility. However, they insist on keeping "EBD" as his main. They say that "depression and meltdowns" are not typical of Aspergers kids. ??? Which is just incorrect. On old testing from SC that we used to get him services one test showed negative emotions typical of AS kids (anxiety, withdrawal, atypicallity, aggression, and depression) but they say depression is not. They have also done other things, but those aren't my main concerns. They don't want to change EBD because it keeps him in this psychoed class. He has five different diagnosis of AS.
I am filing a complaint and have already talked to someone in the state doe. She seemed quite concerned about a number of my issues (some violations that I didn't mention too).
Reply from:
miranova Date: Mar 25, 2008 at 8:22 pm
oops! I accidentally just hit "reply" ;)
Anyways I did speak with the Emory education program and they suggested I get in touch with the local Autism lead teacher. I have tried to get her involved in my son's meetings and I think since he is in the psycho-educational "GNETs" setting they won't involve her.
Thank you for the encouragement! I have however, decided I'm done here. We are a couple of hours away from Atlanta, and there are not enough resources here. I have never liked Atlanta and want to move northernly.
i know moving doesn't solve problems always, but I'm gonna try my best to at least make our situation better! It can't just remain...my son deserves more!
thanks again
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