Re: When your AS child improves with outside help. can th...

[Guest guest]

The purpose of a school district to classify a child is not to provide a

diagnosis but rather to qualify a student for special education services in

order to be able to fully access the curriculum and therefore receive what is

deemed as educational benefit and therefore the school will have provided your

child with a free and appropriate education. Those are the key buzz words,

educational benefit, access to the curriculum and free and appropriate

education.

The reason for the three year triennial is to ensure that your child is

still in need of special education services in order to fully access the

curriculum and therefore receive educational benefit and a free and appropriate

education. Therefore if the team believes that the child is still " disabled "

enough to require the special education services then you really don't need to

have a full battery of testings implemented. Why don't you just tell the

school that you don't want your child tested? They can refuse and insist on

testing however then you can let them test him and if you disagree with the

assessment results you can request an independent assessment at district

expense.

If the school indicates that your child is doing better and does not require

the services my response would be " my child is doing better BECAUSE of the

services therefore to remove the services would probably cause him to regress

and therefore not receive educational benefit and FAPE. " In addition to

remove services does not mean they will just yank all services. The

elimination

of the service should be a very slow and data driven process. There should be

someone there to take daily date to ensure that your child is not regressing

in any way.

If the service is speech then I would question how a language based

disability can be cured?... The core deficit of autism is language based

pragmatics

and lack of understanding appropriate pragmatics. In order to ensure that

your child is not requiring speech they would have to do a thorough language

pragmatics test that would include observations because our kids know the right

words to say however when in the middle of the social situation they are

unable to transfer the knowledge to actual interaction.

So you see if you ask the right questions you can bypass the silly request

from the district to eliminate services.

Connie Ajay

[Guest guest]

He still has all that outside help and improving in reading. If we stop now,

he will fall behind. thank you for posting this. it was very helpful.

If the school failed to provide the appropriate intervention and you went

out and got it for him, and to add insult to injury, they later tested and it

proved that you were correct then the school should continue to fund the

outside services for you. If you wish to ask them to fund the services you are

most certainly entitled to do so and the school would have to fund those

services for your child.

Connie Ajay

[Guest guest]

Dear Connie,

Hugs to you, thanks for all this advice. I'm going to print this for my

reference when needed. My son is doing better, but only because of all the

outside help he is getting and also all help that he gets in school. If that

help stops now. So will his progress. you worded this just the way I need to

explain it to the school. Including the whole part you wrote on the

pragmatics!!! he can use language, but when excited and has to explain him self,

He has a very hard time. Has to think about what he is trying to say and can

use the right words, in the right sentence, but has nothing to do with the

subject they are talking about. when he is angry, it gets worse. Another

thing, I told the school (two years ago) my son can't read, write or spell.

they didn't see it. so, I got him a tutor, also a reading program. I kept

insisting they help him. they still said they don't see any problem. I guess

they finally got tired of hearing me complain, so they tested him to

shut me up and saw he was two years behind. He still has all that outside help

and improving in reading. If we stop now, he will fall behind. thank you for

posting this. it was very helpful.

Belt3@... wrote:

The purpose of a school district to classify a child is not to provide

a

diagnosis but rather to qualify a student for special education services in

order to be able to fully access the curriculum and therefore receive what is

deemed as educational benefit and therefore the school will have provided your

child with a free and appropriate education. Those are the key buzz words,

educational benefit, access to the curriculum and free and appropriate

education.

The reason for the three year triennial is to ensure that your child is

still in need of special education services in order to fully access the

curriculum and therefore receive educational benefit and a free and appropriate

education. Therefore if the team believes that the child is still " disabled "

enough to require the special education services then you really don't need to

have a full battery of testings implemented. Why don't you just tell the

school that you don't want your child tested? They can refuse and insist on

testing however then you can let them test him and if you disagree with the

assessment results you can request an independent assessment at district

expense.

If the school indicates that your child is doing better and does not require

the services my response would be " my child is doing better BECAUSE of the

services therefore to remove the services would probably cause him to regress

and therefore not receive educational benefit and FAPE. " In addition to

remove services does not mean they will just yank all services. The elimination

of the service should be a very slow and data driven process. There should be

someone there to take daily date to ensure that your child is not regressing

in any way.

If the service is speech then I would question how a language based

disability can be cured?... The core deficit of autism is language based

pragmatics

and lack of understanding appropriate pragmatics. In order to ensure that

your child is not requiring speech they would have to do a thorough language

pragmatics test that would include observations because our kids know the right

words to say however when in the middle of the social situation they are

unable to transfer the knowledge to actual interaction.

So you see if you ask the right questions you can bypass the silly request

from the district to eliminate services.

Connie Ajay

[Guest guest]

I will also remember this post you posted. They finally tested my son for

reading at the end of last year. they did admit he was two years behind. I

have been telling them literally each and every day that he can't read, write &

spell. before they tested him for reading, I took him for outside help to help

him with the reading, writing & spelling. Now, he is in reading resource room.

last year, he took a science test and failed big time. I wrote a letter to the

teacher saying he knows every answer verbally. he can't " READ " (the test

questions) that is why he got every question wrong. well she read the test to

him and he got 100 ??? everything right. so now, in his IEP, I have that he

needs the test read to him until he catches up with his reading.

now, the school said......I'm doing too much for him. He needs to do/learn

this for himself. HELLO, he can't....Without this extra help, my son will

fail...Thanks for you information. I'm taking my notes again...

Belt3@... wrote:

He still has all that outside help and improving in reading. If we stop now,

he will fall behind. thank you for posting this. it was very helpful.

If the school failed to provide the appropriate intervention and you went

out and got it for him, and to add insult to injury, they later tested and it

proved that you were correct then the school should continue to fund the

outside services for you. If you wish to ask them to fund the services you are

most certainly entitled to do so and the school would have to fund those

services for your child.

Connie Ajay

[Guest guest]

Sad to say, where we are, services in school can be reduced or

eliminated due to improvements. My son lost speech therapy through

school (which was the only separate therapy the school provided)

because he's done so well. Unfortunately, this is due to after

school intervention I have had going on for years. Basically, the

therapist said the language delays my son still has would be

addressed in the EC class itself.

I have asked year after year for OT, mainly for VERY poor writing

skills, but so far we can't get OT through school. Again, we just

keep working on writing at home but that takes away from time to work

on other goals (self-help, socialization, etc).

It stinks, but I guess you take what you can get and do the best you

can.

>

>

> He still has all that outside help and improving in reading. If we

stop now,

> he will fall behind. thank you for posting this. it was very

helpful.

>

> If the school failed to provide the appropriate intervention and

you went

> out and got it for him, and to add insult to injury, they later

tested and it

> proved that you were correct then the school should continue to

fund the

> outside services for you. If you wish to ask them to fund the

services you are

> most certainly entitled to do so and the school would have to fund

those

> services for your child.

>

> Connie Ajay

>

>

[Guest guest]

:

You don't have to settle for crumbs the school provides. If you have been

asking for intervention and they have failed to provide you with an

appropriate assessment then they are in violation of your son's procedural

safeguards.

You can then go and get an assessment and they must pay for it. The law is

very clear about this matter. In addition when the speech therapy was

eliminated what was that based on? Was this based on a thorough assessment

done

with standard based testing? If not then they cannot prove that your child has

advanced suffiicent enough to eliminate the service. Everyone will advance

with intervention but if your child is not developmentally equal to that of

his peers in the area of intervention then the service MUST continue. The

only way the service can be eliminated is if your child has no delay in this

area.

If you want further assistance you can email me privately.

Connie Ajay

[Guest guest]

How is your son doing in speech now? are you still getting him speech outside?

did his speech regress/the same/improving? We have that same problem with his

reading writing and spelling. it take up lots of time and he still needs to

work with life skills.

chaissonmary <chaissonmary@...> wrote: Sad to say, where we are,

services in school can be reduced or

eliminated due to improvements. My son lost speech therapy through

school (which was the only separate therapy the school provided)

because he's done so well. Unfortunately, this is due to after

school intervention I have had going on for years. Basically, the

therapist said the language delays my son still has would be

addressed in the EC class itself.

I have asked year after year for OT, mainly for VERY poor writing

skills, but so far we can't get OT through school. Again, we just

keep working on writing at home but that takes away from time to work

on other goals (self-help, socialization, etc).

It stinks, but I guess you take what you can get and do the best you

can.

>

>

> He still has all that outside help and improving in reading. If we

stop now,

> he will fall behind. thank you for posting this. it was very

helpful.

>

> If the school failed to provide the appropriate intervention and

you went

> out and got it for him, and to add insult to injury, they later

tested and it

> proved that you were correct then the school should continue to

fund the

> outside services for you. If you wish to ask them to fund the

services you are

> most certainly entitled to do so and the school would have to fund

those

> services for your child.

>

> Connie Ajay

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Rose,

I'm not sure if your questions were posed to me or someone else.. I'm

having a hard time following the strings here. Assuming they were

for me, we have not seen regression as such with Tony since he lost

speech therapy. However, Tony is very quiet in certain situations

and can be pretty verbal in others. The therapist said she worked on

conversational skills all through the last school year and Tony did

very well. However, if you asked the regular ed teacher if Tony was

conversational, the answer would be very seldom. Another example

is.. Tony went to state Special Olympics this summer and last with

our county's swim team; spent the weekend with team mates and

coaches. His whole focus all weekend was on the Olympics themselves

(like he went there to do a job, and that's it). But he does not

socialize well, therefore, he doesn't use the conversation skills!

He will respond but not initiate if that makes sense.

Tony is the kind of kid that fits his actions to specific situations

and has a hard time using tools he has learned in a more global way.

He probably did very well with the conversational exercises done in

the speech room but left the skills at the door when he left!

Teachers love him because he is studious and not disruptive. Maybe I

am looking in the wrong place for the improvements in language

pragmatics.

We don't have a local chapter of the Autism Society... anyone out

there with suggestions?

> >

> >

> > He still has all that outside help and improving in reading. If

we

> stop now,

> > he will fall behind. thank you for posting this. it was very

> helpful.

> >

> > If the school failed to provide the appropriate intervention and

> you went

> > out and got it for him, and to add insult to injury, they later

> tested and it

> > proved that you were correct then the school should continue to

> fund the

> > outside services for you. If you wish to ask them to fund the

> services you are

> > most certainly entitled to do so and the school would have to

fund

> those

> > services for your child.

> >

> > Connie Ajay

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Hello ,

It sounds like from what I understand what I just read is that the school

pulled your son out of speech too soon. and is this in the same school where

you said the therapist said the conversational skills - he did very well on, and

the regular ed teacher said that your son very seldom used conversational

skills? This is the same child they are both speaking about. I'm interested in

knowing what you will do next about your sons speech. also, what did you say

when they said they wanted to stop his speech lesson? Thanks for responding,

I'm interested in hearing everything.

chaissonmary <chaissonmary@...> wrote:

Hi Rose,

I'm not sure if your questions were posed to me or someone else.. I'm

having a hard time following the strings here. Assuming they were

for me, we have not seen regression as such with Tony since he lost

speech therapy. However, Tony is very quiet in certain situations

and can be pretty verbal in others. The therapist said she worked on

conversational skills all through the last school year and Tony did

very well. However, if you asked the regular ed teacher if Tony was

conversational, the answer would be very seldom. Another example

is.. Tony went to state Special Olympics this summer and last with

our county's swim team; spent the weekend with team mates and

coaches. His whole focus all weekend was on the Olympics themselves

(like he went there to do a job, and that's it). But he does not

socialize well, therefore, he doesn't use the conversation skills!

He will respond but not initiate if that makes sense.

Tony is the kind of kid that fits his actions to specific situations

and has a hard time using tools he has learned in a more global way.

He probably did very well with the conversational exercises done in

the speech room but left the skills at the door when he left!

Teachers love him because he is studious and not disruptive. Maybe I

am looking in the wrong place for the improvements in language

pragmatics.

We don't have a local chapter of the Autism Society... anyone out

there with suggestions?

> >

> >

> > He still has all that outside help and improving in reading. If

we

> stop now,

> > he will fall behind. thank you for posting this. it was very

> helpful.

> >

> > If the school failed to provide the appropriate intervention and

> you went

> > out and got it for him, and to add insult to injury, they later

> tested and it

> > proved that you were correct then the school should continue to

> fund the

> > outside services for you. If you wish to ask them to fund the

> services you are

> > most certainly entitled to do so and the school would have to

fund

> those

> > services for your child.

> >

> > Connie Ajay

> >

> >