New Autism Diagnosis—Lost

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
He’s 4. He is very compliant and wants to follow directions. He has lack of focus/attention issues when he isn’t interested. He has all of his pre-acamdic skills but won’t talk to his teacher or many people at school. Expressively he is about 2 years behind. Receptively is is about 2.5ish years behind. We really feel like he needs to be around all the other 4 year olds in his PreK class. But the school does not agree

Wow, this sounds very, very much like my son (also age 4, diagnosed with ASD about 1.5 years ago). I'm the poster who mentioned Katherine Thomas School and Ivymount clinic (which your son is too old for, sadly). We quit ABA to do more Floortime but I wonder if it was the right decision. My son is in an inclusive preschool program now, which has positives, but I often second-guess myself and wonder if we should be doing something more/different. I'm interested to see what other suggestions come up here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here

We are in DC. The dr recommended 20 hrs a week of ABA but we don’t have the full report yet. Our biggest concern is speech. We see a lot of attention issues in non-preferred tasks. But don’t have big behavior concerns. We really believe most everything stems from communication. He was also diagnosed with MERLD. At this point that is our biggest concern. Any recommendations or just things to keep an eye on are greatly appreciated.

To the people who have responded: Thanks so much. It seems so overwhelming and lonely but you all have helped calm me down a bit.

How old is your child? I can tell you of many, many MERLD parents who had their child diagnosed with autism, only to find out it wasn't autism after all. The younger your child is the more likely this is to be the case.

ABA is discrete trial training. It teaches skills, but DO NOT USE IT FOR SPEECH! It teaches a scripted, stilted speech and does not typically lead to natural conversation. If you don't have big behavior issues you could likely use your time better.

What is your child's receptive language like? This will affect everything, including behavior, ability to connect socially, to attend in the classroom, etc.

He’s 4. He is very compliant and wants to follow directions. He has lack of focus/attention issues when he isn’t interested. He has all of his pre-acamdic skills but won’t talk to his teacher or many people at school. Expressively he is about 2 years behind. Receptively is is about 2.5ish years behind. We really feel like he needs to be around all the other 4 year olds in his PreK class. But the school does not agree

MERLD mom here with a teen. You are on the mark. You want your child in a language rich environment. Schools want to do what's easiest for them. I fought tooth and nail to keep my son included in gen ed. School finally admitted at the end of elementary that I was right to do so. They said he couldn't learn; he took his first college visit last month.

I highly suggest a phone consult with Mary Camarata.

Op, you don't need Mary camarata. (You'll never get her on the phone.). If this pp has a teen with MERLD, she obviously hasn't had an evaluation in five years or longer.

Your child is too young to know what school setting is appropriate long term. The mainstream will always be there. If he's that delayed in receptive skills put him in an environment where he'll succeed. You can always reconsider later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here

We are in DC. The dr recommended 20 hrs a week of ABA but we don’t have the full report yet. Our biggest concern is speech. We see a lot of attention issues in non-preferred tasks. But don’t have big behavior concerns. We really believe most everything stems from communication. He was also diagnosed with MERLD. At this point that is our biggest concern. Any recommendations or just things to keep an eye on are greatly appreciated.

To the people who have responded: Thanks so much. It seems so overwhelming and lonely but you all have helped calm me down a bit.

How old is your child? I can tell you of many, many MERLD parents who had their child diagnosed with autism, only to find out it wasn't autism after all. The younger your child is the more likely this is to be the case.

ABA is discrete trial training. It teaches skills, but DO NOT USE IT FOR SPEECH! It teaches a scripted, stilted speech and does not typically lead to natural conversation. If you don't have big behavior issues you could likely use your time better.

What is your child's receptive language like? This will affect everything, including behavior, ability to connect socially, to attend in the classroom, etc.

He’s 4. He is very compliant and wants to follow directions. He has lack of focus/attention issues when he isn’t interested. He has all of his pre-acamdic skills but won’t talk to his teacher or many people at school. Expressively he is about 2 years behind. Receptively is is about 2.5ish years behind. We really feel like he needs to be around all the other 4 year olds in his PreK class. But the school does not agree

MERLD mom here with a teen. You are on the mark. You want your child in a language rich environment. Schools want to do what's easiest for them. I fought tooth and nail to keep my son included in gen ed. School finally admitted at the end of elementary that I was right to do so. They said he couldn't learn; he took his first college visit last month.

I highly suggest a phone consult with Mary Camarata.

Op, you don't need Mary camarata. (You'll never get her on the phone.). If this pp has a teen with MERLD, she obviously hasn't had an evaluation in five years or longer.

Your child is too young to know what school setting is appropriate long term. The mainstream will always be there. If he's that delayed in receptive skills put him in an environment where he'll succeed. You can always reconsider later.

Two things:

If you go to Late Talkers Consulting, you can schedule a phone appointment with Mary online.

Second: Mainstream will always be there, but once your child is segregated, odds are slim he'll be mainstreamed.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely agree with the pp: you can always go to a segregated, special needs class. But you will often have to fight tooth and nail to get out. There is much data to suggest that children with ASD graduate at MUCH higher rates when they are mainstreamed. Do not fall for the "they need one of one/less pupils/less noise/less...blah, blah, blah."

[Anonymous]

They don't teach grade level skills in segregated classes. My 11th grader is mainstreamed for most classes but in two center-based classes of his 7 classes. He came home with a KINDERGARTNER worksheet yesterday for Halloween from one of those classes. I wanted to scream.

[Anonymous]

How do you fight to stay in the mainstream class when no one agrees with you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you fight to stay in the mainstream class when no one agrees with you?

The folks I know in this situation had to hire a lawyer to stay in mainstream. FWIW on the mainstream versus segregation debate -- in DC, it can be easier to switch back and forth because each charter school is its own LEA. So if your child is in a segregated class in DCPS, for example, and you lottery into a charter and tell them your child can handle a general education environment with certain supports, they may be willing to give it a try. (Especially if the charter school doesn't have segregated classes, in which case, if your child truly needs a segregated environment the school will probably have to place your child in a private special needs school.)