School refusing to add ASD diagnoses and OT to IEP

[Anonymous]

DS has ASD and ADHD. Current IEP only provides for speech.

We paid for our own neuropsych exam that says he needs more speech and OT.

The school keeps saying that the ASD and ADHD are not interfering with his ability to access the curriculum and therefore are not relevant in the IEP.

I provided the neuropsych report and OT eval and the results of the ADOS that we had done privately. The school says they have to do their own eval. We are totally fine with that, but they can’t schedule the eval until late MARCH.

After citing some provisions of IDEA and telling them I’m an attorney, they agreed that we can have a RED meeting and I’m hoping will just agree to add the diagnoses, but I’m unsure if they will.

This is the IEP that will carry DS into kindergarten next year and he really needs more support in the classroom.

Does anyone have any advice how I handle the upcoming meeting? We’ve also done two functional behavioral assessments privately-do I share those results?

How can the school claim this is not enough data? I just don’t understand.



Fhe

[Anonymous]

Is this a public school? They do not have to do their own full eval, their experts can review your outside reports. Second, they cannot put iep development on hold until March. If you’re in a private school, obviously the law doesn’t apply.

[Anonymous]

Just saw that your child is in PK, so you need to contact child find in your county.

[Anonymous]

My son has autism. It does not affect his ability to access the curriculum. It impacts his social skills, 1000%, but he is ahead academically and it hasn’t interfered with his ability to do work yet.

What do you want OT to do that is going to improve his academics? (because right or wrong, that is what school is concerned with).

We pay for private therapy to work on social skills.

I have found it more helpful to look at specific goals/issues than overall diagnoses. The code they put at the top of the IEP means very little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a public school? They do not have to do their own full eval, their experts can review your outside reports. Second, they cannot put iep development on hold until March. If you’re in a private school, obviously the law doesn’t apply.

Op here. Public school. They say the IEP isn’t on hold since we’re doing our meeting, but they refuse to add new services to it pending the evaluation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just saw that your child is in PK, so you need to contact child find in your county.

Op here: we are working with child find. They are part of the school district where we live. Child find is refusing the evaluation til March while simultaneously refusing to accept our private evals.

[Anonymous]

They want to do their own eval so they can use their data against you. You need to hire an educational advocate to represent you. Otherwise they will talk in circles around you, even though you are an attorney. You are probably right about what your child needs...consider that even if you got the school to give you ot and speech-- they would be very low-quality and limited services. Start with an understanding right now, that you will need to do most things privately for your child to get their needs met

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS has ASD and ADHD. Current IEP only provides for speech.

We paid for our own neuropsych exam that says he needs more speech and OT.

The school keeps saying that the ASD and ADHD are not interfering with his ability to access the curriculum and therefore are not relevant in the IEP.

I provided the neuropsych report and OT eval and the results of the ADOS that we had done privately. The school says they have to do their own eval. We are totally fine with that, but they can’t schedule the eval until late MARCH.

After citing some provisions of IDEA and telling them I’m an attorney, they agreed that we can have a RED meeting and I’m hoping will just agree to add the diagnoses, but I’m unsure if they will.

This is the IEP that will carry DS into kindergarten next year and he really needs more support in the classroom.

Does anyone have any advice how I handle the upcoming meeting? We’ve also done two functional behavioral assessments privately-do I share those results?

How can the school claim this is not enough data? I just don’t understand.
Fhe

How old is your child? Are you using childfind? What is their current eligiblity? Developmental delay with needs in what? Communication? What are the current IEP goals for? Communication? Social skills?

A diagnosis of ADHD or ASD does not guarantee eligiblity in certain areas (such as eligiblity for OHI or Autism) or the need for specialized instruction. An IEP for a preschooler isn't going to include academic goals. Those would come later based on eligibility, assessments, strengths, and needs.

Private assessments are one data source. School systems typically need their own assessments, especially for eligiblity. Private assessments do not consider educational impact and need for specialized instruction. Services in the school operate under IDEA and have to follow that law. Private practices, outpatient clinics do not have to operate under the same criteria. You really need to share more details to get helpful informatin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They want to do their own eval so they can use their data against you. You need to hire an educational advocate to represent you. Otherwise they will talk in circles around you, even though you are an attorney. You are probably right about what your child needs...consider that even if you got the school to give you ot and speech-- they would be very low-quality and limited services. Start with an understanding right now, that you will need to do most things privately for your child to get their needs met

I'm confused why parents comment about low quality school services (as you do above), and then advocate for more of those services? or more assessments and meetings with those service providers? That is very offensive to school professionals.

Comparing school professionals who work under IDEA criteria, to professionals who operate under private pay is comparing apples and oranges. I could go on and on about the conflicts of interests when a professional is working "for profit" and do question that the professional recommendations are valid or if they are driven by financial incentive and keeping the customer (aka parent) happy. The customer is always right especially if they are self-pay.

[Anonymous]

My DS has asd and adhd. During pre-k years, he got some speech like an hour 1:1 and special educator 1:1 for an hour. When he entered public school system, he got like speech like an hour in a group and special educator for a few hours in a group push in. No matter what the private neuropsych exam says he needs more speech and OT or what, public school have the final on IEP services. The private report is more for insurance purpose to justify services, and they are recommendation only for IEP.

[Anonymous]

Op here. I have no problem doing the school’s evaluation. My concern is that they cannot schedule it until March. I feel that is an unreasonably long wait.

If they don’t want to accept our private assessments that’s fine, but they should have an obligation to perform theirs in a timely manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They want to do their own eval so they can use their data against you. You need to hire an educational advocate to represent you. Otherwise they will talk in circles around you, even though you are an attorney. You are probably right about what your child needs...consider that even if you got the school to give you ot and speech-- they would be very low-quality and limited services. Start with an understanding right now, that you will need to do most things privately for your child to get their needs met

I'm confused why parents comment about low quality school services (as you do above), and then advocate for more of those services? or more assessments and meetings with those service providers? That is very offensive to school professionals.

Comparing school professionals who work under IDEA criteria, to professionals who operate under private pay is comparing apples and oranges. I could go on and on about the conflicts of interests when a professional is working "for profit" and do question that the professional recommendations are valid or if they are driven by financial incentive and keeping the customer (aka parent) happy. The customer is always right especially if they are self-pay.

I am a school professional myself and see how terrible and limited the school services are

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son has autism. It does not affect his ability to access the curriculum. It impacts his social skills, 1000%, but he is ahead academically and it hasn’t interfered with his ability to do work yet.

What do you want OT to do that is going to improve his academics? (because right or wrong, that is what school is concerned with).

We pay for private therapy to work on social skills.

I have found it more helpful to look at specific goals/issues than overall diagnoses. The code they put at the top of the IEP means very little.

Op here. In our case the school won’t let us add any new goals related to anything but speech because that’s the only diagnosis we have right now (speech delay). The ASD and ADHD diagnoses have come up since the last IEP meeting. So in our case the code at the top of the IEP matters…..

[Anonymous]

A 60 day timeline for the evaluation is correct. There are lots of people in line ahead of you waiting for evals. That's just the way it works.

[Anonymous]

Also the medical model is very different from an educational model. Just because your child has a diagnosis doesn't mean they need services to access the curriculum. You need to prove a need during the actual school day.