Social communication disorder?

[Anonymous]

I’m writing this for a friend of mine whose son is 10 and had recently had a diagnosed evaluation for social (pragmatic) communication disorder. They’ve been confused with the diagnosis and because the kid has already received special education services under “Autism” and has had an IEP under the autism code as well.

The recent psychological evaluation just now noticed that their son had high issues with atypical communication but did not show any behavior regarding RRB’s with the ADOS-2 test.

As far the both of us are aware, SCD is fairly new in DSM but is not so widely used. I would like some advice for my friend regarding the decision with SCD.

[Anonymous]

For the IEP, eligibility has to be under one of 13 categories, including autism but not including SCD. As far as the IEP is concerned, autism is probably the best eligibility category for someone who presents with the social/pragmatic language difficulties inherent in both autism and SCD.

Is the psychologist who is suggesting SCD an outside psychologist or at the school? What interventions is the psychologist suggesting? Does your friend see any restrictive or repetitive interests or behavior? What decision does your friend need to make?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the IEP, eligibility has to be under one of 13 categories, including autism but not including SCD. As far as the IEP is concerned, autism is probably the best eligibility category for someone who presents with the social/pragmatic language difficulties inherent in both autism and SCD.

Is the psychologist who is suggesting SCD an outside psychologist or at the school? What interventions is the psychologist suggesting? Does your friend see any restrictive or repetitive interests or behavior? What decision does your friend need to make?

It’s a psychologist outside of the school. Currently my friend’s child has speech language services in and out of school and has an IEP code under “speech-language impairment”.

As far as I am aware, his teachers have found he shows a lot of restricted behaviors in recess and sometimes in school. In home, he mainly holds repetitive interests in history and video games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the IEP, eligibility has to be under one of 13 categories, including autism but not including SCD. As far as the IEP is concerned, autism is probably the best eligibility category for someone who presents with the social/pragmatic language difficulties inherent in both autism and SCD.

Is the psychologist who is suggesting SCD an outside psychologist or at the school? What interventions is the psychologist suggesting? Does your friend see any restrictive or repetitive interests or behavior? What decision does your friend need to make?

It’s a psychologist outside of the school. Currently my friend’s child has speech language services in and out of school and has an IEP code under “speech-language impairment”.

As far as I am aware, his teachers have found he shows a lot of restricted behaviors in recess and sometimes in school. In home, he mainly holds repetitive interests in history and video games.

you're saying two different things, you said he is identified in school as speech-language but earlier you said he was id'ed as autism. which is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the IEP, eligibility has to be under one of 13 categories, including autism but not including SCD. As far as the IEP is concerned, autism is probably the best eligibility category for someone who presents with the social/pragmatic language difficulties inherent in both autism and SCD.

Is the psychologist who is suggesting SCD an outside psychologist or at the school? What interventions is the psychologist suggesting? Does your friend see any restrictive or repetitive interests or behavior? What decision does your friend need to make?

It’s a psychologist outside of the school. Currently my friend’s child has speech language services in and out of school and has an IEP code under “speech-language impairment”.

As far as I am aware, his teachers have found he shows a lot of restricted behaviors in recess and sometimes in school. In home, he mainly holds repetitive interests in history and video games.

you're saying two different things, you said he is identified in school as speech-language but earlier you said he was id'ed as autism. which is it?

he had an iep in the autism classification when he was in pre-k to 1st grade, then around 2 grade, it was changed to speech language impairment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the IEP, eligibility has to be under one of 13 categories, including autism but not including SCD. As far as the IEP is concerned, autism is probably the best eligibility category for someone who presents with the social/pragmatic language difficulties inherent in both autism and SCD.

Is the psychologist who is suggesting SCD an outside psychologist or at the school? What interventions is the psychologist suggesting? Does your friend see any restrictive or repetitive interests or behavior? What decision does your friend need to make?

It’s a psychologist outside of the school. Currently my friend’s child has speech language services in and out of school and has an IEP code under “speech-language impairment”.

As far as I am aware, his teachers have found he shows a lot of restricted behaviors in recess and sometimes in school. In home, he mainly holds repetitive interests in history and video games.

you're saying two different things, you said he is identified in school as speech-language but earlier you said he was id'ed as autism. which is it?

he had an iep in the autism classification when he was in pre-k to 1st grade, then around 2 grade, it was changed to speech language impairment

That makes it seem like the outside psychologist and the school agree that his main weakness is in communication, rather than autism.

Is the psychologist an expert in autism? What made your friend choose them?

What decision does your friend need to make?

[Anonymous]

Its confusing, but its all the same thing and everything is fine. Social communication is one of the biggest symptoms of autism. This is what the SLP is treating under the SLI designation as well.

[Anonymous]

It’s unusual to have an SLI eligibility for social communication only when a child has a medical diagnosis of Autism because ASD eligibility would better describe the qualifying condition and the SLI eligibility criteria include certifying that the deficit is NOT due to another disability. That said, the child likely doesn’t meet the restricted/repetitive patterns of behavior or sensory criteria for an ASD eligibility but the school team still feels he needs support. The good news is that eligibility doesn’t drive services, so he will get the necessary services, accommodations and modifications regardless.

The only concern I would have is that not having an ASD eligibility may impact his future eligibility for adult services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s unusual to have an SLI eligibility for social communication only when a child has a medical diagnosis of Autism because ASD eligibility would better describe the qualifying condition and the SLI eligibility criteria include certifying that the deficit is NOT due to another disability. That said, the child likely doesn’t meet the restricted/repetitive patterns of behavior or sensory criteria for an ASD eligibility but the school team still feels he needs support. The good news is that eligibility doesn’t drive services, so he will get the necessary services, accommodations and modifications regardless.

The only concern I would have is that not having an ASD eligibility may impact his future eligibility for adult services.

This is what I was thinking regarding the IEP placement with their recent meeting. The principal said they would no longer be able to implement his IEP anymore at his home elementary school. So the principal instead tried to place him at a learning center at another school (basically the least restrictive environment) for him. That was why my friend tried to find a psychologist outside of the school and file a mediation against the principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s unusual to have an SLI eligibility for social communication only when a child has a medical diagnosis of Autism because ASD eligibility would better describe the qualifying condition and the SLI eligibility criteria include certifying that the deficit is NOT due to another disability. That said, the child likely doesn’t meet the restricted/repetitive patterns of behavior or sensory criteria for an ASD eligibility but the school team still feels he needs support. The good news is that eligibility doesn’t drive services, so he will get the necessary services, accommodations and modifications regardless.

The only concern I would have is that not having an ASD eligibility may impact his future eligibility for adult services.

I don’t believe SLI requires absence of another disability, unless it varies by state. My son has CP but his IEP is for SLI.

Also- the sped category is separate from a medical dx. You can have autism and not qualify for an IEP, or you can have something other than autism but qualify educationally under that category

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s unusual to have an SLI eligibility for social communication only when a child has a medical diagnosis of Autism because ASD eligibility would better describe the qualifying condition and the SLI eligibility criteria include certifying that the deficit is NOT due to another disability. That said, the child likely doesn’t meet the restricted/repetitive patterns of behavior or sensory criteria for an ASD eligibility but the school team still feels he needs support. The good news is that eligibility doesn’t drive services, so he will get the necessary services, accommodations and modifications regardless.

The only concern I would have is that not having an ASD eligibility may impact his future eligibility for adult services.

This is what I was thinking regarding the IEP placement with their recent meeting. The principal said they would no longer be able to implement his IEP anymore at his home elementary school. So the principal instead tried to place him at a learning center at another school (basically the least restrictive environment) for him. That was why my friend tried to find a psychologist outside of the school and file a mediation against the principal.

With the school trying to change the placement, it's time to get an attorney involved. Something is off here. It would be rare for a home school to be unable to meet the needs of a student with a speech-only designation.

[Anonymous]

It ultimately doesn’t really matter as long as he gets the supports he needs. But I will say that in higher functioning kids sometimes the repetitive behavior is not what the stereotype is - lining up toys etc. And some of the motor behaviors are harder to see when younger because young kids are all weird and hyper to an extent. Where you might see it more at a young age is insistence on sameness or other types of behavioral rigidity. As my kid got older his stimming became more obvious. Interestingly it is now one of the main ways he appears autistic - all of the other criteria have become much less impactful as he got older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It ultimately doesn’t really matter as long as he gets the supports he needs. But I will say that in higher functioning kids sometimes the repetitive behavior is not what the stereotype is - lining up toys etc. And some of the motor behaviors are harder to see when younger because young kids are all weird and hyper to an extent. Where you might see it more at a young age is insistence on sameness or other types of behavioral rigidity. As my kid got older his stimming became more obvious. Interestingly it is now one of the main ways he appears autistic - all of the other criteria have become much less impactful as he got older.

Oh I just saw you said he has restricted (special) interests and teachers identify rigid behaviors. That seems to meet the criteria of the DSM. The ADOS is not supposed to be the only instrument used for a diagnosis. I would probably not pay that much attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s unusual to have an SLI eligibility for social communication only when a child has a medical diagnosis of Autism because ASD eligibility would better describe the qualifying condition and the SLI eligibility criteria include certifying that the deficit is NOT due to another disability. That said, the child likely doesn’t meet the restricted/repetitive patterns of behavior or sensory criteria for an ASD eligibility but the school team still feels he needs support. The good news is that eligibility doesn’t drive services, so he will get the necessary services, accommodations and modifications regardless.

The only concern I would have is that not having an ASD eligibility may impact his future eligibility for adult services.

I don’t believe SLI requires absence of another disability, unless it varies by state. My son has CP but his IEP is for SLI.

Also- the sped category is separate from a medical dx. You can have autism and not qualify for an IEP, or you can have something other than autism but qualify educationally under that category

Every category of eligibility for special education has the qualifier that it is not better explained by another disability (disability, in the context of schools, means eligibility category).

So if a student is SLI for social communication and has a medical diagnosis of Autism, they did not meet the school criteria for ASD eligibility. Since your son is eligible under SLI and has CP, he must not meet the criteria for Motor Impairment/Orthopedic Impairment or any other category that could be possible based on his medical diagnosis, but has dysarthria or some other communication need requiring speech therapy and therefore meets criteria for SLI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s unusual to have an SLI eligibility for social communication only when a child has a medical diagnosis of Autism because ASD eligibility would better describe the qualifying condition and the SLI eligibility criteria include certifying that the deficit is NOT due to another disability. That said, the child likely doesn’t meet the restricted/repetitive patterns of behavior or sensory criteria for an ASD eligibility but the school team still feels he needs support. The good news is that eligibility doesn’t drive services, so he will get the necessary services, accommodations and modifications regardless.

The only concern I would have is that not having an ASD eligibility may impact his future eligibility for adult services.

This is what I was thinking regarding the IEP placement with their recent meeting. The principal said they would no longer be able to implement his IEP anymore at his home elementary school. So the principal instead tried to place him at a learning center at another school (basically the least restrictive environment) for him. That was why my friend tried to find a psychologist outside of the school and file a mediation against the principal.

The change in placement is a much bigger deal than his eligibility category. It's hard to help you when you don't provide the facts up front.

How is he doing in school? What supports is he currently receiving? What is working/not working?