New to school, how to ask for services?

[Anonymous]

I've been homeschooling my son for the past 2 years and have enrolled him to begin public school next month.

He has a diagnosis of SPD (sensory seeker) from his OT where we used to live. We did 5 weeks of OT, but insurance wasn't covering any of it so we had to stop.

I also suspect some sort of learning issues, but I'm not sure what exactly. He needs A LOT of repetition and often mixes up the letters in words that he is reading.

When he wants to talk about something he often inserts these "m,,m" sounds as he is trying to gather his thoughts and words. Ex. " Mom! Guess what, m..m, there was a m..m, HUGE, m..m, m..m, spider on the m..m wall!!"

Other than this, he's a pretty bright kid. He's social and has excellent gross motor skills.

Since, he's been home with me I've been able to accommodate with providing a sensory diet throughout the day and building in a lot of review work. But I'm worried about how he will do once he's in school.

I did tell the registrar at the school that he had SPD and she just kind of brushed it off. He also has multiple food allergies so I think she was more focused on getting the nurse to call me about those.

Does the school automatically do an evaluation if I request it or do they just take a wait and see approach to determine if he should have it done? Is there anything I can do to help facilitate this at all? His previous OT said I should try to find out who the OT for the school is a speak with them and to speak with the teacher.

[Anonymous]

What county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What county?

Sorry I should have mentioned that, we're in Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

Friendly "bump"

[Anonymous]

You should immediately contact the principal (in writing) and outlining your concerns and ask that your son be evaluated for services and accomodations. Here's some more information on it from FCPS Office of Special Services http://www.fcps.edu/dss/ . The process can be lengthy and there is a lot of variation a school's willingness to be proactive so you may or may not get good results. FWIW, environmental sensitivity is an area of disability (you need 2 in order to get an IEP and related services). You should educate yourself on the IEP process. Wrights Law is an excellent resource http://www.wrightslaw.com/ and the FCPS Parent Resource Center is also excellent. They have some upcoming workshops that are really good, including one in October that is an Intro to Special Ed http://www.fcps.edu/cco/prc/ You should look into it. Hope that's enough to get you started!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should immediately contact the principal (in writing) and outlining your concerns and ask that your son be evaluated for services and accomodations. Here's some more information on it from FCPS Office of Special Services http://www.fcps.edu/dss/ . The process can be lengthy and there is a lot of variation a school's willingness to be proactive so you may or may not get good results. FWIW, environmental sensitivity is an area of disability (you need 2 in order to get an IEP and related services). You should educate yourself on the IEP process. Wrights Law is an excellent resource http://www.wrightslaw.com/ and the FCPS Parent Resource Center is also excellent. They have some upcoming workshops that are really good, including one in October that is an Intro to Special Ed http://www.fcps.edu/cco/prc/ You should look into it. Hope that's enough to get you started!

Thank you! Your post and links are very helpful!