Loudoun Eligibility Meeting tomorrow, Childfind (probable autism). What to expect?!

[Anonymous]

I'm having my "eligibility meeting" tomorrow for my 3 yr old (through Loudoun County childfind). He's mostly non-verbal, although he does say "Bye!" and "ma" for milk. He doesn't gesture, has poor eye contact, etc...so I think he's probably autistic.

What should I expect?

What services are available through Loudoun Spec Ed for 3 yr olds?

I suspect they'll offer the 2 hr per day pre-school, but I'm worried they won't offer anything else. He needs as much help as he can get.
Do the schools have anything additional?

I'm also desperate to get him into something year-round instead of just school-year. He'll regress over the summer otherwise! He has a younger brother to play with, but that's his only "peer". It's hard to find social classes that will take both a 1 yr old and an autistic 3 yr old.

Right now my son gets private Speech, Occupational and Physical therapies. The bills are killing us. I think continuing private will cost about $8,000 per year after deductibles and co-insurance payments.

Speech is his biggest delay, although he also has very delayed social skills. He also has balance problems and gross motor delays. He didn't walk until he was 18 months and he still can't walk on uneven surfaces without falling. Playground equipment scares him, he fears anything off-balance since he's so unsteady.

Any advice?!

[Anonymous]

Bumping this up for you.

While I'm not familiar with Loudon what usually happens at an eligibility meeting is going over the results of the various evaluations and decide whether your child qualifies for services. That's it. Some jurisdictions hold the meeting for services right after the eligibility meeting but I would urge you to request that they break up the meetings. The eligibility meeting gives a lot of information and it's a good idea to take the time to let it all soak in.

If Loudon separates this process into two meetings, you will have time after your eligibility meeting to research what Loudon county offers. The people at the eligibility meeting should help you in this. Ask them about "extended school year" and all other questions before the actual IEP meeting.

[Anonymous]

At our eligibility meeting with CF in Fairfax, all that was determined was whether he was eligible for services or not. We didn't find out which services until his IEP meeting. In Fairfax, I think they have 30 days to make an IEP once a child is declared eligible, but ours was closer to 15 days, and honestly, I think it would have been sooner than that except that there was a holiday right after he was declared eligible.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your replies!