School refusing to add ASD diagnoses and OT to IEP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need new eligibility, not just an IEP, although the two are related.

Op here. Yes correct. The new eligibility would come from the new diagnoses, wouldn’t it? The last eval was done 2.5 years ago when he was barely 3…..

We have an IEP for speech from his language delay but other issues have come up in the last year.

Not necessarily. Qualification is never just about diagnosis. Having a disability is one of the three prongs. There also has to be an adverse impact on education and a need for specialized services to address that adverse impact. You’ve already got diagnosis so new diagnoses really don’t matter that much. What matters is to define the adverse impact.

Some disabilities don’t result in an adverse impact for a kid. And some adverse impacts need only accommodations. It’s really prongs two and three to spend your time because once you have any diagnosis all adverse impacts, not just those related to the qualifying diagnosis, are addressed.

[Anonymous]

People always think OT in the school is what they would be getting in a clinic. It’s not! Its purpose is to make sure your kid is access their education. NOT to be the best they can. If public schools funded that they’d be broke!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People always think OT in the school is what they would be getting in a clinic. It’s not! Its purpose is to make sure your kid is access their education. NOT to be the best they can. If public schools funded that they’d be broke!

As is true for speech and PT as well.
It's important to continue private as the focus is different.
The larger issue is that insurance companies often exclude habilitative services as they say that is under the purview of the schools. It is almost impossible to win an appeal against health insurance!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People always think OT in the school is what they would be getting in a clinic. It’s not! Its purpose is to make sure your kid is access their education. NOT to be the best they can. If public schools funded that they’d be broke!

As is true for speech and PT as well.
It's important to continue private as the focus is different.
The larger issue is that insurance companies often exclude habilitative services as they say that is under the purview of the schools. It is almost impossible to win an appeal against health insurance!

Op here. Yes! I feel like I’m in some kind of hell, honestly. Our insurance won’t pay for OT or speech because they say it’s habilitative. School says he doesn’t need it. We pay out of pocket for therapy but it’s wildly expensive and we aren’t rich. It’s all just so discouraging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need new eligibility, not just an IEP, although the two are related.

Op here. Yes correct. The new eligibility would come from the new diagnoses, wouldn’t it? The last eval was done 2.5 years ago when he was barely 3…..

We have an IEP for speech from his language delay but other issues have come up in the last year.

Not necessarily. Qualification is never just about diagnosis. Having a disability is one of the three prongs. There also has to be an adverse impact on education and a need for specialized services to address that adverse impact. You’ve already got diagnosis so new diagnoses really don’t matter that much. What matters is to define the adverse impact.

Some disabilities don’t result in an adverse impact for a kid. And some adverse impacts need only accommodations. It’s really prongs two and three to spend your time because once you have any diagnosis all adverse impacts, not just those related to the qualifying diagnosis, are addressed.

Op here. There is zero question that his disability creates adverse impacts and that he needs specialized services. Even the teachers have agreed (well, they say that to me when we talk but always back track when I try to get them to put it in writing or say it in the IEP meetings, which is a whole other issue). I just don’t know how I as the parent am supposed to be able to produce evidence of this when I’m not in the classroom. The evaluations are helpful in this regard and they do talk about him not being able to access education, but it’s not the same as data.

I get the evals are not outcome determinative but what else can I produce as a parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need new eligibility, not just an IEP, although the two are related.

Op here. Yes correct. The new eligibility would come from the new diagnoses, wouldn’t it? The last eval was done 2.5 years ago when he was barely 3…..

We have an IEP for speech from his language delay but other issues have come up in the last year.

Not necessarily. Qualification is never just about diagnosis. Having a disability is one of the three prongs. There also has to be an adverse impact on education and a need for specialized services to address that adverse impact. You’ve already got diagnosis so new diagnoses really don’t matter that much. What matters is to define the adverse impact.

Some disabilities don’t result in an adverse impact for a kid. And some adverse impacts need only accommodations. It’s really prongs two and three to spend your time because once you have any diagnosis all adverse impacts, not just those related to the qualifying diagnosis, are addressed.

Op here. There is zero question that his disability creates adverse impacts and that he needs specialized services. Even the teachers have agreed (well, they say that to me when we talk but always back track when I try to get them to put it in writing or say it in the IEP meetings, which is a whole other issue). I just don’t know how I as the parent am supposed to be able to produce evidence of this when I’m not in the classroom. The evaluations are helpful in this regard and they do talk about him not being able to access education, but it’s not the same as data.

I get the evals are not outcome determinative but what else can I produce as a parent?

IME you focus on prongs two and three. You’ve spent a lot of time talking about the diagnosis and you desire for speech and OT. What you need to do is define how he isn’t accessing the curriculum. Concretely and thoroughly. And then identify the services you want and how they will help. It is a lot of work. You’re going to have to google to research what sorts of classroom interventions are possible and be able to describe why they are necessary and what needs they will address.

You seem to think the diagnosis and testing is the holy grail but even after the school tests you still have prong two and three. And even without their testing you’ve already met the disability prong.

[Anonymous]

Since you have new diagnosis and assessments, you can request a reevaluation to determine what eligibility categories are appropriate (developmental delay, autism, other health impairment.

The IEP will look at his strengths/needs and propose goals and services based on that. A preschooler will not hve academic goals. You’ll have to wait to see if his academics are affected. The team can add goals for behavior, social emotional, communication, or academic (reading/writing/math) based on individual NEED. Goals and services are not driven by a diagnosis.

Request a reevaluation meeting. Then consider if an updated IEP (revised strengths/needs/goals/services) is REQUIRED.

[Anonymous]

Also, special education teachers (preschool and elementary) can address goals in areas including social emotional, communication, behavior, and motor. Special education teachers do not just address academics/cognition. OT/PT/ST are not the only service providers in a school setting, unlike the outpatient/private practice setting.

[Anonymous]

What do you want his OT services in the school to look like? What goals would he have?

[Anonymous]

What specific goals and services are you looking for?

[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 do they know this if he hasn't started K? K is on a whole other level when compared to the preschool program most public schools offer kids with developmental disabilities. I would start there. What are his current teachers saying about it? Do they feel like he will need more support next year?

[Anonymous]

If your child truly needs OT. Sign him up for private OT. The OT provided by the school is such a joke, it's not even worth fighting for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since you have new diagnosis and assessments, you can request a reevaluation to determine what eligibility categories are appropriate (developmental delay, autism, other health impairment.

The IEP will look at his strengths/needs and propose goals and services based on that. A preschooler will not hve academic goals. You’ll have to wait to see if his academics are affected. The team can add goals for behavior, social emotional, communication, or academic (reading/writing/math) based on individual NEED. Goals and services are not driven by a diagnosis.

Request a reevaluation meeting. Then consider if an updated IEP (revised strengths/needs/goals/services) is REQUIRED.

I’m sorry, this is OP, did you read my post? It feels like you didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child truly needs OT. Sign him up for private OT. The OT provided by the school is such a joke, it's not even worth fighting for.

Op here. He gets private OT and speech already. I’d like these services to also be provided at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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 do they know this if he hasn't started K? K is on a whole other level when compared to the preschool program most public schools offer kids with developmental disabilities. I would start there. What are his current teachers saying about it? Do they feel like he will need more support next year?

Op here. I’m not sure i understand your question. Of course he will need more support in kindergarten? He starts kindergarten in the fall so this IEP is the one that will be in place when he starts kindergarten. Sure we might update it before then but this is the IEP that will be in place as we are figuring out the set up for kindergarten.