MCPS and ASD - HELP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real issue as I see it, is that there are so few seats in these classrooms when there should be more. More kids could be served, but I don't think the Aspergers program has grown at all in the 20 years since it was rolled out. But, the incidence of autism has skyrocketed. Is it that all those newly diagnosed kids are ok in mainstream classes? I imagine that the need for Aspergers classrooms is outpacing the resources that MCPS is putting toward it.

But are you willing to shift some of your income toward more taxes to pay for more resources? The Asperger’s classrooms typically have 2-3 paras plus 1-2 teachers with advance degrees and years of experience and a smaller number of gen ed students in the cotaught courses so another part-time teacher might be needed to teach those kids. That’s a lot of salaries and benefits.

You are in the SN Forum. Most of us would happily pay more tax if it meant more services for our kids.

Are you voting for candidates that can make that happen? Are you lobbying those already elected? Or are you giving lip service to the idea? The school systems certainly aren’t turning down money in order to limit services to kids with SN.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real issue as I see it, is that there are so few seats in these classrooms when there should be more. More kids could be served, but I don't think the Aspergers program has grown at all in the 20 years since it was rolled out. But, the incidence of autism has skyrocketed. Is it that all those newly diagnosed kids are ok in mainstream classes? I imagine that the need for Aspergers classrooms is outpacing the resources that MCPS is putting toward it.

But are you willing to shift some of your income toward more taxes to pay for more resources? The Asperger’s classrooms typically have 2-3 paras plus 1-2 teachers with advance degrees and years of experience and a smaller number of gen ed students in the cotaught courses so another part-time teacher might be needed to teach those kids. That’s a lot of salaries and benefits.

You are in the SN Forum. Most of us would happily pay more tax if it meant more services for our kids.

Are you voting for candidates that can make that happen? Are you lobbying those already elected? Or are you giving lip service to the idea? The school systems certainly aren’t turning down money in order to limit services to kids with SN.

I vote for and support candidates who promise more money for education in general. I don't expect any candidate to favor special ed over general ed, that would be unfair and also lose more votes than it gains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your daughter will be referred to the Asperger program if and only if you can proof that the current placement (home school model) cannot support her. For example, the school staff has exhausted all resources but she's still having meltdowns every single day, interrupting the class.
If she's having only occasional behavior issues, she will stay in the current placement even though you think she can benefit from 1:1 social skills coaching. Note that even in the Asperger program, it doesn't mean that the teachers/aides will facilitate social skills at recess. Just like any other program, the Asperger program might work for some kids but not the others - it's not a magic placement.

So we were told 6 months ago that the entire IEP team agreed she needs rhe Aspergers program. After multiple delays the Autism Unit rep finally came out only to be told that Asperger’s was not “a good fit” because of her mild academic needs and “emotional problems” (she is in no way a behavioral problem). The IEP team said at the same meeting they can’t meet her needs in the Home School. They said they will refer the matter to central but need more paperwork. It is maddening. Meanwhile, we have no idea where our kid is going next year. We have been agreeable and collaborative the entire time and just feel like the rug got pulled out from under us. If in fact Asperger’s isn’t a good fit, they could have told us that 6 months ago. And if it isn’t a good fit, what is? My kid is a relatively typical presentation of HFA. High cognitive ability, ADHD and anxiety, executive functioning issues, needs a lot of social skills support.

Is it possible the autism unit thinks her needs are too mild for the Asperger's program? Did the autism unit also agree with referral to central or is there a conflict between the autism unit and your school IEP team? Kids change constantly so she may have looked like a good fit 6 months ago but doesn't now. Your child does sound like the children I know in the program and it's concerning that they haven't provided you with specifics.
I would get on the phone with the person who did the observation asap. The other possibility is that you may be missing something in the way you are looking at your child and your child's needs are too great for any of the MCPS programs that include mainstreaming.

[Anonymous]

It's common for the School IEP team and the district autism unit to have disagreement on placement. If your school is new to the home school model, the gen ed and sped teachers might need more training from the district to provide support for most types of kids. Unless your child is failing miserably in the home school model, it's going to be difficult to get into the Asperger program. You can try to hire an advocate and outside professionals to observe your child at school, wrote a report and attend the meeting. But that's going to cost a lot of money with slight chance of success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is well above grade level and needed more behavioral/emotional support than yours was in the Asperger's program. They did fine with her. They do offer a lot of individualized instruction, so I don't see why they would have a problem with your kid.

Laura Solomon is the advocate who got the placement for us. She is EXTREMELY aggressive and MCPS knows her all too well. In fact, you might get the placement just by threatening to hire her. :lol

Imagine what happens to the quality of the program if many students who are poor candidates are admitted because their parents threaten to hire an extremely aggressive advocate or attorney? How does that turn out for the students who are perfect candidates? Will they be properly served if staff is overwhelmed try to meet the needs of students who don't fit the profile the program is intended to serve?

This isn’t college admissions, this is a public school that is required to provide a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities tailored to their individual needs. A program for kids on the spectrum shouldn’t be so inflexible that it can only accommodate “perfect candidates” or a specific “profile.” If MCPS can’t provide an appropriate education for a child’s individual needs - they need to be flexible enough to make the program when for that child, or pay for private placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's common for the School IEP team and the district autism unit to have disagreement on placement. If your school is new to the home school model, the gen ed and sped teachers might need more training from the district to provide support for most types of kids. Unless your child is failing miserably in the home school model, it's going to be difficult to get into the Asperger program. You can try to hire an advocate and outside professionals to observe your child at school, wrote a report and attend the meeting. But that's going to cost a lot of money with slight chance of success.

This is exactly right. The school team doesn't work in the Autism program, so while they think more supports than they can provide are needed, the Asperger Program may not be the best fit. The people from the program know best what the program is like and what they can provide. Also, once an Autism consult is done, the unit can provide consultation to the home school regarding individual children and can provide resources so the school can implement strategies and procedures that may be more effective. The home school only knows that they are beyond their depth and need help, the specific programs, and central office, are in the best position to determine what placement would best be able to provide that. So, just because everyone on your home school team believes the Asperger Program is necessary, doesn't mean that they are right. They are actually speaking about something that they have no direct experience with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's common for the School IEP team and the district autism unit to have disagreement on placement. If your school is new to the home school model, the gen ed and sped teachers might need more training from the district to provide support for most types of kids. Unless your child is failing miserably in the home school model, it's going to be difficult to get into the Asperger program. You can try to hire an advocate and outside professionals to observe your child at school, wrote a report and attend the meeting. But that's going to cost a lot of money with slight chance of success.

This is exactly right. The school team doesn't work in the Autism program, so while they think more supports than they can provide are needed, the Asperger Program may not be the best fit. The people from the program know best what the program is like and what they can provide. Also, once an Autism consult is done, the unit can provide consultation to the home school regarding individual children and can provide resources so the school can implement strategies and procedures that may be more effective. The home school only knows that they are beyond their depth and need help, the specific programs, and central office, are in the best position to determine what placement would best be able to provide that. So, just because everyone on your home school team believes the Asperger Program is necessary, doesn't mean that they are right. They are actually speaking about something that they have no direct experience with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is well above grade level and needed more behavioral/emotional support than yours was in the Asperger's program. They did fine with her. They do offer a lot of individualized instruction, so I don't see why they would have a problem with your kid.

Laura Solomon is the advocate who got the placement for us. She is EXTREMELY aggressive and MCPS knows her all too well. In fact, you might get the placement just by threatening to hire her. :lol

Imagine what happens to the quality of the program if many students who are poor candidates are admitted because their parents threaten to hire an extremely aggressive advocate or attorney? How does that turn out for the students who are perfect candidates? Will they be properly served if staff is overwhelmed try to meet the needs of students who don't fit the profile the program is intended to serve?

This isn’t college admissions, this is a public school that is required to provide a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities tailored to their individual needs. A program for kids on the spectrum shouldn’t be so inflexible that it can only accommodate “perfect candidates” or a specific “profile.” If MCPS can’t provide an appropriate education for a child’s individual needs - they need to be flexible enough to make the program when for that child, or pay for private placement.

Except there are multiple programs for kids on the spectrum. The Asperger’s one is appropriate for some students just as there are others appropriate for students with different needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's common for the School IEP team and the district autism unit to have disagreement on placement. If your school is new to the home school model, the gen ed and sped teachers might need more training from the district to provide support for most types of kids. Unless your child is failing miserably in the home school model, it's going to be difficult to get into the Asperger program. You can try to hire an advocate and outside professionals to observe your child at school, wrote a report and attend the meeting. But that's going to cost a lot of money with slight chance of success.

This is exactly right. The school team doesn't work in the Autism program, so while they think more supports than they can provide are needed, the Asperger Program may not be the best fit. The people from the program know best what the program is like and what they can provide. Also, once an Autism consult is done, the unit can provide consultation to the home school regarding individual children and can provide resources so the school can implement strategies and procedures that may be more effective. The home school only knows that they are beyond their depth and need help, the specific programs, and central office, are in the best position to determine what placement would best be able to provide that. So, just because everyone on your home school team believes the Asperger Program is necessary, doesn't mean that they are right. They are actually speaking about something that they have no direct experience with.

Except this is not what they told OP. The autism program said her kid needs too much support to be in the Asperger's program, so they left her in general ed? How can general ed handle her if the Asperger's program can't?

[Anonymous]

It sounded like the IEP team was going to make a referral for private placement. Did this include the autism unit representative? What was her or his recommendation? Usually when the autism unit says no to a child like OP's in elementary there are three options, gen ed, ED or private placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's common for the School IEP team and the district autism unit to have disagreement on placement. If your school is new to the home school model, the gen ed and sped teachers might need more training from the district to provide support for most types of kids. Unless your child is failing miserably in the home school model, it's going to be difficult to get into the Asperger program. You can try to hire an advocate and outside professionals to observe your child at school, wrote a report and attend the meeting. But that's going to cost a lot of money with slight chance of success.

This is exactly right. The school team doesn't work in the Autism program, so while they think more supports than they can provide are needed, the Asperger Program may not be the best fit. The people from the program know best what the program is like and what they can provide. Also, once an Autism consult is done, the unit can provide consultation to the home school regarding individual children and can provide resources so the school can implement strategies and procedures that may be more effective. The home school only knows that they are beyond their depth and need help, the specific programs, and central office, are in the best position to determine what placement would best be able to provide that. So, just because everyone on your home school team believes the Asperger Program is necessary, doesn't mean that they are right. They are actually speaking about something that they have no direct experience with.

Except this is not what they told OP. The autism program said her kid needs too much support to be in the Asperger's program, so they left her in general ed? How can general ed handle her if the Asperger's program can't?

No, they said that the placement in discussion was not a good option. That doesn't mean they are saying general education is the correct placement either. This isn't a one step process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's common for the School IEP team and the district autism unit to have disagreement on placement. If your school is new to the home school model, the gen ed and sped teachers might need more training from the district to provide support for most types of kids. Unless your child is failing miserably in the home school model, it's going to be difficult to get into the Asperger program. You can try to hire an advocate and outside professionals to observe your child at school, wrote a report and attend the meeting. But that's going to cost a lot of money with slight chance of success.

This is exactly right. The school team doesn't work in the Autism program, so while they think more supports than they can provide are needed, the Asperger Program may not be the best fit. The people from the program know best what the program is like and what they can provide. Also, once an Autism consult is done, the unit can provide consultation to the home school regarding individual children and can provide resources so the school can implement strategies and procedures that may be more effective. The home school only knows that they are beyond their depth and need help, the specific programs, and central office, are in the best position to determine what placement would best be able to provide that. So, just because everyone on your home school team believes the Asperger Program is necessary, doesn't mean that they are right. They are actually speaking about something that they have no direct experience with.

Except this is not what they told OP. The autism program said her kid needs too much support to be in the Asperger's program, so they left her in general ed? How can general ed handle her if the Asperger's program can't?

No, they said that the placement in discussion was not a good option. That doesn't mean they are saying general education is the correct placement either. This isn't a one step process.

Read the OP, it's been going on for two years. There is more information tshe gave than what you are acknowledging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is well above grade level and needed more behavioral/emotional support than yours was in the Asperger's program. They did fine with her. They do offer a lot of individualized instruction, so I don't see why they would have a problem with your kid.

Laura Solomon is the advocate who got the placement for us. She is EXTREMELY aggressive and MCPS knows her all too well. In fact, you might get the placement just by threatening to hire her. :lol

Imagine what happens to the quality of the program if many students who are poor candidates are admitted because their parents threaten to hire an extremely aggressive advocate or attorney? How does that turn out for the students who are perfect candidates? Will they be properly served if staff is overwhelmed try to meet the needs of students who don't fit the profile the program is intended to serve?

This isn’t college admissions, this is a public school that is required to provide a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities tailored to their individual needs. A program for kids on the spectrum shouldn’t be so inflexible that it can only accommodate “perfect candidates” or a specific “profile.” If MCPS can’t provide an appropriate education for a child’s individual needs - they need to be flexible enough to make the program when for that child, or pay for private placement.

+1, we already pay very high taxes, so I do expect the schools to provide services, supports and appropriate education (but given up hope they will)