IEP for emotional disability vs. OHI?

[Anonymous]

My DC has been undergoing testing at school for the IEP qualification process. She already has a 504 for "other health impairment". The school psychologist strongly hinted today that she would qualify for an IEP under the ED classification. She "may" qualify under OHI, but almost certainly under ED. There are no LDs, the issues are all emotional and social. Some speech and pragmatic concerns but not enough to qualify for an IEP for those.

My child is in middle school in FCPS. Is there any particular reason why I would want OHI or ED? Is there any advantage/disadvantage to one or the other? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Middle school is a really tough time for adolescents, and so if your daughter happens to have some health issues or behaviors which may cause her to act, to talk etc. a bit different from her peers, maybe it is upsetting to her in having to deal with the difference(s) and/or reactions from her peers? I would first of all request a meeting with the psychologist to go over in detail the results of the testing AND to perhaps relate it to issues which may have arisen this year with her friends, with other more general peers or with teachers.

Questions to consider might be:

- Is she on the borderline in terms of emotional awareness and her behaviors or other there definite tendencies for emotional reactions or behaviors which have been there even episodically for a while and are increasing as hormones etc change?

- Have you seen a definite negative change in either her emotions or behaviors at home? in other settings?

- Has she commented about changes in her relationships with peers or have you noticed a change?

- Then what explicitly would an ED label provide in services to meet her needs that the OHI label would not?

- Could one accept the OHI at t his time, but change it if the need is seen? I am wondering with the summer months ahead if you might find that she would benefit from some private therapy and/or social skills groups that so many seem to bring up here, especially if it seems like a fairly new occurrence.

So yes I guess I would really check out why the recommendation is being made, what resources it opens up to her and/or consider if private counseling over the summer might help turn things around. ED is a hard label to shake, but if the need is there and services, it certainly should be considered. We did not recognize the inner emotional issues with our oldest, and it really came out in the college years.

[Anonymous]

There is no difference for the services she will receive. Some say that the ED label "looks" worse to teachers, and I was advised to go for an OHI label for my DS which we got. He has anxiety as his primary diagnosis which is an ed code, but he also has ADHD and the combination can be either code. So...no difference except some people's opinions.

[Anonymous]

My son has an ED label. He doesn't qualify for anything else since he has emotional and behavioral issues that aren't autism or ADHD, which get to escape that label.

He is in mainstream classes but gets lots of support, counseling, social skills that he could not get without an IEP.

Can you get an IEP otherwise? If so, try.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I definitely think DC needs the IEP. I don't have any issues with that. We went over all the test results today with the psychologist. DC sees a therapist weekly, is on medication, has a psychiatrist for medication management, and has extracurriculars to support personal growth and development of social/emotional skills.

I know DC would get identical services, I am more concerned about things the PP mentioned. I had heard that about the ED label being "looked down on". I am guess I am trying to understand if this is a real concern or if it is just something that parents worry about, KWIM? Diagnoses are also anxiety and ADHD.

[Anonymous]

I hate the ED label. I have no personal experience w/ ED label. My dc has adhd/asd classes & support...

I don't know why the educational system doesn't mirror the dsm or neurological dxs.

[Anonymous]

Hate it because it's a sucky name? That's true.

[Anonymous]

I would try to get the OHI label based on the fact that she has both diagnosis. However, if they refuse to budge, she will still benefit from the IEP so don't turn it down because of the terminology.

[Anonymous]

Then you refuse to budge. Just keep them in the room and ask for OHI. If there is no difference in the services, goals, etc… it shouldn't matter. Do not do the ED label. There is no need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC has been undergoing testing at school for the IEP qualification process. She already has a 504 for "other health impairment". The school psychologist strongly hinted today that she would qualify for an IEP under the ED classification. She "may" qualify under OHI, but almost certainly under ED. There are no LDs, the issues are all emotional and social. Some speech and pragmatic concerns but not enough to qualify for an IEP for those.

My child is in middle school in FCPS. Is there any particular reason why I would want OHI or ED? Is there any advantage/disadvantage to one or the other? Thanks!

My DC in MCPS has MERLD, specific learning disability and ADD/Inattentive. The school also "hinted" to me that it would likely qualify him as OHI due to the ADD, but I made it clear that I would fight categorizing him as OHI, as ADD/Inattentive was his most recent additional diagnosis and, IMO, his academic troubles were primarily a result of the SLD/Language Impairment. During the IEP meeting he qualified as LD.

The school system refused to consider him as speech/language impaired, because it refused to find that the SLI had an "adverse impact" on his education. I think they were able to refuse to see this adverse impact of the SLI because there are basically no formal grades for speech/language activities in the younger grades. (Grades on presentations, class discussion contributions, class participation, etc. don't begin until middle school at the earliest.) Yet, IMO, the speech/language impairment (including pragmatic speech difficulties) was a MAJOR cause of anxiety and frustration in those years. IMO, many of the problems due to his expressive language difficulty were mis-categorized as behavior issues. We are lucky he did not get to the point of having so many behavioral/anxiety issues that he became qualified for ED, but I have heard of a number of other speech/language impaired kids being qualified as ED instead, with the school arguing "it doesn't matter what the code is, the child is entitled to all appropriate students regardless of the code."

At the end of the day, for us, the school's refusal to recognize the SLI meant that our child got an IEP but no goals related to SLI. Sadly, we pulled him to attend a SN school specializing in language learning disabilities, and, surprise, surprise, his anxiety has virtually disappeared. His teachers know how to support and develop his expressive language needs, so what seemed to be "behavior" issues have now also largely disappeared.

If the only way you can get an IEP or 504 is with the ED designation, I would sign the plan with a note that you are appending a signing statement that disagrees with the underlying basis/code for qualification for the 504. Then write a clear letter explaining why you believe the ED issues are really a result of the underlying speech/language or OHI issues. (If you believe that.)

FWIW, I think that it is really fishy that your child has "some speech and pragmatic concerns but not enough to qualify for an IEP for those." IME, the school-based testing for speech and language is very poor. It often relies on non-standardized non-normed testing or on "assessment" that is primarily observational. The school's testing of our DC showed that there was no or only very mild speech issues, while private testing (twice) revealed significant problems, and, ultimately, and SLD. If all you have had so far is school-provided testing, I would seriously consider private testing. I know it's expensive but you can disagree with the school's assessment findings and request that your school system pay for an Independent Educational Evaluation(IEE -- your right under IDEA/IEP process) or you can see if your health insurance will pay for any of it. (Anxiety and speech/language problems are not merely "educational issues" that an insurance company can refuse to cover.) You also can call around to neuropsych offices, explain that your DC has already had XYZ tests at school, but you want to know what specific tests at what costs the neuropsych would recommend to fully rule in/out speech, language and learning disability issues.

[Anonymous]

OP here. The testing we did was a combo of private neuropsych that we provided to FCPS and their own internal testing. The speech testing was done by the school and it was very brief. All testers and even teachers have noted that her lack of speech fluency and slow processing does create anxiety for her. And she will occasionally stutter when trying to get the words out. I do exactly the same thing, but was able to "train" myself as a young adult to consciously slow down my speech patterns. I will think about specific speech testing. Who would do that type of testing? Any SLP or is there a specific type of tester? What do I even ask for?

I feel like I need to clarify that the relationship with the school in our case is not at all adversarial. I could not be happier with the school or their responsiveness to my DC's needs. They are the ones who actually suggested an IEP to us. Academically DC does very well, but there are definite classroom issues. She often has to leave the room or the counselor or school psychologist has to be called. We've had a 504 in place since third grade and would never have considered an IEP was feasible but they really are the ones who pushed for it. The school is also an ED center, so I do wonder if part of the reason they suggest the ED classification is because they have more resources to support that.

I really am just trying to understand if there are specific advantages or disadvantages to DC having an IEP under the OHI vs. the ED classification.

[Anonymous]

No difference in services, but the school, especially a middle school that doesn't know your child, will judge her based on the label.

[Anonymous]

OP, with similar issues, my son was given the OHI classification because his issues were learning related over behavioral. The school seemed to indicate that the classification is based on which is the greater need. That being said, I often wonder who even cares or knows what the classification is. Great that your school is working so well with you. I can say the same for us and we feel lucky given what we read on this board - we're in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Child is at the middle school now. The middle school counselor and psychologist are the ones leading the charge for an IEP for her. They have really taken her under their wing and promote her involvement in activities/clubs that they run so they can watch out for her.

How does judgement play out? Teacher impressions? Perhaps I am more concerned about high school since she will have this IEP through 10th grade.

And I guess if I am being honest the ED label must bother me to some extent or I wouldn't be angsting over it.

[Anonymous]

OP, you've probably heard this before, but 504s are worthless in FCPS because you can't sue under one. You need an IEP to get anyone to pay attention to your child - whether you want team teaching or contained classrooms. You will have to fight for it but it is worth it. The FCPS is too strained to pay any attention to the 504s. Sad but true.