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[quote=Anonymous]About DS.  Age 3- will be 4 in just over two months. In JAN 2018 I had him evaluated at Child Find for his poor speech- he had just turned 3. They laughed me out of the room and said there was zero evidence of a disability. In summer of 2018 though, after his teacher and I shared concerns, he got a MERLD diagnosis. SLP flagged that there’s something neuro a-typical about him. Psychologist evaluated him, said he has a cognitive delay. He’s testing low-average for IQ.  She says he’s testing (using non language intensive test) at the age of about 3.1 years old, so a little less than a year behind. That seems right to me. He has intelligible speech in 4-5 word sentences, but beyond that it’s choppy. He can have simple conversations and follow simple instructions. His language and vocabulary grows daily and speech and OT, plus the very intensive work I do with him at home are working. He knows all his pre-academics as far as letters, shapes, and numbers. He seems to have significant motor planning issues, both motor and speech. He has some social issues- mostly does parallel play but has one dedicated day care buddy he plays with frequently. He’s intimidated by groups but interested to make friends in one on one settings. Everyone is divided on an autism diagnosis. He flaps when excited. He lines up trains but “is also playing with them appropriately”. He wants to be around his friends but does not want to necessarily play with them-just near them. We just had two little boys stay as houseguests. He loved eating with them at his table, played with them about 20 percent of the time and talks about them still. He has no behavior issues but a difficult time with attention and keeping still. An ADHD diagnosis may be on the horizon.

The county will offer us a self contained classroom. IEP meeting is in less than 30 days. I asked about inclusive county classrooms. They said none are available. I’m not against self-contained, but I don’t know what he needs. How do I know? I toured an inclusive classroom last week and loved it. Hoping to tour a self contained room this week.

I asked my son’s PK teacher what she thinks he needs. She thinks our current private school isn’t the right place. “He’s not any trouble but we just have normal teachers”.  But she felt very strongly that he was learning and greatly benefits from being around NT peers.   I had a consult with Mary Camarata (MERLD expert) who was adamant that I do not sign anything that puts him in a self contained room. We will see her in person on 3 DEC and are going back to the psychologist soon as well so I can ask her as well, in advance of the IEP meeting.

Bottom line- self contained might be the right placement. Or it might not.  But it doesn’t seem to matter because the county only has space in a self contained room. They are telling me no space in the inclusive program. (And btw I spoke to the teacher in the inclusive program. She has 2 kids and there is room for four. I was baffled as to why the county is telling me no space but she said she didn’t know what is in the county’s pipeline). Should I just roll over and accept the county placement? Or should I be trying harder to get an inclusive placement... and short of hiring an advocate how can I push if they are just telling me no space? [/quote]

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