Reply to IEP meetings, do they always suggest autism?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm not sure how an IEP would differ based on HFA vs. MERLD ADHD and SCD.  The challenges seem so related that I have trouble seeing the distinction.[/quote]

Exactly.  They would get Speech, social skills class, Sp Ed support, OT and PT if needed.

Speech, OT, PT, and social skills are driven by "need" rather than diagnosis.

So all the supports are pretty much the same.

[/quote]

I don't agree with this.  The TYPES of supports might be the same, but what is provided in each type of support could be quite different for MERLD and HF Autism.  For example, on "social skills class" -- an autistic child might need a lot of encouragement to engage in eye contact, be empathetic, understand the parameters of what is "socially acceptable".  My MERLD child also needs "social skills class" -- however he doesn't need any of the previously mentioned types of skills development.  What he needs is explicit notice and interpretation of body language and verbal tone.  When a communicative partner crosses his arms and frowns, my child literally doesn't recognize this as negative signal.  In fact, I don't think he notices it at all because, due to his language disorder, he is concentrating so hard on the speakers mouth and making sense of the words expressed, that I don't think he has much energy left over to make sense of other non-verbal language meaning cues.

Another social skills example -- an HFA child may need to learn not to interrupt, and so also my child may need help to learn not to interrupt another speaker.  But, my child interrupts not because he can't put himself in the other speakers position (empathy of a certain type) but because he has such difficulty with language that he must interrupt to say what he wants otherwise he will lose it.  Instead of a lecture about how "other people don't like to be interrupted so stop it", my child needs some strategies about how to organize and remember what he wants to say while someone else is speaking, as well as explicit descriptions of what conversation cues signify that the other person is finished speaking and it is OK to take a turn.  (BTW, an autistic person also might need to learn the latter --rules about when to interrupt or not -- but might not need the former, i.e. ways to organize and hold language expression in short term memory).

I know in giving these examples, I skate a little to close to the idea (or myth) that autistic kids don't have empathy.  I know there are those who would frame this differently -- that autistic kids are overwhelmed by their empathy and shut down because of that. Or that other needs (like extreme discomfort with transitions or schedule changes) might drive an autistic person's interruption rather than lack of "empathy".  But, I do think that the educational system still frames and deals with autism as lack of empathy and that is why I have framed my examples this way.

So both the autistic and MERLD child might need help with social pragmatics but what exactly that help is may sometimes overlap but will also be quite different in other ways.  That's why MERLD parents so often object to the "autism" label and to the notion that "well, if it will get you services, take it".  [/quote]

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