Since we seemed to be having continued problems during his 3rd grade year, we decide to contact the group of psychologists and doctors that had initially helped with MJ's diagnosis to see if they could help us get an I.E.P. established.
When calling them, they were surprised that MJ was out of speech now and that no I.E.P. (Individualized Education Plan) had been set up.
I explained to them that the 2nd grade teacher had been great and knew exactly how to work with MJ since she had him the year before, but now things were a little more difficult this year.
MJ was totally unorganized, his speech was still terrible with talking too fast, too loudly or softly at the wrong times, he was still not understanding social cues and nonliteral commands, not getting work done, and he was getting in trouble a lot for things he didn't connect with or understand.
I felt like something had to be done, but I didn't know how to approach the school myself, so this is why I called them.
After talking to them for awhile, they asked for a variety of observations to be done on MJ at school and for some other various testing. They said the main problem I might have is that the school didn't seem to believe that MJ had Asperger's. They said after they diagnosed him almost 2 years ago, that they sent all these evaluations to the school to have the teachers rate MJ, and that they had all come back as "zilch" as they said it. They said that MJ's teacher's didn't see any problems with him whatsoever.
This made me a little confused, maybe a little upset, a little questioning....I mean, the school is who came to us in the first place saying something is wrong with your son---go figure it out. They are the ones that suggested such things as "Previous Brain Injury" or other awful things that could be wrong. They are the ones that told us that he was having problems and something wasn't right. So now we came back with a diagnosis and all of the sudden they were saying that everything was fine and that he didn't have any problems whatsoever? I didn't understand. Why would they do that?
So although these doctors, psychologists and specialists were putting on record and diagnosing MJ with Asperger's, it didn't do well enough to get the school to want to do something. As I had trouble earlier and told by the district that "it didn't matter what diagnosis he had, that there was no accomodations allowed unless he was failing academically". This did not seem fair to me.
MJ's doctors asked me to contact the school and ask the school psychiatrist to do some of these observations and bring back up the results of some of his previous testings. Then, maybe with some of these results they could help me know how to direct the school for help with an I.E.P. for MJ.
When calling them, they were surprised that MJ was out of speech now and that no I.E.P. (Individualized Education Plan) had been set up.
I explained to them that the 2nd grade teacher had been great and knew exactly how to work with MJ since she had him the year before, but now things were a little more difficult this year.
MJ was totally unorganized, his speech was still terrible with talking too fast, too loudly or softly at the wrong times, he was still not understanding social cues and nonliteral commands, not getting work done, and he was getting in trouble a lot for things he didn't connect with or understand.
I felt like something had to be done, but I didn't know how to approach the school myself, so this is why I called them.
After talking to them for awhile, they asked for a variety of observations to be done on MJ at school and for some other various testing. They said the main problem I might have is that the school didn't seem to believe that MJ had Asperger's. They said after they diagnosed him almost 2 years ago, that they sent all these evaluations to the school to have the teachers rate MJ, and that they had all come back as "zilch" as they said it. They said that MJ's teacher's didn't see any problems with him whatsoever.
This made me a little confused, maybe a little upset, a little questioning....I mean, the school is who came to us in the first place saying something is wrong with your son---go figure it out. They are the ones that suggested such things as "Previous Brain Injury" or other awful things that could be wrong. They are the ones that told us that he was having problems and something wasn't right. So now we came back with a diagnosis and all of the sudden they were saying that everything was fine and that he didn't have any problems whatsoever? I didn't understand. Why would they do that?
So although these doctors, psychologists and specialists were putting on record and diagnosing MJ with Asperger's, it didn't do well enough to get the school to want to do something. As I had trouble earlier and told by the district that "it didn't matter what diagnosis he had, that there was no accomodations allowed unless he was failing academically". This did not seem fair to me.
MJ's doctors asked me to contact the school and ask the school psychiatrist to do some of these observations and bring back up the results of some of his previous testings. Then, maybe with some of these results they could help me know how to direct the school for help with an I.E.P. for MJ.
2 comments:
Hey,don't give up. It took me and my family years to get the right diagnosis. I have Asperger's too. People aren't always going to be fair to your son, because of this. But don't be down hearted. Things will work out. Just try your best. There is always hope. Aperger's can e overcomed. I did it and i'm sure your son had what it takes to do it too. Just have faith.
OMG! Yes! I know what you mean! I am crying reaing your blog because it sounds like my daughter! In first grade, the teachers wanted all kinds of tests, etc. They wanted her medicated, said she was out of control, wanted her hospitalized, set up all kinds of meetings. THen, we get the diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, and in second grade, all of a sudden she is the "perfect" student, a shining example of wondefulness, and the school refuses to help! The doctor's do not understand why all of a sudden the checklists that used to mirror the ones from home now show a glowingly perfect, healthy girl who in no way realistically portrays the wonderful, yet socially and behaviorally and sensory challenged child that he sees in his office. He sees her social and speech pattern issues, he sees her rigidity, and the teachers last year saw it too. Now, all of a sudden, she gets a diagnosis, and the school starts saying, oh, no, she's fine???
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