Are their any parents out there that have an Autistic child that is being denied Special Education services.?

Question

My daughter has autism (high-functioning). I have had such a hard time getting special education services such as speech, and Occupational Therapy. They think because she is high functioning that she doesn't need that much help. The education system is failing my daughter and I don't know what to do. Anybody going through the same type of situation?

Answer 1

Call a team meeting and request an independent evaluation.  The independent evaluator can tell you exactly what services your child requires.  They can not deny her services.  You can also take her to her neurologist and have him/her write down their recommendations for services.  The school system can not  go against doctors orders.  I went through the same type of situation with my child.  I had her doctor right down his recommendations as well as an independent evaluation and when the still didn't want to give her the services I threated to call the department of education.  She now has all the services she needs and an afterschool social skills program.  (Which the doctor recommended)

Hope this helps, good luck!

Answer 2

as a parent advocate working specifically with autism, I will second jdeek.....

Her information is spot on and follows federal law, which yes, all schools who receive federal funding are required to follow.  Many schools do not seem to realize that IDEA requires services for any aspect that affects QUALITY OF LIFE. Its in the first paragraph of the IDEA. That means if she is not socializing well with other students, she gets services. If she is not organized and missing schoolwork, she gets services. If she is depressed, she gets services.

You can't always blame the teachers though, they aren't ever educated on the law, they follow what the schools tell them, who follow what the superintendent of special services tell them. www.wrightslaw.com has a lot of information for you. As someone else suggestion get books. I suggest their two books, pricey but worth it as it has the actual law printed through with comments and case law from courts. Carry those in, and the school will take you much more seriously.

I have two kids on the spectrum. With both I had to argue and point out law and law and law again to get appropriate services. And then the school just would not follow through. My son with aspergers, it was a two year fight just to qualify for services. It wasn't until we got a respected outside professional in their that they took it seriously. And they had to pay for it.

I will agree that you can't just ask for anything. But, I ask those people to define anything. She's not asking for skating lessons (Yes, our LEA paid for that for some of our autistic kids as part of socialization). She's not asking for video games (our LEA did that as well, for social skills class. what typical teens wouldn't jump at the chance to eat lunch with disabled kids to play video games?) She's saying any kind of services for an autistic child. Even high functioning autistics have trouble with pragmatics of language (or else they wouldn't have the diagnosis) Speech therapy is necessary and a good way to cover social skills.

BTW. we got tired of fighting to get them to follow their own contract. I didn't have the energy, time or money for due process, so we homeschool. It has been awesome and amazing and my kids aren't suicidal anymore. Seriously.

Answer 3

In the UK we have statements.  My son is high functioning autistic.  They denied me the speech and language therapy, they left it very vague in the statement.  I took them to tribunal.  I spent no money on the tribunal but the tribunal gave me something, they ruled for a quantification of the provision of speech and language therapy.  In the end although they were forced to provide it, the local education authority and the SLT unit did not provide it as specified.  So then you have to get the Tribunal to enforce the ruling which may take another year.  I am afraid that there are no good answers but in hindsight (if you are in the UK which I believe you are not, you seem to me to be in the USA) the only way is to spend money.  Either spend the money on a lawyer and then get the speech therapy free, or spend it on the speech therapy privately.

Let me say one more thing to you.  It is important for your child to have a therapist, someone who can work with her say three times per week to try to get improvements where these are possible.  It is more important that the therapist "connects" and is interested in the problem of your child than that the therapist is a SLT one, or what the specialism will be.  I believe that a psychologist is best prepaped to do the job if you have an equal choice of person.

It is important that someone works with your child.

Also it is best to address the problem than the symptom.  You will find that the problem can be addressed and that the motor coordination and the language will improve then.  Autism is a kind of shyness a problem of communication and people will get angry with me for saying this but verbal is not key.  Non verbal is key.  Try to work non verbally with your child to attack the basic root of the problem, if you manage that then the verbal will follow.  Try to find more visual ways to help her and to relax her and do not try to get her to mould to society's expectations of behaviour.  These children deserve happiness and love and happiness and attention do improve them significantly.

Answer 4

Netbee, please be very careful taking advice from this. There seems to be a lot of difference of opinions, and several people are dead wrong. The best thing you can do is to educate yourself on the IEP process, your rights as a parent, and due process. Books can be found on these topics at your local libary. I'm not sure if it's required, but all school districts I've worked in have a booklet that they give parents advising them of their rights. I would also try to find an educational advocate agency to help you. Good luck!

Answer 5

My son is 18, I have had to fight the system since he was 3 years old. I am still fighting. You didn't mention how old your daughter is or where you are from so, my best answer for you is to request (in writing) your daughter be put on an IEP (Individual Education Program) depending on your school system, once you request an IEP they have so many days to comply, usually 30. If they do not respond to your written request, your school system is not in compliance with the Federal law.  In your first IEP meeting you can make it the schools responsibility to provide speech and OT. You can also look up Autism Speaks in your area, (on line) they can hook you up with an advocate that can help cut thru alot of "red tape".

Remember, you are the only person your daughter has to fight for her education, don't give up.

Answer 6

I don't have a child with autism, but I do sit on the panel that makes decisions about whether or not a child qualifies for special education services.  Your complaint is one that is shared by many parents - and rightly so.  The problem is, to qualify for special education services, you need 2 things.  1) a documented disability (which your daughter has) and 2) evidence that this disability is making a significant difference in her school performance.  I'm guessing this is the part that's missing for you.  For most school systems, it's not enough to just have a documented disability...you must show the impact the disability is having on school performance.  Techinically, you could have a child with mild mental retardation and if his/her grades are good, he/she won't qualify for services.  So, it's great that your daughter is doing well in school (and I'm sure she has to work extra hard for it) but it also means she probably won't qualify for services unless her grades go down.  Unfortunate, I know.  The most you can do is be a strong advocate for your child.  Know the laws for your state and keep asking for more meetings.   Document everything (from how many hours it takes her to complete homework,etc)  If you can afford it, get private services.  Good luck!

Answer 7

Yes, lots of wrong information here.  Beware of folks telling you that the school has to do this and that just because you asked for it or because a doctor asks for it.  Some things yes, but not many of the things said here.  If you are going to take advice, pay attention to the thumbs up and thumbs down given to respondents.  I think it would be worth your while to audit a course on special education law at a local university.  Seems like you are going to need to know it for many years to come, and Yahoo Answers just isn't the best place for your research.

Answer 8

I'm sorry this is so stressful for you.  Trixie isn't right, you just can't ask for an IEP and expect to get one- we are only required to respond to a parent request for an evaluation.  Denmark is right- if your child had an evaluation and the team decided her disability did not have an adverse effect, then she wouldn't be deemed as a special needs child.  

Was she evaluated by an outside agency, or did the school place her as Autistc and you just can't get the related services?  Did the school do motor and language testing?   If not, you can request this eval be done, if it hasn't been done by the school already, and ask that they do more than a screener, but the actual assessment (I admit it can be hard to get them to commit to a full eval!).  Make sure the speech therapist evaluates for more than articulation, including language difficulties.  A full eval from an OT will include visual/motor coordination information, as well as sensorimotor information.  For many children with Autism, the sensorimotor area can be impacted greatly.  They should give you and your child's teachers recommendations based on the eval, whether they qualify her for service or not.

As for the place that evaluated her, if it's an outside agency, is it reputable?  I have to admit there's one clinic here that I don't accept anything from!  They do a really crappy job, and diagnose everybody who comes in the door, regardless of family, educational and medical history, all so they can provide worthless biofeedback.  It's an incredible racket, when insurance stops paying, the child is 'healed'.  It's really frustrating, for us and for parents (I finally convinced a parent to file a complaint with the state, it's that bad!)  

But I digress- some kids with Asperger's that are really high functioning benefit most from counseling to help them learn to deal with the frustrating social interaction they encounter.  Is this an issue for her?  You can talk to her school about providing this, or you may choose an outside provider who specializes in Aspergers.  Whoever it is, they should work with the classroom teacher to maximize reinforcement.

Aside from all of this, if your child is not viewed as needing services under the special education umbrella, you may be able to ask for a Section 504 Plan as a child with a disability -this would get her classroom and work accommodations if she would benefit from them.  It would also offer discipline support.

Answer 9

LOTS of parents in the USA are going thru this.

Have you ever heard of IDEA laws? this is the federal law that schools must follow in special ed.

This law mandates a specific step by step process to determine if a child can qualify for special ed, and also a process to follow once the child is in special ed.

Here are the things the school MUST do in order to determine a child does NOT need special ed

1. Do a full educational evaluation on the child.

2. You first have to sign a permission form for them to do the evaluation.

3. Give you a parents rights booklet at the time you sign this form.

4. They have to give you 'prior written notice' if they refused to do the testing.

5. If they did do the testing, they are suppose to give you a copy of the test report and results and also hold an eligibility meeting within 60 days of doing the full evaluation.

6. If they refuse special education, they are to give you 'prior written notice' of their refusal.

If they did not do any of these things, they are violating the IDEA law and you can file formal state complaint for them to do the process over and then your child might qualify.

If the school DID do the evaluation, you can write to district sped director and request an 'independent educational evaluation'. This is where the school pays for another eval to be done and YOU choose the doctor who does it. This way the eval won't be rigged by the school to show there are not any problems (lots of schools do this)  THen the school and parent (IEP team)  meet together in another eligibiltiy meeting and decide if child can qualfiy for special ed.

WHen you request this outside eval teh school will have have ONLY 2 choices. THey will either 1) agree to pay for the eval or 2)  file  a due process hearing to prove their own eval is 'sufficient'

I have NEVER heard of a schoo that does #2. That shows how 'sufficient' their own evals are LOL.

Sorry to say that most schools are like this and parents have to fight HARD to get the help. And most times this doesn't do any good.

Go to www.wrightslaw.com  and learn the laws and the process and how to deal with the school.

Answer 10

I assume you are in the States; services should be accessible there, depending on the state/jurisdiction. I have read of the Univ of So Florida's community-based intervention programme; you might want to look it up.

On the whole, however, support is just not there (especially in developing countries). I had to move from Bangkok (I am Filipino), and my 7-year old son could not be accommodated in the international schools; neither could we afford a shadow teacher (which my son needs). I had to give up my job and go back to the Philippines where these services (though not cheap, but would still be affordable) would be available.

Even if my wife or I would be capable of assisting my son, the intervention by a professional, especially one from outside the family, is actually helpful to the child.

The rhetoric and practice on inclusive education just do not meet.

Answer 11

Is she passing her classes? If yes, that would explain why she was denied of special education services.  Special education is expensive.  It is only for those people who aren't succeeding in school.  That's why they get special help in school.

Answer 12

start talking to the pta and start a watch dog group and stop being so nice try to be nice as much as you can but after that you need to git out how you feel we make our govt better you can and we can so git involved your voice is important if all else fails try home education

Answer 13

yep. I have a 13yr. autistic daughter.  I took her out of public school and started home schooling her.  Even with Dr. request she was still denied the serves I thought she needed.  I have fought with this public school system for three years now.  I decided I was done with all that.  I love home school.  No stress or worry.  Schedule is flexible.  both of us are happier now!!  One of the best things I ever did.