A week ago DS (3 years old) got diagnosed with ASD, Level 1. He is very high functioning with very mild presentation (at the moment). But the specialists did recognize his differences in social skills and play. I mean ... we did get an official ASD diagnosis!
This
morning a person came from Child Find (associated with the school
district) to talk to us about options. Currently, DS is in a day care and for now
is doing well there, but the day care is not part of the public schools.
It is a great place to be, I love the teachers and the attention DS
gets there, but we are looking at a possibility switching to a public
preschool, were there advantages in terms of services. So the lady came
to my home this morning and she was apparently expecting to see a
different kid. She said she did not expect to see such a high
functioning kid... DS is highly verbal and smart and can be engaging..
So this lady basically went on to tell me that he will have to be
assessed by the school and then they will decide if he is eligible for
any services. She didn't say it out loudly, but she hinted me at every
step that he probably won't qualify. A team od specialists at the Autism
Clinic observed and interacted with my kid for over 4 hours, and this
lady comes to my house, and based on what she sees in 20 minutes she
dismisses his diagnosis?? I asked her about an aid in a mainstream
classroom (that's what the eval team suggested would be the best for
DS). She said it may be possible, but we won't know until they are done
with all their testing, which will take 2+ months. Frustrating! I know at the moment DS would benefit from an OT, at least...
Re: Can the school district deny services even with a medical diagnosis?
DD didn't qualify for ESY, in our case yes, we are doing private OT and ST. Speech is at the same location that provides her school year services and does her SN preschool through the school system.
The more information the team has, the better. When you consent to evaluate, there's usually an inch for parent input on the form. You want to write "see attached" and then include a letter outlining all of your concerns about his development. Fine motor, gross motor, sensory, expressive, receptive, pragmatic, play, behavioral.
Then you link these to the state preschool standards. You can find the areas relevant to the diagnosis to bring to the discussion. Anything about working together, asking questions to seek information, circle participation ... he struggles with X and therefore can't meet standard Y without direct instruction, assistance, etc.
The other thing to do with your consent is request in writing that the team observe him in structured and unstructured settings. The BCBA from our program observed the kid at two daycares, at home, and during a classroom visit to the preschool. OT saw him 1:1 and in the daycare setting. Speech saw him 1:1 and at the daycare. If you've outlined your concerns with your consent, you can steer them toward what you need them to see. Given that there is no standardized pragmatic language assessment for this age and my kiddo is off the chart expressively and receptively, it was very, very useful to outline all of his verbal quirks ahead of him sitting down with the SLP. Someone should look at his play using the Westby Play Scale. The BCBA did for us. That'll tease out relevant delays for the preschool setting given that their work is through play at this age.
As frustrating as it is, I'd go through with the school board's eval. A good psych and OT eval will find the issues and offer services. If your insurance will cover it, you can try to get OT through that in the mean time.