ARD meeting tomorrow- need advice or to just vent :(

Re: ARD meeting tomorrow- need advice or to just vent :(

• MaxandRuby member

  November 2013

  I would appeal, then again this is coming from someone who had to request an IEE for a PT assessment because of the original PT assessment that was done.  Auntie will probably have some great advice so hopefully she will have a chance to respond.
  

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• ToBeMrsT member

  November 2013

  -auntie- said:

  ToBeMrsT said:

  This is my first post over here, but I try to come on and read from time to time. Since my son was diagnosed I've tried to become as informed as possible. 

  
  

  Welcome.

  
  

  Thank you for taking the time to help.
  

  
  

  I have a 5 yr old ds who is in Kindergarten.  He was diagnosed with ADHD, possible aspergers (there is some disagreement on this), ODD, speech delay (semantic-pragmatic language disorder), fine motor delay a few months ago.  

  
  

  That's quite an alphabet soup. Has he been evaluated privately by a clinical or neuropsychologist or a developmental pediatrician? Or has he been seen by a collection of independent professionals each acting as sort of the 10 Blind men and the elephant?

  
  

  There's so much overlap of behaviors/symptoms between ADHD, ASD and ODD that you'd really need to top notch team to sort this out. It would be more likely he has one or two of the three- AS and ODD rarely, rarely, rarely are comorbid. ASD and ADHD or ADHD and ODD are commonly seen together. I'm a little surprised by the ADHD at 5- most clinicians don't dx ADHD until 6 or 7 because the scales used aren't normed for younger kiddos. 

  
  

  I'm a little surprised about an Aspergers dx. That dx is no longer in the DSM-5, so it's unusual that it would be given since it is not official. It's also a bit unusual that he would have a significant enough language delay- AS subsumes typicaly language development excepting pragmatics as a rule.

  
  

  His dx came from a behavioral pediatrician and she's the one who is writing his prescriptions too.  We also took him to a neurologist for a second opinion.  We have limited options here and I do think we are working with less than desirable doctors unfortunately.  He does have quite a bit going on.  

  
  

  Within the first month of school he was suspended twice for 2 days each time and has been sent home on two other occasions because they couldn't deal with him.  He's medicated and has calmed down quite a bit.  

  
  

  Meds can be a useful part of an tx plan for ASD or ADHD, but there needs to be a behavior mod plan in place as well. Five is young to medicate; most families trial behavior mods and interventions before moving onto meds unless the child is impulsive to the point of dangerous behavior. What meds is he taking? Who is administering this part of his tx plan?

  
  

  You are wise to be looking into an educational dx and IEP. This is critical for a LO who has already been suspended for behavior. You'll need the protection of an IEP and manifestation determination if your district is suspension-happy. I can not imagine what a five could do that would make suspension a reasonable option. 

  
  

  He is on Kapvay and Risperidone- both to treat his defiance. He was suspended for hitting after being overwhelmed.  They said they had no choice, but to suspend since he hit another child.  He would get upset and his teacher wasn't able to calm him before it escalated.  After the second suspension they brought in the aide because it was getting ridiculous to have him sent him so often. 

  
  

  
  

  He does well in class with the help of a part time aide that the school has been sending to his room because he scribbles or balls up his papers if he isn't kept on task.  We currently have him private OT and private Speech which is of course costing us over $200 month right now because of copays.  THe school district has done all their testing and today they sent home their results.  They are not going to offer him speech, OT, or an aide. 

  
  

  You need to ask for an IEE. If your district's team sucks to the point they suspend kindie kids, you need a better eval. How his eval turned out is largely dependent on what scales and tests were used. He should have ADOD, GARS, GADS, Conners Scales, the Vineland and perhaps BASC-2.  TOPL-2 would tease out issues with the pragmatic use of language once he hits 6. Your private people can probably suggest the assessments that would best highlight where his issues are most atypical. It would be terrific if they could attend with you.

  
  

  You want to be especially careful of ODD. In a lot of districts, ODD is the ticket to a self contained EBD classroom. This would be a reasonable choice for a kid with ODD and ADHD, but totally inappropriate for a child with ASD.

  
  

  What is an IEE?  Per the paperwork we got yesterday they used GARS-2, GADS, SRS. He has the ODD label from his doctor, but after reading through the school paperwork they don't even mention it.  They seem to be attributing those rigid behaviors to  ASD.  His defiance is one of the areas he struggles in the most. So is the next step to appeal their decision or should be ask them to alter their testing methods and do them again?  

  
  

  What is a self contained EBD classroom?

  
  

  I'm am extremely upset.  Our private speech assessment (given Sept 2013) put him at the equivalent of a 4 year old (he will be 6 at the beginning of January). The school is saying he does not qualify and is even above average with some of their scoring. 

  
  

  I know I can appeal, but I'm so disappointed that it's going to come to that.  I'm also worried that since he's not being given an aide the school will pull the aide they've been giving him.  They only did it to get him through because he was having so much trouble, but I think we all assumed he would be assigned an aide once we finished this process.  He did not start doing well until they brought they aide into his class. 

  
  

  A lot of schools do not like to dedicate an aide to students who don't physically require one. Frankly, aides are double-edged swords. They are stigmatizing, they can foster dependence, teachers tend to turf their kids to less qualified aides, and they act as a barrier between an already socially at risk student and his peers. 

  
  

  So what about kids that cannot focus or kept on task if they aren't working one on one with someone?  The aide has helped him so much over the past month.  Is there a better option we should be looking at?

  
  

  I'm really heartbroken that I have a child that needs help and has quite a bit of potential, but they aren't going to help him at all.  

  
  

  Me, too.

  
  

  Good luck tomorrow.

  
  

  Thank you. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• funchicken member

  November 2013

  I don't have any advice, but I just wanted to sympathize. I'm in the process of requesting an evaluation through the school system for DD1. We didn't qualify for any services when we had her evaluated at age 4, but I'm really hoping this time will be different given that we have a new diagnosis.

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