The results are in
I guess it's been a while since I updated. Sorry about that! There hasn't been much to report up to now. However...
Yesterday I met with the school's diagnostician to go over the results of the boy child's Full Individual Evaluation or FIE (all those tests he's been taking for the past couple of months). The short version of the story is that while they acknowledge it's likely he has Asperger's, they think that most of his difficulties in the school setting can be dealt with via general education. In other words, he does not qualify for special education at this time and will not have an IEP.
However, they absolutely did see certain deficits when it comes to his socialization, organization, emotional responses, etc. and they do want to address those. They just want to do it through general education first rather than plopping him straight into special ed. Both his teacher from last year and his teacher this year said they thought his problems could be handled through general education, so I think that was the major deciding factor. And we're okay with this.
We do still have an ARD meeting scheduled for November 10th, and at that meeting we'll discuss what measures the school will take in trying to help him. The recommendation in the FIE report is for him to attend social skills training with the school counselor, and also to get some "classroom coaching" to help him get organized and deal with situations that tend to cause a meltdown for him. And you know, that's what we really wanted. So if we can get that without going through special ed, so much the better.
It's been very interesting reading the report, because the diagnostics were so thorough. There were very few surprises -- we know he's above average in intelligence and is working above grade level academically, and we know about the social and organization problems. The only surprise, for me, was that the boy scored fairly high for depression. I had honestly never thought of him as depressed because he seems to have a fairly positive outlook on life, and because once he's done with a meltdown, he seems to pick up and go on as though it had never happened. So that's something we will definitely want to mention to Dr. H and keep an eye on from here on out. Depression combined with male adolescent hormones absolutely scares me to death, because I know all too well what the rates of suicide and attempted suicide are for that demographic. The very thought of it is terrifying. So I'm VERY glad we caught this now and will know to look out for it.
I have to say again how much I love the school my kids attend. I have never felt like I've had to fight them on anything when it comes to getting the boy what he needs to succeed. Even before we had any sort of evaluation done, they were willing to do what we asked and make accommodations for him. I honestly did not realize we had access to even MORE services, like social skills training, without an IEP. I'm thrilled that they are willing to take such measures with him just in the course of his regular education. And the diagnostician explained that if these extra measures don't seem to help, we can absolutely get an updated assessment and re-evaluate whether his needs would be better met in special ed. Particularly if he has difficulties when he starts middle school, which is our main concern.
So now we turn our attention to the girl child. She has always struggled with reading and writing, but her teachers in kindergarten and first grade assured us that she was within the expected range for her age/grade. Well, her second grade teacher feels differently. Even though we can tell the girl has made progress since last year, her teacher says she is below grade level and needs help. Which is fine, but the abruptness of that revelation was kind of jarring, particularly since it's something we've specifically asked about at every teacher conference we've had since she started kindergarten. Anyway, this is yet another thing that can be addressed through general education, apparently, and the girl is now in special reading classes, which she loves. One other little girl from her class is in them as well, so they get to go together to the reading room. And the girl child really likes the reading teacher. So that's all good. She does seem to be reading really well now and has only been taking the special classes for a week! Of course, we are happy to have her take them as long as she needs them, but she honestly doesn't seem that far behind to me.
So, that's the latest. I'll try to update more often from now on!
Yesterday I met with the school's diagnostician to go over the results of the boy child's Full Individual Evaluation or FIE (all those tests he's been taking for the past couple of months). The short version of the story is that while they acknowledge it's likely he has Asperger's, they think that most of his difficulties in the school setting can be dealt with via general education. In other words, he does not qualify for special education at this time and will not have an IEP.
However, they absolutely did see certain deficits when it comes to his socialization, organization, emotional responses, etc. and they do want to address those. They just want to do it through general education first rather than plopping him straight into special ed. Both his teacher from last year and his teacher this year said they thought his problems could be handled through general education, so I think that was the major deciding factor. And we're okay with this.
We do still have an ARD meeting scheduled for November 10th, and at that meeting we'll discuss what measures the school will take in trying to help him. The recommendation in the FIE report is for him to attend social skills training with the school counselor, and also to get some "classroom coaching" to help him get organized and deal with situations that tend to cause a meltdown for him. And you know, that's what we really wanted. So if we can get that without going through special ed, so much the better.
It's been very interesting reading the report, because the diagnostics were so thorough. There were very few surprises -- we know he's above average in intelligence and is working above grade level academically, and we know about the social and organization problems. The only surprise, for me, was that the boy scored fairly high for depression. I had honestly never thought of him as depressed because he seems to have a fairly positive outlook on life, and because once he's done with a meltdown, he seems to pick up and go on as though it had never happened. So that's something we will definitely want to mention to Dr. H and keep an eye on from here on out. Depression combined with male adolescent hormones absolutely scares me to death, because I know all too well what the rates of suicide and attempted suicide are for that demographic. The very thought of it is terrifying. So I'm VERY glad we caught this now and will know to look out for it.
I have to say again how much I love the school my kids attend. I have never felt like I've had to fight them on anything when it comes to getting the boy what he needs to succeed. Even before we had any sort of evaluation done, they were willing to do what we asked and make accommodations for him. I honestly did not realize we had access to even MORE services, like social skills training, without an IEP. I'm thrilled that they are willing to take such measures with him just in the course of his regular education. And the diagnostician explained that if these extra measures don't seem to help, we can absolutely get an updated assessment and re-evaluate whether his needs would be better met in special ed. Particularly if he has difficulties when he starts middle school, which is our main concern.
So now we turn our attention to the girl child. She has always struggled with reading and writing, but her teachers in kindergarten and first grade assured us that she was within the expected range for her age/grade. Well, her second grade teacher feels differently. Even though we can tell the girl has made progress since last year, her teacher says she is below grade level and needs help. Which is fine, but the abruptness of that revelation was kind of jarring, particularly since it's something we've specifically asked about at every teacher conference we've had since she started kindergarten. Anyway, this is yet another thing that can be addressed through general education, apparently, and the girl is now in special reading classes, which she loves. One other little girl from her class is in them as well, so they get to go together to the reading room. And the girl child really likes the reading teacher. So that's all good. She does seem to be reading really well now and has only been taking the special classes for a week! Of course, we are happy to have her take them as long as she needs them, but she honestly doesn't seem that far behind to me.
So, that's the latest. I'll try to update more often from now on!
posted by Miss Anthrope at 7:38 AM
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