- Advocacy (fighting for my kids with the school and WINNING)
- Encouraging & Supporting Other Moms
- Educating Moms Who Haven't Had as much Experience
- Forgiving Judgmental Ignorance
- New and Creative Ways to Parent my Children
- PATIENCE
- Long Suffering
- PATIENCE
- No Longer Judging a Parents Abilities Based on the Behaviors of their Child.
- PATIENCE
- Tolerance of Messy play (I hate it when my kids get dirty)
- Facing Confrontation
- AND MORE PATIENCE! lol
My Oldest son is 9, and he was Diagnosed with PDD-NOS when he was 4 years old by a State Psychiatrist from the Regional Center. sadly because he was over age 3, they offered him no interventions, and didn't give me any advice on what to do, what not to do. They just threw a diagnosis at me and said "have a Nice Day"! So I have fought with the school districts for 5 years, FINALLY Got him an IEP after he had 1 full year of Pre-K, and 1 full (6 hour day) of Kindergarten, and STILL could not name the alphabet or write his letters :o(
But then 6 months later we moved, he went into a 3 hour per day Kinder Class and had an AMAZING teacher! Who coincidentally moved with him to 1st Grade! A match made in heaven right?! FINALLY a Teacher that understands my CHILD!!! Well the school thought so too! Sadly they expressed it in the form of guilt-ed me into exiting from his IEP because it was a Burden to the school, and "he was academically on target so he didn't need resource" And I was assured that "If he starts to fall behind it can be re-opened at any time"
Well, 3 months later, as the school work got more difficult and the days felt longer, he started going right back to square one! So of course I insisted that his IEP be re-opened and I was told "Sorry, you have to wait a full year" So yes, I was lied to, and my son suffered because of it. I continued to fight until I used the magic words
I WANT A FULL ASSESSMENT.
requesting a New IEP got me no where, they gave him a 504 and it was a Joke...they kept modifying and modifying until he was doing NO work in class, and was an emotional basket case. Always in trouble, and chose to go and sit in the principals office for the majority of the day because it was quieter, less stimulating and less stressful.
The we had the assessment, and even though the Psychological Evaluation showed:
- A Severe Visual Perceptual Deficit
- A Severe Slow PSI (Processing Speed Index) His more than 2 standard deviations lower than his WMI Working Memory Index which is a HUGE red flag!
- Severe Attention Problems
"Further testing should be considered to identify a Handicapping Condition in light of the Slow Processing Speed and short attention span coupled with Visual perceptual deficit"
Yet, The final Conclusion was this:
Even though he had a Diagnosis of PDD-NOS (auto qualifier for an IEP) and ADHD (another auto qualifier under OHI Other Health Impairment) He was Non-Eligible for an IEP Simply because his "disabilities" were Not affecting his academic achievement. (in short he wasn't behind in school so too bad) And that it was the "opinion" of the examiner that it was "behavior problems and lack of motivation"
Can you imagine my Reaction? LOL.....The Claws Came out! I took that report home, and spent an entire week researching the law and the test scores and what they meant, called a NEW meeting, had a District Head there, and to my Great Satisfaction the District Head of Special Education agreed with ME! and ordered more Extensive Testing including an ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale) and a Full OT (Occupational Therapy) assessment.
Once we received the results of the ADOS he was automatically Identified as a Child with Autism, and they moved him into an Autism Program at a New school. Since he has been there he is thriving SOOOOO Much that he is testing at almost GATE (gifted) levels! We are still waiting for the OT assessment to be completed, but for now...He is safe, Happy and LOVING school!
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