[vent] School doesn't believe autism diagnosis

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My 7 year old son was diagnosed with autism by an independent psychologist, not one associated with the school system. He wasn't referred by the school either. It was something that his therapist saw in him, and I agreed. This year he has been having trouble with reading, so I inquired about getting an IEP to address the issues that I couldn't seem to help him with. I was met with resistance. They tell me that they have read the diagnosis and that it's like 2 different children. They are basically saying they don't believe this diagnosis. Then they tell me he is in fact doing great in his classes. He doesn't have a reading problem.
I counter that he is in RTI for reading now. I say that he scored at the 20% for reading, below average. His teacher told me he was reading at a grade level behind. And on the weekly reading comprehension test he scores a C or D EVERY SINGLE TIME. She stammers around and says she'll look into this. But for the past 2 plus months she has been "collecting data".
This isn't the first instance where the school tells me to basically not ask for help for my child. I ask for help in social situations and they tell his therapist he doesn't have a social problem. Meanwhile, his therapist is sitting there and he either won't respond to her at all, or acts very immature for his age, or flaps his hands/snaps his fingers. Nooo, he doesn't have autism (sarcasm).

Every time the school pulls this s**t with me I just don't know what to do. I question if I am crazy. Did I make this up in my head? Am I harming my child?

Has anyone else experienced this and what did you do? Where do I go from here? I'm mostly just venting, but if you have any advice, I'll take it.

In the end, I told the special ed teacher that I didn't really care what his label was, I just wanted him to show improvement on these areas. But really, who is she to question his diagnosis anyways? How professional is this? She has a masters degree at best, and it's not in a field where she can diagnosis children.

I did not have this problem b/c in our case, it was extremely apparent. They made some initial noise about wanting to video tape him in multiple settings, first, but it was clear enough that they did not choose to waste their time in that way.

Unfortunately, you are probably going to have to have to request (in writing) that they do an educational evaluation since they are apparently unwilling to initiate the process.

Edit to add links:

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/child.find.mandate.htm
http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/law/idea ... bpartd.pdf


(Bold is used for emphasis (by me) so you can see most relevant parts)

Evaluations and Reevaluations
§
300.301 Initial evaluations.
(a) General. Each public agency must conduct a full and individual initial evaluation, in accordance with §§300.305 and
300.306, before the initial provision of special education and related services to a child with a disability under this part.
Request for initial evaluation. Consistent with the consent requirements in §300.300, either a parent of a child or a public agency may initiate a request for an initial evaluation to determine if the child is a child with a disability.
(c) Procedures for initial evaluation
. The initial evaluation
--
(1)
(i) Must be conducted within 60 days of receiving parental consent for the evaluation; or
(ii) If the State establishes a timeframe within which the evaluation must be conducted, within that timeframe; and
(2) Must consist of procedures
--
(i) To determine if the child is a child with a disability under §300.8; and
(ii) To determine the educational needs of the child.
(d) Exception. The timeframe described in paragraph (c)(1) of this section does not apply to a public agency if
--
(1) The parent of a child repeatedly fails or refuses to produce the child for the evaluation; or
(2) A child enrolls in a school of another public agency after the relevant timeframe in paragraph (c)(1) of this section has begun, and prior to a determ
ination by the child’s previous public agency as to whether the child is a child with a
disability under §300.8.
(e) The exception in paragraph (d)(2) of this section applies only if the subsequent public agency is making sufficient
progress to ensure a prompt completion of the evaluation, and the parent and subsequent public agency agree to a specific
time when the evaluation will be completed. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1414(a))
§300.302 Screening for instructional purposes is not evaluation. The screening of a student by a teacher or specialist to determine appropriate instructional strategies for curriculum implementation shall not be considered to be an evaluation for eligibility for special education and related services. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(1)(E))
§300.303 Reevaluations.
(a) General. A public agency must ensure that a reevaluation of each child with a disability