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Hey there, for those of you with little ones in school. Are your children identified as special needs in school and if so what services or supports besides an educational assistant are they receiving. I have an IPRC meeting with the school tomorrow regarding my six year old and want to know what I should be requesting (what he is entitled to). Meaning OT, etc. His diagnosis is PDD-NOS / Asperger's

With all due respect, you need more time than a day to decide what to negotiate for your child. It depends on; what your child needs, what the school has, and how much you know about special ed. For instance, my son is autistic and considered (just) in age range in Speech. His sensory issues are minor but he has them enough to require patience and attention. It really depends on what observations have been made about your child. My son can have tantrums and/or not be able to participate because 1)he hasn't understood what the directions are or 2)he's having a sensory issue or 3)he has underlying anxiety that is distracting him.
There are various remedies for each issue that all of us have to figure out. We still rely on visual reminders for things and "sensory breaks", ie walks on the schoolyard during class. I would ask for thorough observation and communication to provide useful information for his development.
Some things have to be tweaked in the school year, something to remember. My son has always been special needs in school, though last semester they were labeling him "general ed" and he missed a lot of special ed resources. We had to pull him out of school in order for them to see their mistake and correct it.

Hmm I'm not sure you can genralise as to what a child needs I think you need to know them before you can start advising what to ask for every kid is different, I would ask the school what is on offer and ask for a review date to be set evan if its informal of whatever you decide in tomorrows meeting.
keep us updated on what happens.

Thanks Kim, you made me feel like a stellar parent! What I'm trying to figure out is what our entitlement is. He has been attending school for two years now, integrated in a regular class with one on one support. He is not in need of speech therapy as we addressed that ourselves privately. He has all visual schedules in place etc. However, at this point in time he is struggling with fine motor. Because of his diagnosis they are allocating 8 visits from an OT per school year. If his greatest delay at this momment is Fine motor would he not be entitled to more? The OT acts as a consultant and the school's responsible for the actual therapeutic practise. Why have an IPRC meeting at all to identify him if they now what's going on? I just want to know as a parent what I can expect the school to do for him given the current situation.

I'm not sure what an IPCR meeting is, we have what is called IEP meetings. An IEP is when the team sits down and identifies area of concerns ( after testing) and writes the plan of goals, who will be responsible and min's. In our school district a child can not receive OT unless the child is identified CD or MR which depends on the childs IQ. The only special service a child can receive without the CD or MR label is speech. My son needed OT from day one( entering the public school ) and did receive it through his MR/DD pre school and we have taken him to a private OT but did not start getting it at school until end of 2nd grade when the gap was bigger and I demanded retesting him. I don't know if this helps at all. Also, I would ask for a scripe, If your child has fine motor delay's. This will come in handy for long writing assignments. Your child might not need it now but later when they expect long assignment it will. I would also talk about using a computer for assignment. When a child has issues with fine motor putting 10 spelling words in sentences can be a bear. If scripe is in the plan than you at home can write for him when he gets tired. My son's Ot has always said make him write just until it gets sloppy after that no one is doing him any good.

it's hard to say what your child needs without any details....my son goes to a therapeutic day school & has CBT 1-2 times a week. My daughter goes to regular ed & sees the social worker to work on social skills..............i have students on the spectrum who receive a wide variety of services depending on their needs~some get OT, some get Speech, some get PT...most of them do not have an individual aide.

Mums, all four of us are givng the same advice and saying basically the same thing. I'm not digging into you at all, just stating that you need to assess your son's individual needs and then present that at the meeting. "What" your child is "entitled" to is largely based on where you live and what your son's needs are. The school is unlikely to offer anything.
We gave "for instance" examples that you can use as a guideline if you want. But don't assume that because your son doesn't need a particular service (Speech therapy as you say) that it goes overlooked in the plan. If he has a history of Speech Delay, he needs to be assessed to make sure he continues to be in age range.
"For instance", my son has significant speech delay and received therapy in preschool. But we discontinued it in Kindergarten, opting for an in class assessment and implementation. (the therapist assessed him during class, not pulling him out and then making suggestions to school staff)
However, we have to make sure that the paperwork has it noted that he has speech delay and he's entitled to assessments and therapy, when needed.