Diagnosis for future accommodations?

Page 1 of 1 [ 4 posts ] 

LillyDale
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 31 Mar 2015
Posts: 90
Location: US

13 May 2015, 7:41 pm

The daughter's therapist did her Asperger's evaluation with the assistance of a Psychiatrist she knows. My concern is if this diagnosis is official enough for things my daughter might need in the future.

Right now she is home schooling high school and our state has no method for considering disability or creating IEPs for home school students. We are only required to do an 8th grade state test and take either the SAT or ACT in 11th grade. We were able to arrange things with the testing company to do the test at home, online and without the normal time limits. That worked, she rocked that test :D

My concern is in the future as she looks at college, as an adult as a worker or if she decides she needs other services. What is considered an "official" diagnosis that would be accepted for accommodations in college? Things like needing your own dorm room (no room mate), accommodations on tests or similar. She has a therapist and a psychiatric nurse who works under a psychiatrist whom she has never seen. The nurse can put the test results into her main medical file with the health system but what is it that is asked for to prove someone has Asperger's in order to get help? The therapist said she has given diagnoses before and has about a 50-50 rate of having whatever entity accept it from her.



cakedashdash
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 14 Oct 2014
Gender: Female
Posts: 129

14 May 2015, 6:54 am

Check with your insurance co some insurance cover costs
you might have to pay out of pocket
the sooner the better since your child is older you will be put on a waiting list most likely at least a year.

You could also find a local school where she could stay close to home.
Some colleges allow students to take courses in high school. You could attend a class with your child or to as a way to help prepare your child for college.



DW_a_mom
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Feb 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 13,687
Location: Northern California

18 May 2015, 3:16 pm

I noticed two "requirements" when we put together the disability papers for the college board (SAT, AP testing, etc), and so far looking at the disability office pages for colleges, it seems to be similar:

An evaluation that is no more than 3 years old.
A history of evaluations that all show the same thing.

The further back you can document the existence of the disability, the more likely it is that they will accept the process that came up with the diagnosis. And you have to update it all regularly, for some reason that makes no sense to me, but so it goes.

My son's report includes select copies of the reports from his IEP evaluations during school, and a new assessment done by the psychologist who wrote the report. He is shown as having ASD and dysgraphia, and both have been consistently documented since he was 7 (although the word dysgraphia was rarely used, the components to it are often referenced). The psychologist did not specifically re-test for ASD, but did reference it and include testing that was consistent with it; since the goal accommodation my son wanted was to type all written testing, the focus of her testing was the dysgraphia.

We asked for extended time on written work, and a typing accommodation. Both were granted for the SAT et al.

My son goes to college in the fall and plans to submit the report used for the college board to his universities disability office. He most likely will not ask for any accommodations up front, but he wants it all on record so that he can get accommodations when and if needed. He decided not to ask for a single room; there are very few and they cost quite a lot more; but he definitely considered his ASD needs when deciding what type of housing to request (they have a variety of situations including dorms, small student homes, two bedroom (4 student) apartments that can be combined with a shuttle to dorm cafeterias, etc). Obviously, I don't know yet that this report will be all it takes, but I honestly can't see why it wouldn't be: the college board is much more difficult to get past than any school, from what I've heard.


_________________
Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).


LillyDale
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 31 Mar 2015
Posts: 90
Location: US

20 May 2015, 11:25 pm

DW_a_mom wrote:
I noticed two "requirements" when we put together the disability papers for the college board (SAT, AP testing, etc), and so far looking at the disability office pages for colleges, it seems to be similar:


I hadn't thought of needing documentation for SAT/ACT but that certainly makes sense!
I am sure she will need some accommodation for either one. Taking the test online from home and having additional time helped get her through her 8th grade state tests.