educational diagnosis of ASD

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My son who is 6 is being evaluated through the special education co-op for special ed services. They are having the autism team come evaluate him along with their normal evaluations. My son is in first grade and having a really hard time with the pressures of the classroom and the work load. He melts down everyday at school. The school sees how much his sensory issues affect his school day.

My question is: Have any of your children gotten an educational diagnosis of ASD through your school district? How does that diagnosis help your child get the help that they need.
They are not done with all of his testing yet. I was going to have him evaluated through a private center, but our insurance wont cover the evaluation. Our pediatrician is finally realizing how hard my son works to function everyday at school. Last year his teacher was AMAZING so we did not see the problems last year that we have seen this year.
Thanks

My son's ASD diagnosis is from the school district only. We never followed up medically. For him, the challenges presented by his ASD were all at school, so the school based services and IEP were pretty much all we needed. With some nudging and pushing and strong parental advocacy along the way.

We also liked the idea that my son would someday have a say in if he wanted to keep the label or not. Now that he is 16, he is trying to decide for himself if he wants a medical diagnosis. Actually a kind of heavy decision to foist on a teenager, but at the same time he really appreciates that he has control over this aspect of his life. He knows he is ASD either way, with or without paper showing it, but the question is whether or not he wants other people to know it. I remember years ago reading posts from teens who totally wanted to disown their diagnosis so, for me, this was a way to accommodate that eventual possibility.

The downside is, I'm not sure he could get a medical diagnosis today. The standards are changing and, also, he covers up most of it so well now. Yet, that also means I can't see any reason he would need a medical diagnosis. He is going to be able to get and hold a job, I really don't have any doubts. Maybe not up to his full capacity, even though hopefully he will, but life doesn't owe anyone that.

My son is considered very high functioning, and that makes a difference. I think if his needs had been higher when he was younger, we would have pursued more. But they weren't, so we didn't. He is, in fact, now fully off IEP and only using a 504 to carry a computer to school for his writing assignments. He isn't doing as well off IEP as he was on IEP, but it is time for him to stand or fall on his own, and he wants to do just that. The school sees him as a star, one of the most successful IEP kids they've ever seen, even when I still see some unachieved capacity. And that is life, I guess. It's an OK place for him to be, and he has achieved so much that I never expected him to. Just I'm the parent, you know, and of course I push

Anyway. This is very much a per person decision. You know your child and you know what your school can and cannot provide. For us, this was our way of getting the best of both worlds, but time still has to prove us out on if that really is what we got.

Thank you for your reply. Your point of view makes me feel so much better about having the school evaluate him. I never thought about the fact that without a medical diagnosis he could drop the diagnosis if he wants to later on in life. I am not sure he will get the diagnosis through the school because he is very high functioning. His main struggles are : transitions, meltdowns, handling his emotions and self regulation, sensory and he is having a hard time with school work.

He struggles at home too but we are all learning how to help him deal with all of his struggles as a family. He knows he is different for sure already at 6 though. His anxiety over that makes his school day harder.

Most people, by the way, find it more difficult to get an ASD diagnosis from the schools than from the medical community. Basically, the school has more incentive not to give it than to give it. So if you can't get the label from the school team but decide you do want or need it, don't be afraid to pursue it independently.

I feel we were lucky. Hopefully, you will be, too.

Thank you!

still in the process of evaluations but wanted to check in. I found out from our behavioral therapist who was observing my son that the neuropsychologist was there the same day she was. He (psych) got to see the full scale of the troubling behaviors at school. I am glad that someone with input on the evaluation results got to see how my son struggles at school. Our behavioral therapist gave me an underlying characteristics checklist for high functioning autism and it was like he fit all the characteristics. She has been on the fence about the fact that he may be HFA but after she gave me that checklist she saw how many of the characteristics he actually does meet. She is just ready for the school to see it too. She is going to show them the checklist and try to get them to see he isn't just being a problem child.

You may want to inform your principal about the great teacher you had last year. Perhaps last years teacher will share what worked so well and even provide coaching to the new teacher. Perhaps you can have him switched to another teacher if last years has one to recommend.

You may want to inform your principal about the great teacher you had last year. Perhaps last years teacher will share what worked so well and even provide coaching to the new teacher. Perhaps you can have him switched to another teacher if last years has one to recommend.

Thanks! Last years teacher did conference with his teacher this year. His teacher this year doesn't look at it based on he can't handle it she looks at is a he choses to act out. There isn't a teacher available that doesn't think the same way I'm hoping after the evaluation comes back that they will have a new perspective on his behaviors. We filled out an underlying characteristics checklist with his behavioral therapist and she is going to show they school the behaviors known to be a problem in high functioning autism