Does the IEP classification matter?

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We moved to a new school district and had DS8's triannual eval done early, including a full neuro psych eval. The IEP is going to take 2-3 meetings to get through all the reports and goals. At the end of the first meeting, the director of special ed said they were planning to offer to keep him in his current placement for this year, a non public school for kids with AS. Yay! They may try to develop their own high-functioning special day class for next year.

One question that was raised was whether to keep his primary eligibility classification as autism, or change it to Other Health Impaired/ADHD. (Our advocate said he might also qualify for a secondary classification under Specific Learning Disorder due to his test scores in visual processing and struggle in learning to read.). The main reason seemed to be that the speech therapist didn't find any issues with his language (I agree) or his pragmatics (he sailed through the Test of Pragmatic Language, but can't navigate a situation where you have to choose a partner and work together.). Also, his extreme motor output and emotional reactivity are the biggest barriers to him being in general ed. I often think the ADHD traits cause him more problems than the ASD ones.

Does it matter how they classify him?

it matters if you find out he needs more later on, and it matters to the district cause almost always, Autism classification costs them the MOST $ and they don't like it. SO, they try to tell you all the reasons your child should NOT be classified as Autism, but I would leave it as is. he is only 8, as he grows he may have more issues with social demands and more complex communication with peers, and you will want him to have every thing possible ready to help him! Where we live, the autism classification gives you parent trainer hours too, which who would not want that kind of help?? I say keep the classification, and even FIGHT to keep it if necessary!

According to the law, it's based on individual need, not classification. Unfortunately, MMJMom is right. In practice, the classification determines what they feel they need to spend on a child. In some schools, they have certain defaults like "ASD kids go to the specia l ASD class." This practice also goes against IDEA, specifically the requirement for a Least Restrictive Environment, as determined by individual needs. Clinically, a kid may continue to have autism, while remaining in a mainstream classroom with a few minor supports. It is possible for children to lose an autistic disorder diagnosis, and get bumped up to PDD-NOS, but I think it's very unlikely that a kid who really was on the spectrum to improve so much that they are off the spectrum entirely. If you believe that the ASD diagnosis was correct at some time, and that he has just made a lot of progress, then you should hang on to it with the school, in case anything else happens in the future. For example, the social rules will change throughout school, and if he really is on the spectrum, he may have trouble adapting to some of that. You may then want to get support for social skills training, which may be difficult if he only has a "learning disability".

It is supposed to depend on need... but in our school district they literally have lists of services broken out by official diagnosis. And even if something is on your list they try REALLY HARD not to give it to you. This is partly why our disgnosing psychologist gave us the diagnosis of autism rather than aspergers. Aspergers really isn't taken seriously, at all, and the list of services has almost nothing on it. I'm not sure where we would be at right now if she hadn't done that- I had no clue how significant that was at the time. Thanks to her doing that we were able to get a full time aid in the classroom...

I had to have my iep removed in high school because they kept trying to demote me from honors classes right down to remediated classes. I'm on the high end of HFA/aspie. My sister had hers removed prior to applying to college because she was worried it would reduce her chances of getting in. For me the diagnoses gave me the ability to take tests in the teacher's office instead of the classroom, have extended test time, and have more lenience on homework due dates. I could also excuse myself from overstimulating class situations (but not assemblies). I was not given accommodation on the ACT including when a wall section covered in black mold fell in and triggered an allergic reaction.

For those who are lower functioning or need a one on one it is essential, but be aware they will usually be shuffled off to "day care corner" and they will not receive an education worth note. At least if it was like my school, and my school has the best special needs services in the area, others were much worse. This is not to say the special ed staff do not try to work with the kids, but they are contending with kids who are very, very unmanageable and the teachers are all general ed / special ed as opposed to math for math, English for English ect.

it depends on the district.

Autistic kids are entitled to OT, PT, speech and other various forms of help. It is a developmental disorder and protected under federal law. School districts consider Autism the biggest money pit of all, because they are federally mandated to provide services. You kid needs PT, the school is mandated to provide it.

The OHI is kids with tube feedings, diabetes, asthma etc. Severe medical issues. Entirely different thing.

Fight like hell to keep the Autism diagnosis. You will NEVER get it back or the services you are entitled to. Remember the school only cares if your kids is functioning. That can be D level work because D is passing. With supports, your kid can get an A or a B. No supports, maybe lower grades, but still marginally passing. Schools always side on less money spent. To them passing is passing.

Also remember middle school can be a total train wreck. Transitions anyone? Multiple classes, hoards of people. Hormones. Higher expectations. Teachers that may really not giving a s**t,, because *your pain in the ass kid* is one of the 180 mutants he has to deal with. With no legal gun to his head, why should he?

If middle school years go to hell, high school is just a holding pattern until they can legally drop out at 16.

Keep it the diagnosis until he hits high school then reevaluate.

I would think it would be valuable to keep it at least through middle school. Socially elementary is like a well tended park, compared to middle school. Middle school is more like a jungle filled with wild animals.

Personally, I am very happy to have the autism IEP for my Junior High HFA son, but his executive functioning, writing speeds, and processing speeds are big issues for him. He is in mostly what they call "Co-teach" classes, where they have a science, math, history, English teacher in front of the class, but they have an extra teacher and sometimes an aide, also, going around the room helping the kids, the class size is limited to no more than 15, and usually is less like 5-10. They do the same Core Curriculum, but not honors/AP type work and it is cut to the bare bones as far as homework and classwork goes. Which works for him, because he is so slow that he has to bring home a lot of homework with just those classes. Fully mainstream classes would be hitting him with 3-4 times as much work. He does see kids that aren't on the spectrum, as most of the kids in the co-teach classes are only there for 1 or maybe 2 classes. It also allows him to be in the adapted PE classes with other Aspies and high functioning Auties, who all have similar coordination skills as he does. I am very glad for him to be in that particular class.

I like that he isn't just thrown to the wolves of the 800+ student body, as he self-describes as a Paladin. He almost got into a fight on the bus this year. He rides one bus by himself from Junior high to the local elementary, and then another bus with his brother and our neighbor home. A big 9th grader (my son is big for his age, but this kid was even bigger) came along the outside of the bus slapping everyone's windows yelling at them to shut the windows (it was a hot day). Everyone is scared of this guy, and immediately put there windows up. My son, said "No, it's hot and this is my window. You're not the bus driver, so you have no authority over me." The kid came on the bus, leaned over my son and shut his window. My son immediately re-opened it. The kid has already turned and started walking down the aisle, apparently thinking he had cowed my son, but turned to come back (and this is where I figure a fight would have broken out started by the other kid, but my son is definite finisher once you get him riled, as his brother well knows), but the bus driver got on the bus just then and told the kid to sit down back in his seat. I strongly suspect that if he was in fully mainstream that those kinds of interactions would happen way too often, because my son sees no reason to compromise what he is doing to accommodate bullies, and he is very much a rule follower (and makes sure he knows all the written rules). The small classes and higher adult supervision levels are good for him. He's socializing with various kids, but in a pretty safe environment.

Of course if my son was an academic high achiever that could handle all the AP classes, it would be a much different story, and much more difficult situation. I think every person has a point where things get hard for them academically. Some people don't hit that until they are in college (which is hard on them, because then they don't know how to study--speaking from personal experience on that one). Some people hit it in elementary. For my son it was 6th grade. Up until that point he had mostly sailed through, and found everything pretty easy, except math which he had had to work at. Up until that point, I would never would have considered these resource and co-teach classes an option, so there is another point in favor of keeping the autism IEP until at least middle school, because when I put him into public school this year, he didn't have be placed in mainstream, wait until he had failed academically, and then be moved to those classes. He was automatically on the take this seriously radar of the special ed staff, and placed where they thought he would have the most success. (I agree with someone from a few posts back that special ed is all about successes and creating more of them, while mainstream is all focused on faults and improving them, regardless of how amazing it is that the child is only having minor faults in that setting.) The writing, research, and independence requirements all take a leap in middle school. If he can handle that well, then he can probably handle the rest pretty well.

About Autism and honors classes.

My district you can be twice gifted. You can have Autism and be in the gifted and talented program. The district must make accommodations for you to function at that level.
It is so hard to keep an Autistic kid out of general education classes here. You literally have to be fairly violent to get bounced to the "special ed" classes.

As for college, I would be so up front that I have Aspergers. They can NOT hold that against you, if you meet all the other admission requirement. You can get special accommodations for testing that is not give to the general student body. Universities also like a diverse student population. Seriously, I see no down side to putting that on an application.

If you crash and burn, the college is not held liable. You did not disclose you had a developmental disorder. They are not mind readers. Remember, at college you have ALL the adult responsibilities. Feed, clothe, handle your affairs AND have a full course load. And deal with other humans who may or may not be nice or fair.

My thinking is, if you really need to be independant with handling all aspects of your life

-getting things done in a timely fashion
-can prioritize
-how to deal with people problems
-not isolate excessively
-have anxiety/depression/OCD to a bare minimum
-minimize meltdowns or know your triggers

If you can do the above, I probably wouldn't disclose. Remember a high percentage of NTs bomb out their freshman year. If you can stack the deck in your favor, which you are legally entitled to, why not?

Just another point of view....

An autism classification on the IEP puts a floor on minimum services, it does not mean the child can't be mainstreamed and even for a declassified child who is entitled to extra time on tests, it goes against the way schools are used to doing things and might take getting used to and a bit of pressure to get honors classes. They're surprised a child who needs anything extra would want or be capable of the challenge. I can't explain that, but it's true.

If you can keep the autism classification, it potentially offers more and communicates the reality better. OHI can be anything including medical and explains nothing. There is no service he would be entitled to with an OHI or LD classification that he could not get with a classification of autism.

School districts are very different from each other. I would keep the AU diagnosis for that reason alone. Even if they give you everything thing you want now, you could move into another district in the future, or your current district could change policies.

Our district does not have a floor of services you are guaranteed to get for a given diagnosis. They have standard things they test, in their half-*##ed standard way, for each suspected diagnosis. It may be that if your language communication skills do not initially qualify you for speech, you will also not initially qualify for AU, but this is no guarantee you will get to keep speech, merely b/c you have an AU diagnosis. That said, they will acknowledge 2e (twice exceptional) if you know enough to bring it up, and they know enough not to claim that good grades means no help is needed. YMWV

If "Other Health Issues/ADD" doesn't sound like a good fit, I would not agree to it. You can have a dual diagnosis of AU/ADD if that seems helpful to you and of course AU and ADD share executive function issues, and such, anyway. Is the OHI supposed to be the dyslexia? If so, I would get that spelled out specifically. I think the social aspects would be enough to warrant keeping AU, and if you have behavioral issues relating to social confusion, in the future, AU might give him a measure of protection. Even if you are not having behavioral issues now, you never know what will come up in the future. Even if your child isn't the issue, another more socially savvy child could try to place blame.

Interesting topic from a UK perspective as nothing is guaranteed here, even with a diagnosis of ASD.

In the States, you need to know your rights and fight like hell to get them.

Nothing is guaranteed here per say, AU kids are entitled to things if they need them. That's if you can prove it and jump through the hoops. It's the federal law that makes the schools move their collective asses. Start lawyering up and watch them take notice.

Some districts are dog crap, and if it's in an impoverished area, know the parents are too beat down and poor to mount much of a battle.

Where the UK shines is all the adult services for HFA/Aspie adults. You may not consider them much. We have NOTHING! Period.

If you derail enough here, you get punt to psychiatry (if you can afford it), but that only addresses the anxiety/depression/OCD issues. Nothing about the Autism problems like TOM or executive functioning skills.

Kids get the bulk of the services in the States. Adult Aspies are SOL if they can't cope.

Nothing is guaranteed for any label in the US, though I suppose it's hard for schools to refuse services to blind and deaf students, though I believe there may be variation in how much support is offered even in that situation. We have testing through schools and that done privately, and even with a label of ASD or ADHD or dyslexia, or whatever may be the issue, the school district decides if there is an educational disability. If you move, the new district gets to meet and decide again if the child needs any services or not.

I think that the schools tend to take an ASD diagnosis more seriously. I know this is two different schools that I have dealt with, but when my oldest was beginning Kindergarten, he was definitely disabled and unable to effectively access the curriculum fully. (Example: He still held his pencil in a fist, with his thumb against the paper and used his entire arm to move it when it started Kindergarten.) His issues were much more severe then than they are now. He didn't have an ASD diagnosis at the time. He had several other diagnoses that were each diagnosing an aspect of autism. I had a terrible time getting him an IEP with the school, even though he had had an early education version of an IEP, called IFSP or something like that since he was two. Even after he had the IEP, it was difficult to get him the services he needed. He was not a behavior problem and they were happy to let him float along being ignored.

Now with his issues even less visible. I suspected that it would be impossible to get him what he needed, so I tried again to get a diagnosis that acted as an umbrella to all the other diagnoses whatever that diagnosis was. I suspected ASD, but just described him and let the diagnostician bring it up. The diagnosis was like the catalyst to get the school to listen. It gave me access to the special ed department, which has the mind set to take things like processing speed and executive functioning deficits seriously, as opposed to the counseling department (like I have to deal with at the Middle School for my middle child, which seems to be entirely focused on how fast can we get you out of our hair and not have to think about this kid anymore).