What Parents Need To Know about Aspergers IEP…
Question:
Can you give me information on working with the school IEP for my child with Aspergers?
Answer:
When you have a child with Asperger’s, IEP negotiations are extremely important. As the parents, you hold a vital position on the IEP team and unfortunately, many parents often feel undermined and in some cases, bullied into accepting the opinions and terms decided by the educational staff. Your input is not only important, but also necessary in the development of a well-rounded IEP for your child.
In the days and weeks before your child with Aspergers’ IEP meeting, there are several things you can do to make the experience more pleasant and the outcome more positive. This IEP is imperative to your child’s future. Here is a list of suggestions for IEP preparation.
- Schedule private evaluations, if you desire. Medical evaluations, including medically referred psychological testing, will present a complete diagnostic picture. Educational evaluations are primarily geared towards diagnostics that affect only the specifics of the education process. These two diagnoses can be different. Without a medical evaluation and official medical diagnosis, your child may miss vital services.
- Request access to all updated evaluation reports before the IEP meeting in order to prepare for the meeting. You should not have to settle on glancing over the reports or hearing the results second-hand during the meeting.
- Know your child’s strengths and weaknesses so there are no big surprises during the IEP meeting. If you know your child’s abilities and weaknesses, you will be better prepared to request additional services when needed and not offered.
- Represent yourself as an equal member of the IEP team. Dress respectably, speak intelligently, and do not feel inferior. Yes, the other members are education professionals, but you are an expert in your child.
- Make notes, ask questions, and request clarification before and during the IEP meeting. When goals are set, be sure you understand the wording and that your thoughts are taken into consideration.
- Request time to review the IEP before signing. There is no reason to rush through this process. Take the IEP home, read over it, and make changes if necessary. Do not sign until you are sure your child has the best IEP possible.
When you have a child with Asperger’s, the IEP should be treated as the important document and process that it is. The IEP is the backbone to your child’s educational assistance. If you have any questions about appropriate goals or specific questions about the IEP process, there are many great resources available. This one, “How Well Does Your IEP Measure Up?” by Diane Twachtman-Cullen and Jennifer Twachtman-Reilly, is just one example.
Thanks,
Dave Angel
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Depending on where you live, you can bring a support person(s) with you to attend IEP meetings; ie. private hires: occupational therapist, speech pathologist, social worker. These people can also speak to you child’s needs in school and what adaptations may be necessary for your child’s success.
Comment by debbee heinrich — August 30, 2011 @ 9:45 am
I completely agree with this advice. As your child gets older, he/she will more likely need more services, not less. Because our guys are typically academically intact, the school will most likely tell you that they have met their obligation in providing an appropriate educational setting and pull back on the services. I watched my son struggle time and again with social interactions in the school, all the while requesting and being denied therapy services. We are now starting in an out of district placement, which may not have had to happen if the appropriate services had been kept in place.
Comment by Bari — August 30, 2011 @ 10:10 am
My son has an iep, he has aspergers and a few other things, but he may also have some kind of mood disorder, how can that be adressed in the iep so they can adress those issues. Thanks
Comment by Rachel Castrob3a9 — August 30, 2011 @ 10:48 am
My grandson goes to a special school and has a very caring teacher. When it’s time for a new IEP we have a private meeting where everything is explained and my opinions are also considered. She also tells what goals she is aiming for. The forms are then sent home for our perusal before signing. A copy is then sent home for our reference to keep. I am often told that my Matthew is teachers favourite. He can be quite a handful for me sometimes. He is 8yrs
I love your comments but being an aged pensioner I can’t afford to buy your books.
Comment by Glennis McPeake — August 30, 2011 @ 8:05 pm
we are having trouble even getting an iep for either of our children with aspergers. They keep saying that it doesn’t cause significant problems with learning!
Comment by nicole dodd — August 30, 2011 @ 10:43 pm
My comment is for Nicole Dodd, who commented on this post earlier this evening. Nicole, are you in the US? If so, what State do you live in? I currently live in South Dakota and went through quite an ordeal to get an IEP for my son with Aspergers. I called the State Dept of Education and talked to their Special Education person over my son’s school district and requested information from her. There was a book called “What Parents Need To Know About Special Education In South Dakota” which helped give me a lot of information, in plain English so parents could understand. Another VERY helpful resource was South Dakota Parent Connection (their website is http://www.sdparent.org/) They actually had a “navigator program” where a trained representative went with me to the IEP meetings, as my son’s Advocate, to ensure that my son’s rights and needs were met. They were my life saver! Your state may have something similar. Bottom line, YOU know your child better than anyone. You should have the right to request that a full multi-disciplinary screening be done on your child for an IEP due to Asperger’s. (Any medical reports or evaluations that support your concerns is beneficial.) If they DO a multi-disciplinary screening, then a Speech Therapist, Special Ed teacher, School Psychologist, Occupational Therapist and others may screen them to assess the needs of the individual child. This info, along with your input, should speak volumes. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!!
Comment by J Myers — August 30, 2011 @ 11:59 pm
you need to request an iep in writing for both you children to the school. I believe they have 10-14 days to set up a meeting with your children. Look up FAPE 504 on your computer it stands for Free Appropriate Public Education. You are in for a fight i’m going through it now. Use you computer as a tool and learn all you can about your rights before going into the meeting. Its the law you request it in writing they have to meet with you.
Comment by Donna Ellis — August 31, 2011 @ 8:43 am
Thanks for the wonderful info. My sons IEP is next week and this came at just the right time. Been doing this for 8 years now,(he is in the 10th grade) but I have always struggled with confidence and your words of encouragement is exactly what I need right now. Thanks so much.
Comment by Pauline Callahan — August 31, 2011 @ 9:26 am
For Nicole Dodd-My 17 yrs old was diagnosed at 14 and I wasn’t sure what he needed. So I made a list of the things I saw as problematic in his life, considered how that would effect him in the future, did my research about these behaviors as relates to AS just so I could be aware of his needs and not be in denial. Just as another comment stated, the needs and needs for services and support, increase as they get older. My son currently attends an independent study program (Charter School) which really caters to students individual needs. They have been very cooperative about the IEP. I have learned that because people see he is academically competent, I must speak to them in terms of his deficiencies that are problematic for a student his age. I use medical and educational terms when referring to his disability; terms like communication disorder, non-verbal communication disorder, difficulties with abstract thinking wich impairs creative writing, cognition, social skills, speech,perception, developmental disability,
Free Appropriate Public Education, etc. You can take the terms straight from the assessments and diagnosis you have on hand or go online to http://www.speechville.com/glossary.html. I pray that along with the other great advice given here, this helps and you get the services your children need.
I would also like to know more about your experience with two kids with AS. My 17 year old recently brought to light the quirkiness and obsessions of my 13 year old boy and said he may have mild Aspegers as well. When were your children diagnosed?
Comment by Tania Scott — August 31, 2011 @ 1:23 pm
I have a son with Aspergers and like Nicole, I was told he meet the education requirement and did not need an IEP but I stood my ground and faught for 2 year with his school to the point I called every week his last year at that school till I got an IEP meeting set up last year. I am proud to say that he is under an IEP this year for his Asperger not education purpose and he is doing better in school and has adjusted to school better than I thought he would . So all I can say for us as parents is to stand up and fight for children so they get what they need . If we do not noone else will. It is well worth the fight .
Comment by Tina Anderson — September 5, 2011 @ 5:41 pm
My son is currently in 2nd grade, age 7 and diagnosed PDD,NOS (along with ADHD and Mood Disorder, NOS). It is unfortunate that in our state (Indiana), the public school system does NOT acknowledge the “spectrum”, ONLY “autism”. Therefore, I spent the entire last school year pushing the jerks to test my child for SID (Sensory Intergration Disorder) and sure enough he scored high enough to receive a little bit more of (their) OT services. As a parent (whether mother or father) of a special child – it is our duty to speak for our children. I sat in several IEP and Case Conferences last year to the point where the public school laison told me to my face that if I did not like the program, I could withdraw my child at any time. What? I found it be a very rude and lazy response to my child’s needs … of all people, this “laison” would know that there is NO WHERE else to send my child because private schools do NOT have special education services. Homeschool? I walked away from my career 2 years ago with the intention of getting services in place for my son and returning to my job. Now I find myself “micro-managing” all those who come in contact with my child throughout his day.
My best advice for parent(s) attending IEP meetings – BRING SOMEONE WITH YOU. I bring our Wrap-around Caseworker (can not afford the private hire though I would LOVE the opportunity). Our caseworker is great and she shows ME support. I will NOT attend a meeting without her since I had one of my son’s school therapist tell the entire round table that “mom mislabeled the medication bottle and therefore, we overmedicated the child” … Really? I was speechless to the point where I could only shake my head and bite my tongue.
Comment by Christine Hire — September 6, 2011 @ 9:02 am
Its hard enough being the parent of a child with Aspergers. But no one has addressed the challenge of being an Aspergers parent of an Aspergers child!
Some one help, PLEASE!
I can’t deal with forms, meetings, anything. It’s all too hard!
Comment by Terri Sullivan — July 19, 2012 @ 12:49 pm
my son Zachariah has been the center of a lengthy custody/access battle in which he and his autism are being used AS PAWNS..can you give me any instruction as how to best help the courts see how damaging this is to him…i am a good father and his mom is a good woman although her untreated childhood trauma is affecting her ability to allow her to believe Zachariah needs his daddy and clouding her judgement…is there any advocacy groups for parents to access for family court and can you direct me to any studies published on this subject. we live in british columbia canada
Comment by zacks daddy — November 4, 2012 @ 3:00 pm
My 13 year old son was diagnosed 4 years ago with aspergers. In elementary school we tried to get an iep set for him but they said he don’t fall in their guide lines. Now he is in middle school and things are getting bad. He don’t do work at home or in school and after several meeting with the school we are no where. He is failing and the school won’t adjust to his needs. He is smart and knows the materials but getting it from his brain to the paper is nearly impassable. I don’t know what to do. Naturally he has all the other fristrations of switching classes and being scocialy oqward. He is severally depressed because other kids pick on him and now it feels like the teachers are to. He always says he hates his life and things he use to enjoy he don’t anymore. Hume being overweight I am sure has a lot to do with it also. What should his school be doing to help him get it from his brain to the paper? Can I make them do all tests and homework verbal? I really need help here.
Comment by Nicole — November 28, 2014 @ 7:31 am