December 15, 2011
Before leaving home at 9:45 AM I said a prayer. "Dear God, Please let things be the way you want them to be. I know that you will do what's best for Colton."
The meeting started off by saying Colton could benefit from 504 accommodations or an IEP.(an IEP is an Individualized Educational Program) Given the information the school had and that was given to them by us (by law they have to consider it) it was determined he would need an IEP. We discussed his strengths and weaknesses and discussed his interactions with peers at school. It was obvious he needed some help and we discussed his behavior in the classroom. It was very interesting to see how the teachers flip flopped on what they said though. Earlier in the year he was annoying other students and cheating and all of a sudden he was a model student. A couple weeks ago teachers complained his eyes looked glazed over and he appears drugged and when the school psychologist asked they all said he wasn’t that way? I am thankful we recorded the meeting. (With their permission) We then as a team had to decide on a placement in terms of diagnosis for him. We had to choose between behavior disorder, autism, and other health impaired. Behavior disorder was quickly eliminated and it left autism and other health impaired. I was fine with either label as long as he received services and felt either one fit. We then discussed his epilepsy because it could be playing a role into his behavior at school and we talked about the possibility of him having absence seizures which could affect his learning.
His teachers felt the autism label wasn’t appropriate because they claimed they never saw it in class, yet one of the teachers there had him as a high probability of autism on her evaluation. The only other teacher there that filled out an evaluation had him as low probability, but marked autistic behaviors down. I think they were looking for the stereotypical autistic child who flaps their hands all of the time. We all decided that the label “Other Health Impaired” fit the situation best because autism and epilepsy would fit under it. We are to have a meeting to determine his IEP (Individualized Educational Program) in January to try to find the right services to meet his needs.
I took the opportunity at the meeting to explain what it is like to have a child with autism and I am sure they have heard it before. I used the recent incident with being held back for two minutes after the bell rang at the end of the day. Colton carried on for almost an hour, yelling, crying, and hitting the table with his fist because he was upset over it. He felt it was something he did to get him held back instead of the actions of his peers so he took it personally. I explained for neurotypical people a couple minute delay is not a problem and we adjust, but for kids like Colton it can throw their entire day off. A couple of teachers looked shocked that he could react over something so small. I ended with telling the counselor that avoided calling me back that when something happens at school they do need to explain it to Colton so he understands. He is oblivious to everyone around him at times and doesn’t grasp how someone else’s actions could affect him. I explained that you can’t tell him to “deal with it” because he doesn’t know what it means. We explain the best we can at home about situations at school, but they need to do their part to ensure he understands it there too.
As for now, the school appears to want to cooperate with us and we will take what help we can get. It is hard to think that Colton needs special education given he is a very bright, creative child. I did learn that even some gifted children need services because they may have executive function issues and are turned down because they are “smart.” Sadly, parents don’t fight for their children because they believe what the school tells them which only hurts the child more. Colton is in no way gifted by measures on a standardized test, he is an average kid, but is gifted by God. I knew in my heart that we would be lead to the right answers and only had to be patient.
By the way, the school has still not implemented the “circle of friends” as they said they would October 5th. Apparently they are still working on it… The behavior plan brought up that same day? Non existent…..
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