This year my twins started middle school and I just can't believe how different things are at the middle school level!!!
The boys have been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, one of them was diagnosed 3 years ago. My other son was given an improper diagnosis of ADHD and Opitional defiant disorder a year ago, and it has since been changed to Asperger's syndrome this year, when we saw a different psychiatrist that specializes in Autistic disorders. The weird thing about that is the old psychiatrist diagnosed one twin with Asperger's, and then the following year he diagnosed his identical twin with sever ADHD (mostly because my son was on concerta and Zoloft for a short time, and it seemed to help him a little) and ODD(At the time the diagnosis was made my son was taking Zoloft and was having awful rages, after we took him off the Zoloft the rages went away) The behaviors and issues are identical, other than my one son has some anger issues.
The other weird thing is that 3 years ago the Psychiatrist evaluated my son for about 20 minutes, and he looked me right in the eye and told me he had Asperger's. I just took his word for it but I have since went back and looked at what he actually diagnosed my son as, and what he wrote was PDDNOS rule out Asperger's/rule out ADD/ADHD...WTH???
I decided back in the Elementary level not to give the school the boy's actual written diagnosis, and they were fine with that. They always treated the boys as if they has Asperger's regardless of having a paper telling them that they had it. This was a non-issue at the Elementary level, as their issues were and are pretty obvious. The boys were tested through the school and were both found to have learning disabilities, and they both have IEP's and a behavior plans...etc..Their offical label with the school is learning disabled, and that has never been an issue until this year. So basicly until the school has the actual diagnosis in their hands they don't believe you. Plus they don't have to accept the diagnosis that your psychiatrist gives, if their school psychologist does not find your child to have Asperger's...WTH???? I am still shocked over this!
I told the special resource teacher at the start of the school year that both boys are Asperger's, however there is no evidence of this in the IEP..but their issues are pretty obvious.
At the start of the year there was a major issue with my one son, and he made a empty threat agaist this particular teacher. At the time he made the threat he was under a lot of stress and was made to sit in a chair while 2 adults stood over him and yelled at him. This event happened after several other incidents when my son was not handled properly when he began to have emotional meltdowns. I had spoken to this person several times about how to handle my son in situations like this. Many phone calls had been made back and forth between this person and I, most of them after the school day was over. After this event took place I was never called!!!
The next day my son was pulled into an office by this person and the assistant principal. They went on to tell my son that he was going to be taken to a juvenile detention center because of what he did...at which time he began to beg and sob not to be taken. Then they called the school police office on the speaker phone, and then told my son he was coming to get him and take him to JJC..but if my son promised to never do that again they would not come and get him..but if he got in any more trouble he would be taken there ASAP! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I was never called..NEVER!!! Nothing came home about the incident until the following week..my son was finally able to communicate to me what happened, and when I called to talk to the person that it happened with, she acted like she did not know what I was talking about!!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! This entire incident should have never happend!! NEVER!!!
I am so frustrated with the special resource teacher!! My boys complain about her on a daily basis, this has never happened before. The boys have always liked all of their teacher's and or aides until this year. The boys tell me that she yells at them when they are alone with her, and that she grabs my one son by his wrist and makes him go into her resource room when he is in trouble. The boys are telling me that she picks on them all the time..for instance if they are running to the lunch line along with other kids they are singled out and punished. The boys are not allowed to ask question in class, because sometimes they ask irrelevant questions...arghh! Both boys have told me that at different times someone will come over and force their hand down when they have it raised to ask a question...WTH???? The list goes on..believe me!
So one day a week ago I was talking to this resource teacher and I told her that we finally had my son's diagnosis of Asperger's. At which time I merely asked her how many children she has worked with that had Asperger's syndrome, and what kind of training she had with Autistic disorders..at which time she became VERY upset and told me that I was asking inapporpriate questions and that I would have to speak to her superiors about her credientials and she set up a meeting..WTH???
We had our meeting yesterday and she tried to make an ass out of me by spouting off her educational creditals..none of which sounded like any specific training in autistic disorders to me. I gave them the diagnosis that the Nurse had typed out for me just explaining the axis diorders, but it was not signed by the doctor...sigh! So you zeroed in on that right away! I have a 6 page diagnosis about my son and most of it is social history and issues he has with his father and it is private and none of their business. So she made sure to tell us that he does not have Asperger's according to them!!! I was like WTH??? I took time to make a list of my son's issues and some solutions for behavior problems, most of which I got off the web and from a few books I have about Asperger's, She would not even look at the list even after I mentioned it several times that I wanted to go over it to help them deal with my son. They started a functional behavioral assesment back in December and it still is not done and wn't be until March....The funny thing is there was plenty of time to have a meeting about her credientials, but no time to go over how to help my son!! Nice eh? I insisted that we go over some key points, so we finally did...all of my suggestions were praised by the principal and she actaully made this teacher go over my 3 key points on my solutions page. Since when does the school not want parental suggestions???? Then at the close of the meeting the teacher made sure to tell us once again that my son is still considered learning disabled..cause the letter was signed by the RN...WTH??? She also made sure to tell us that he will be treated like he is learning disabled until she sees the actual paper telling her otherwise!!
I am just beside myself!!
FYI:
The school Psycologist is currently evaulating my son for Asperger's syndrome as well.
Plus I have been taking a parent advocate to all my meeting with the school!
The boys have been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, one of them was diagnosed 3 years ago. My other son was given an improper diagnosis of ADHD and Opitional defiant disorder a year ago, and it has since been changed to Asperger's syndrome this year, when we saw a different psychiatrist that specializes in Autistic disorders. The weird thing about that is the old psychiatrist diagnosed one twin with Asperger's, and then the following year he diagnosed his identical twin with sever ADHD (mostly because my son was on concerta and Zoloft for a short time, and it seemed to help him a little) and ODD(At the time the diagnosis was made my son was taking Zoloft and was having awful rages, after we took him off the Zoloft the rages went away) The behaviors and issues are identical, other than my one son has some anger issues.
The other weird thing is that 3 years ago the Psychiatrist evaluated my son for about 20 minutes, and he looked me right in the eye and told me he had Asperger's. I just took his word for it but I have since went back and looked at what he actually diagnosed my son as, and what he wrote was PDDNOS rule out Asperger's/rule out ADD/ADHD...WTH???
I decided back in the Elementary level not to give the school the boy's actual written diagnosis, and they were fine with that. They always treated the boys as if they has Asperger's regardless of having a paper telling them that they had it. This was a non-issue at the Elementary level, as their issues were and are pretty obvious. The boys were tested through the school and were both found to have learning disabilities, and they both have IEP's and a behavior plans...etc..Their offical label with the school is learning disabled, and that has never been an issue until this year. So basicly until the school has the actual diagnosis in their hands they don't believe you. Plus they don't have to accept the diagnosis that your psychiatrist gives, if their school psychologist does not find your child to have Asperger's...WTH???? I am still shocked over this!
I told the special resource teacher at the start of the school year that both boys are Asperger's, however there is no evidence of this in the IEP..but their issues are pretty obvious.
At the start of the year there was a major issue with my one son, and he made a empty threat agaist this particular teacher. At the time he made the threat he was under a lot of stress and was made to sit in a chair while 2 adults stood over him and yelled at him. This event happened after several other incidents when my son was not handled properly when he began to have emotional meltdowns. I had spoken to this person several times about how to handle my son in situations like this. Many phone calls had been made back and forth between this person and I, most of them after the school day was over. After this event took place I was never called!!!
The next day my son was pulled into an office by this person and the assistant principal. They went on to tell my son that he was going to be taken to a juvenile detention center because of what he did...at which time he began to beg and sob not to be taken. Then they called the school police office on the speaker phone, and then told my son he was coming to get him and take him to JJC..but if my son promised to never do that again they would not come and get him..but if he got in any more trouble he would be taken there ASAP! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I was never called..NEVER!!! Nothing came home about the incident until the following week..my son was finally able to communicate to me what happened, and when I called to talk to the person that it happened with, she acted like she did not know what I was talking about!!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! This entire incident should have never happend!! NEVER!!!
I am so frustrated with the special resource teacher!! My boys complain about her on a daily basis, this has never happened before. The boys have always liked all of their teacher's and or aides until this year. The boys tell me that she yells at them when they are alone with her, and that she grabs my one son by his wrist and makes him go into her resource room when he is in trouble. The boys are telling me that she picks on them all the time..for instance if they are running to the lunch line along with other kids they are singled out and punished. The boys are not allowed to ask question in class, because sometimes they ask irrelevant questions...arghh! Both boys have told me that at different times someone will come over and force their hand down when they have it raised to ask a question...WTH???? The list goes on..believe me!
So one day a week ago I was talking to this resource teacher and I told her that we finally had my son's diagnosis of Asperger's. At which time I merely asked her how many children she has worked with that had Asperger's syndrome, and what kind of training she had with Autistic disorders..at which time she became VERY upset and told me that I was asking inapporpriate questions and that I would have to speak to her superiors about her credientials and she set up a meeting..WTH???
We had our meeting yesterday and she tried to make an ass out of me by spouting off her educational creditals..none of which sounded like any specific training in autistic disorders to me. I gave them the diagnosis that the Nurse had typed out for me just explaining the axis diorders, but it was not signed by the doctor...sigh! So you zeroed in on that right away! I have a 6 page diagnosis about my son and most of it is social history and issues he has with his father and it is private and none of their business. So she made sure to tell us that he does not have Asperger's according to them!!! I was like WTH??? I took time to make a list of my son's issues and some solutions for behavior problems, most of which I got off the web and from a few books I have about Asperger's, She would not even look at the list even after I mentioned it several times that I wanted to go over it to help them deal with my son. They started a functional behavioral assesment back in December and it still is not done and wn't be until March....The funny thing is there was plenty of time to have a meeting about her credientials, but no time to go over how to help my son!! Nice eh? I insisted that we go over some key points, so we finally did...all of my suggestions were praised by the principal and she actaully made this teacher go over my 3 key points on my solutions page. Since when does the school not want parental suggestions???? Then at the close of the meeting the teacher made sure to tell us once again that my son is still considered learning disabled..cause the letter was signed by the RN...WTH??? She also made sure to tell us that he will be treated like he is learning disabled until she sees the actual paper telling her otherwise!!
I am just beside myself!!
FYI:
The school Psycologist is currently evaulating my son for Asperger's syndrome as well.
Plus I have been taking a parent advocate to all my meeting with the school!