@A MyAutismTeam Member - Our school district did not want to put my son's diagnosis in his original IEP either. But they did when I insisted.

I think in situations like this, you need to try to find out what the underlying fear that they have. So find out why they don't accept the dx. Ask what it would take for them to accept the dx. Tell them that you think its very important that the dx is in the IEP because it's important for your child's team to understand your child.

Also the IDEA law says that states must have policies and procedures in affect to determine elgibility which includes the diagnosis. The diagnosis of Autism must be made by psychiastrist, physician, or psychologist. The SD is not in the business to diagnosing.

The second thing you need to think about is what is that you really want. Some parents get so caught up in the emotions of it because of some of the outrageous things that happen with school personnel. Resist that urge. Be a reasonable, knowledgable, and respectful person to build your credibility. And don't loose sight of your focus. Leave you emotions at the iep door.

IEPs are complex. Sometimes its better to let go the little things to get the big things. So for example, I really believed that my son needed to be taught using ABA because we had already experienced success. I wanted the school district to hire a consultant skilled with behavioral treatment and ABA to guide and direct my son's educational program. Therefore I was willing to agree to less services in other areas in order to get the big thing. Then each year you build on that.

Most of all pray. God has often come through with even a better plan than mine.

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A MyAutis...

@A MyAutismTeam Member - it depends. Some insurances will pay for evaluations and some not. It depends on your insurance and what state you live in and what type of evaluation. If you decide to go this way, have the hospital call your insurance and get a pre-approval.

However your school district is also required to evaluate your child and if you are not satisfied with their evaluation, you can request an independent evaluation that the school district will have to pay for. You can read about these rights and procedures in the IDEA law or go to the wrightslaw website and read about it there. Alternatively, a good advocate like the person who asked this question, could guide you through the process.

Most school districts try to trick parents out of independent evaluations but if you follow the process, they can't say no. And if they say no, you can file a complaint with the state's education agency and they will be corrected.

Another trick they will try is they will provide you a list of independent evaluators which suggests that you have to choose from the list. You don't.

But the bottom line is that you must first allow them to do their evaluation first. Be clear in what you expect in the evaluation. Sign the papers. And wait for the deadline. It's either 30 or 90 days, I don't remember. Then if they haven't produced, you can request the evaluation. If they have produced, you need to look at their results before you request. There's deadlines and stuff so learn the procedure first.

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A MyAutis...

Right diagnosis: In order to get the right diagnosis, there needs to be evaluations completed. Comprehensive evaluations for every area of functioning. Most major hosptials can provide this type of evaluations. OT, PT Speech and Lang. Cognitive levels, Communication;Augmentative, Assist Tech, Daily functioning levels, Intelligence levels etc. All of this should be completed if you suspect or know that your child may be on the spectrum

Do you have guardianship of them through the court system? If so, have you completed the application for developmentally challenged adutls with the appropriate agency and are they receiving social security benefits?

I have a different view. I've always spent most of my time educating myself then fighting for services and funding for my son. As I started succeeding in getting services and funding for my son, my life got easier because I had more time .... because his paid supports helped me raise him and treat him. And because of my success, other parents contacted me. Some of the parents that contacted me, did not want to do the hard work so eventually I lost touch with them. But many of the parents also did the work and so I had a network of people that supported each other. We were in it together! And we've become life-long friends as we travel the journey together.

When Kavan was young, I actually went to a couple support groups. It seemed to me that the parents there wanted to talk about how their disabled child impacted their lives. They did not want to talk about treatments and how to get funding. Since that's what I wanted to talk about, I quit going.

This site seems to have a mix of both... some are seeking knowledge about treatments and funding.... while some are seeking emotional support. It's really nice because it meets the needs of both. And I think that's OK. Parents have to make their own choices and we need to respect those choices even when they are different from our own.