{"id":6316,"date":"2012-01-12T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T13:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=6316"},"modified":"2012-11-13T18:42:07","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T22:42:07","slug":"automatic-services-for-children-with-autism-what-are-the-hard-fast-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/automatic-services-for-children-with-autism-what-are-the-hard-fast-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Automatic Services for Children with Autism &#8211; What are the Hard &#038; Fast Rules?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Automatic%20Services%20for%20Children%20with%20Autism%20-%20What%20are%20the%20Hard%20%26%20Fast%20Rules%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><blockquote><p>My son has autism and the district says they are reducing services and changing him from an IEP to a 504 for Aspergers. I believe they are trying to move him off a plan entirely.\u00a0 He has difficulty with organization and is headed to middle school with a rotating schedule that drops a period each day.<\/p>\n<p>Where can I find the resources I need to prove he still needs services? What are the hard and fast rules on autism disorders?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m afraid there are no &#8220;hard and fast rules&#8221; about your son&#8217;s situation. You need to know<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>about your child&#8217;s disability and his unique needs (re: now and transition to middle school),<\/li>\n<li>the impact of the disability on his ability to learn,<\/li>\n<li>research based educational methods, and<\/li>\n<li>how to present your son&#8217;s problems and needs to school personnel so they want to help.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Begin with the following resources.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Eligibility<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It sounds like your son is currently on an IEP.<\/p>\n<p>If the school has determined that your son needs an IEP, they have also determined that <strong>he has a disability that affects a major life activity<\/strong> and is severe enough to require specialized instruction. This decision would have been made based upon evaluations.<\/p>\n<p>Before the school can determine that your child is <strong><em>not<\/em> eligible<\/strong> for special education, they are <strong>required to do a comprehensive evaluation and assess all areas of suspected disability<\/strong>. 20 U.S.C. Section 1414(c)(5) (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/selaw2.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd edition<\/span><\/a>, p. 96 and 242)<\/p>\n<p>This is not a decision one or two people can make. <strong>You and the school need objective testing of your child\u2019s academic skills to know if he is ready to exit special education.<\/strong> Make sure you understand what the evaluations say and what the evaluator&#8217;s recommendations mean.<\/p>\n<p>If you have not already read this, you will want to learn about\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/advoc\/articles\/tests_measurements.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Tests and Measurements<\/span><\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/advoc\/articles\/tests_measurements.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/advoc\/articles\/tests_measurements.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/heath\/elig.eval.read.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Can the School Terminate My Child&#8217;s Eligibility?<\/span><\/a>, Sue Whitney provides sound advice about what to do when the school wants to determine your child &#8220;ineligible.&#8221; Here&#8217;s what Sue recommends.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Get an Independent Psycho-Educational Evaluation<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The school&#8217;s evaluation may not be comprehensive enough to provide information about &#8216;all areas of suspected disabilities.&#8217; &#8230; I recommend that you have an evaluator from the private sector do a complete psycho-educational evaluation on your son. This will give you an independent picture of your child&#8217;s abilities and needs.<\/p>\n<p>If you do not have all your child&#8217;s test results from the beginning, write a letter to the school and ask for a complete copy of his records. If he has been evaluated privately, get copies of these evaluations too. Ask that any meeting be postponed until you have this information. To be an informed participant in the decision-making process, you must have all the test results and you must understand what the test results mean.<\/p>\n<p>The comprehensive psycho-educational evaluation should clearly describe your child&#8217;s present levels of academic achievement, functional performance, and related developmental needs, the educational program he needs, what will happen to him if the school decides that he is not eligible and refuses to provide him with this program.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Note:<\/strong><\/span> If you disagree with a school district&#8217;s evaluation, you can ask for an independent educational evaluation at the school district&#8217;s expense. Although this is one of your rights, schools often put limits on these evaluations and who can perform them.<\/p>\n<p>I suggest that you find an evaluator who has expertise in your child&#8217;s disability (in this case, autism) and pay for the evaluation yourself. (Yes, I know it&#8217;s expensive, but a good evaluation will pay for itself many times over.)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/elig.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Eligibility<\/span><\/a> is here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/elig.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/elig.index.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">IEP or Section 504<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Learn about the Key DIfferences in IDEA and Section 504.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.summ.rights.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.summ.rights.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>More information\/resources are here. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.index.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Visit our\u00a0 Autism, ASD, PDD &amp; Asperger Syndrome page at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/autism.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/autism.index.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My son has autism and the district says they are reducing services and changing him from an IEP to a 504 for Aspergers. I believe they are trying to move <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/automatic-services-for-children-with-autism-what-are-the-hard-fast-rules\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1271,35,529],"tags":[853,42,1299,855,1297,854,604],"class_list":["post-6316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism","category-eligibility","category-parent-rights-responsibilities","tag-aspergers","tag-autism","tag-ieps","tag-ineligible","tag-section-504","tag-terminating-services","tag-tests-measurements"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6316"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6489,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6316\/revisions\/6489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}