Dev.Team V School

My autistic 4 year old was diagnosed with Autism and Dev. delays at the age of 3. His Standard Binet5 IQ was 74. CARS was 34 Vineland was 61. My child has been recieving Early intervention, Speech, OT. and school readiness inst. for the past year. He has made great progress. The school just tested him for kindergarten for which one of us works for. Can a child test out and loose the diability diagnosed by the Dr. and Neuro team?

Hi blessedmom.

I wasn't quite clear regarding the intent of your question. Were you hoping that your child would "test out" of the autism diagnosis (because of his wonderful gains!) or worried that the school would remove it (and the protections under the law that come with it)?

In any case, you were wondering about how much weight a school team's diagnosis or evaluation has vs. a doctor's.

I am no expert in this area, but I will say that in my experience a diagnosis from a health care professional carries more weight than a school assessment. In general, schools are not in the business of diagnosing children. Their goal is usually to test the child in order to plan a program and placement so a child's educational needs are met. Still, through that assessment process, they do end up describing a child's disability and categorizing him or her.

So, for example, if a school did an assessment, and then declared that in their opinion a child was no longer on the spectrum, and no longer qualified for services...but the psychiatrist said "This child has high functioning autism and will still need a great deal of support to succeed despite academic strengths"... a parent might call an IEP, walk in with the doctor's written evaluation, and make sure the child has an IEP under the "autism" category, and that supports are put in place.

I invite parents to share their stories of times the school and the medical/psychiatric team disagreed! What happened?

Thank you Connie!

I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. I have prayed everyday for my son and this is answered prayers in everyway. It would be Great. To have known him a year ago and today he seems like a different child. He has worked so very hard and is determined as I and his IEP team to see him gain. I was concerned about that if they make a new IEP or if one is needed and he no longer has these services in place would he start to loose what he has gained? I suppose it is a fear question. I want to be absolutely positive of the IQ and other tests that they match one another and are compariable. Meaning the school's and the Neuro teams. Its my understanding that a huge gap in tests aren't always correct. I still see the stimming behavior's, the lack of being toilet trained, unable to dress himself, the food aversions, and not being able to demonstrate safe behavior at this time. But his Speech, and eye contact and being able to have some recall now is wonderful. I just think that when the school said to me that he doesn't sit in the corner and scream that it is a judgement of Autism and that is not fair to any child. He is blessed that he does not.I pray for the one's who do need extra help. IQ doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Autism.

Blessedmom, I am so glad to hear of your son's gains!

It is truly wonderful.

Generally, as a child does make gains, and improves, his IEP should change with him. As one issue is made so much better, then others can come into focus. For example, when my son was 9 or so, he had awful meltdowns. That was the number one issue, and everything in the IEP and Behavior Plan were directed at improving that. Now, at 14, the meltdowns are a thing of the past, and the IEP is focused more on staying on task, keeping organized, interacting with peers

Basically, the IEP should evolve with the child.

And keeping gains already made is an important aspect, too! You can say to your team: "It's very important to me that we still keep an eye on this or that - and that we make sure he maintains this gain."