Hi there, my younger son had IEP's all through his school years, he graduated 3 years ago. He was diagnosed as PDD-NOS/Asperger's in first grade which stayed until right at the end of his senior year when they switched it to autistic because of his language processing delays. So I had plenty of experience with IEP's and Asperger's.

I'm happy to help and give you feedback. What grade is she in? What else do they think is going on with her? Have they actually tested her for Asperger's? Where are you in that process? If you can give me some idea, I can try and help.

Hugs...

Hello

I have found schools to be of no help to be honest. I struggled getting through to them for ages.
My daughter has an IEP and it just said her special need is Maths and English. I wrote to them all the time and finally this year in June the new IEP arrived and it mentions special need is aspergers syndrome. They have to help my daughter more at school now. The thing I am finding is that everything now looks good in black and white but the reality is ther School do not seem to do anything different.
I have been treated like an over the top Mum. Because the School cannot see my daughters difficulties. I think the reason for that is she is so well behaved and quiet. She is not naughty enough to get the attention she needs, if that makes sense.

If I was you I would approach the School again and explain to them.

I do have some advice... I'll post it soon, as I had an IEP and went through all the same things.

Hugs,
Kris

Hi there. Those IEPs can be a frustrating and confusing mess if you don't have a really good team working FOR your child. Those people can be extremely rare because as most school districts are, they look for ways to spend as little money as possible. And it seemed like every newly diagnosed family was re-inventing the wheel each time. Granted, each one's needs are unique - hence the INDIVIDUALIZED Education Plan, but their needs are fairly the same across the board; you just pick and choose which ones apply to your child, which don't, really. You can always ask the team for specific examples of the types of supports that are in place for other students with the same types of needs. They may hint at a couple - then let your creativity take it from there. Think about what would most help your child succeed. I can give specific examples if you'd like. Feel free to message me if you would.

Best of luck and be strong. You are your child's best advocate.

I hope this can help!

First of all, thanks to one of my members on this site, I was lead to the 2010 Autistic Salutatorion and the video made me cry happy tears... Please educate your students and yourselves because if you do, this video shows just what a help and success can happen, a well deserved congratulations please watch below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSactvpsla0

*Bullying* -- needs to be stopped, too many times teachers and other at the school, "Need to work it out".....Working it out is not bad, but they need YOUR help and intervention! Watch this video excerpt below "this is school for many people with an autistic disorder and pdd, etc especially in the beginning/middle years of school.... http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/video_player.html?boyinside_excerpt

My 2 quotes:

1. With our individual intelligences, we can be of assistance to others, not only to have them benefit from our abilities but also for us to devote our energy to our own eye-catching skills. I trust that if I work with others who have a skill that is not one I electrify, our specialized skills can merge together to create something or make a change! It is never too late to start using our skills, and usually these skills can become desirable to you yourself.

2. To me,"teaching is sharing parts of the world YOU know about to OTHERS who have not yet had your opportunity."

Things to help teachers understand, work with, and use to help the child with autism learn and have fun as a child should have when learning....

1. Seating changes can be terrible for the child with autism...do NOT move the child with autism if possible. Also, use priorty seating.

2. People with an autism spectrum disorder sometimes get confused with words, speech...auditory processing disorder, and if the child is not understanding, although you may question whether or not they could be confused by something like that, most likely they really are confused.

2 1/2. Along with the auditory processing comes asking questions 5 times and over and over the same question.... it is not because they are not listening, but because the first few times their brain was either not processing it correctly or had been overstimulated by other things going on....don't get angry. They can't help it... Also, you might say their name 4 or 5 times or even more and they don't respond...same thing, ears didn't process the sounds correctly.

3. People on the autism spectrum can have trouble with reading out loud because they can easily lose their place. Have reading strips available to the students in your classroom. The picture shown just after this sentence is similar to the reading strips...however the others also can have 'smaller print' lines with a border. Also, can have whole page color sheets to put over white papers with black writing, as some people on the spectrum it is hard on their eyes and worsens the comprehension, the black and white, but the color sheets can help!

4. Try to keep down the rowdiness in the classroom, but not through frustration or loud voice.

5. Use lots and lots of visuals, especially ones that seem very fun and interesting.

6. Set up a network for the child with autism; if going into a group setting have a group set up of kids that like and have fun working with the child with autism so that the child doesn't site there or stand there alone while everyone is in groups & so that the child with autism does not unfortunately get stuck with someone who would make fun of them or not encourage him, otherwise ignore them.

7. Children with autism take criticism harshly; just act is if everything is cool and use markers or pretty colors to put in the right answer and explain...don't use X's to mark wrong answers either

8. Use the CONFIDENT READER program, and recommend it to the parents; computer program used for kids w/ dyslexia, autism, reading comprehension difficulties, blindness, hearing problems, slow processing, etc. for a small of only $90.00 that makes a world of difference and increases enjoyability of reading and learning for kids who start to hate it because of these difficulties. Really turns them around! :) That's a picture of a child who really benefited from using this program. I have this program for myself; it is really truly wonderful... http://www.confidentreader.com/ The $90.00 program is more suitable for teachers, but the $69.00 program is wonderful just for the home, etc. just with a few less "computer guru" features and also does not include the 100 e-books that come with the $90.00 program. Other programs similar to this cost $800-$2,500 and really do practically the same thing. Can't go wrong with this program!

9. Children w/ ASD usually take about double the time for quizzes, tests, etc. than other children do, also work; they will have done 6 problems when others have done 25 problems...it can't be helped so punishing by missing out on class activities or recess is both upsetting and doesn't do any good.

10. If an Autistic person needs their space, let them have their space...don't make the situation worse...there should be a room in your school with a swing in it or an autism room to cool down in.

11. Allow bathroom breaks and as getting older, not need to ask to go or sign a signature book as autistic people have lots of yeast and bowel issues...once they have to go, they have to go...also for eating/drinking in class, if needed, hence tactile and blood sugar issues autistics have (Some bloodsugar issues for some Autistic people)

12. Clarify directions

13. Note-taking is good especially since hand writing is literally difficult and can be painful for a person with an Autism Spectrum Disorder or PDD-NOS... They should not get into trouble for their handwriting that is hard to read or takes a long time to copy stuff down.

14. Also, private test room if wanted/needed.

15. And, a lot of people on the spectrum can remember whole movies, but they forget things like 'permission slips' or even work, etc. and can forget their pencils or literally lose these things along the way. You can help by definitely talking with the parents and not getting angry because it only makes the situation worse... Our brains get flusttered so and medications keep in mind can alter attention and remembering.

Hugs and Luv,
Kris (and my service dog)