DawnL

Jeran's big IEP meeting was last Friday. Everyone was nice, but it went about as well as I expecting. The school district doesn't recognize Sensory Processing Disorder, so no assistance for that will be given.

They let me talk for the first few minutes, and then chimed in. Mostly they just kept saying that they needed to do more testing. They didn't accept the OT evaluation from the hospital OT, and need to test Jeran themselves. They never asked me for a list of what accomodations I was seeking for Jeran. Jeran also has many allergies, and this was addressed as well.I honestly think that the allergies was a big reason why this meeting was made such a big deal. If he didn't have those, I doubt they would have been as communicative as they were.

They want to have the school OT evalate him, which is fine. Then they want "that" school psychologist to give the same "behavioral questionaire" that they had me fill out last year. This is the one that they gave me the results saying he's 3 ponits away from ADHD and that I should take him to the pediatrician.

So they want that test again. And THEN they want him evaluated for autism. But Jeran is NOT autistic, and it's making me angry that they are that desperate to get an "approved label" on him, that they will just try to throw the autism label on him.

Now, if he really WERE autistic, of course we would love him exactly the same, and do everything we could to help him work with that. But we KNOW he's not autistic. I have a feeling the school will do everything they can to get that label on him, since it's an "approved" label. That way, they can justify helping him in the classroom.

I don't think it's fair to Jeran to "mis"label him like that! That label would be in his school records forever. Plus, what about kids that really ARE autistic? Would they then be held up to my son as a standard? "THAT kid's autistic, and he doesn't have problems with this. If that autistic kid can, ALL autistic kids can." Is that what will happen? It's totally not fair.

The tests are supposed to be next week. Dh and I were talking. I am ready to just say "forget it". Dh agrees that Jeran will likely just be home with me next year, but he thinks we should go ahead with the testing. He just doesn't want to close any doors. I'm simply afraid that by doing the testing, and being "mis"labeled, that the wrong info will close doors for Jeran.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I'd love some advice.

There are many reasons we worry about Jeran going to Kindergarten in the fall. The biggest is his inabililty to sit still, be quiet, and keep his hands to himself. He really tries, but he just can't do it yet. There are other reasons, though, too. His allergies are another reason. Plus, he will not have a BM until his has some pretty thick, stinky skid marks in his skivvies. And you have to call him on it, when you smell it, too, he won't just get up then and go.

After his preschool experience, I really am not anxious to send him to any school, anywhere.