The wonderful new case manager got back to me about the upcoming school year. He asked me if I want my son’s classification changed. Yes that is what we discussed before the school year ended but maybe I didn’t say it correctly since I am still learning all of the correct lingo. My son is currently classified as “ED”, emotionally disturbed because he had behavioral issues and they did not know the cause. Now we have the Asperger diagnosis he should be classified as “Autistic.” According to the doctor this will help explain him and they will stop treating him like he is doing this on purpose. Okay that is great except two things. 1) They are saying they need to re-evaluate him which I was going to ask them to do that anyways but of course now they want to re-evaluate him and then have the IEP meeting. His current IEP isn’t correct and there are some things that are just completely wrong and need fixed immediately. Of course nothing happens immediately so I should have known this was coming. But I don’t know how much evaluation the school will need to do because in his last ETR it mentioned Asperger’s we just didn’t have a diagnosis so he wasn’t classified as Autism. I have a call in to a parent mentor and I have a phone number for a lawyer. Guess now I have specific questions for them. Always a bright side I guess.
2) The case manager told me that if he is re-classified he can’t be his case manager. Oh geez. This case manager has been great so far- okay he hasn’t met my son yet but I knew last years case manager was going to be terrible the day I met her and yep she sure was terrible. When I asked who the new case manager would be I was told they have a couple assigned to “ED”, one assigned to something else and the rest are scattered. WHAT?! With the increased incidence of Autism and I know of at least 4 kids just in his grade on the spectrum how do they not have them assigned to one case manager??!?! I am meeting with the psychologist and case manager on Wednesday and that is going to be one of my questions. He needs a case manager that knows about autism. All kids on the spectrum need someone specially trained in autism, how can it be right that they don’t have one person? They kill me! I am trying to be positive about it. My son responds better to young females so maybe we could get a young female case manager?? Maybe that is the bright side? I hate dealing with the school, it is never easy.
The Aspie Side of Life 
Parents can call for an IEP meeting at anytime (the sooner the better in this scenario). Parents can then submit written descriptors of the child describing who he is “now”; this should work the “system” to be responsive to his uniqueness.
Thank you! They said they have to get to know him better before they can have the IEP meeting. They have not given me a date yet but I have a meeting scheduled with the case manager on Tuesday so I plan to ask for a date then. I can’t believe he starts on Wednesday. It was such a nice summer not fighting with the school…
I learned a lot from this post, much appreciated! 🙂