Fighting the Giant

IEPs, or Individualized Education Programs, place a child with a small group of the child's advocates such as the parents, therapists, consultants, guardians, attorneys, or other counsels, and sometimes all or none of the above. All meet with "the giant", the school system.

I have heard many good, and unfortunately a lot of bad, experiences of parents trying to obtain an effective (i.e., "Appropriate") public education for their autistic children. It's a reason to stay up nights, worry, fret, yell, scream and cry. It's a reason some parents run for private schools, those which are blessed enough to be able to pay the tuition. Unfortunately, many parents do not have the option to pay high tuition costs, especially when paying out of pocket for biomedical and behavioral treatments, much of which are not covered by insurance.

I have to admit that it often seems like the world can be against the ASD child. Pediatricians, who many have not known how to treat autism and related developmental disorders, are just now beginning to take note of new promising treatments, but only, it seems, after much pushing and prodding from parents desperate for answers and help. Add to that the problem of paying for therapies such as speech and OT, and behavioral interventions such as ABA, most of which are not covered by insurance, or if so, only in part. Again, there is a battle for the child.

Then we come to the battle of obtaining education for a child. Parents, weary from being constantly on guard for their child are once again put up against a school system with a limited amount of resources and an increasing number of autism spectrum disorder cases.

This is the battle Matt and I will go into tomorrow morning for Alec: his second IEP meeting. I have to say we did have to fight in the previous years IEP meeting for Alec. But after a few trips down to the Exceptional Children's Department, and in one time my husband refusing to leave until Alec received his promised school placement (which had unexpectedly been changed), we managed to secure Alec a spot in a pre-K self-contained early intervention classroom with 8 children and two teachers, one of whom was specialized in special needs kids.

Flash forward one year: all school system-wide classrooms, such as the one Alec was placed in, with the small teacher to student ratio have now been eliminated. CMS is now placing these four year olds into the "Bright Beginnings" classroom, a program designed for socio-economically disadvantaged kids with a literacy-based program... and 19 kids to one teacher, who may or may not be specialized in special needs (they are getting a summer "crash course", I am told) and one assistant.

Despite NC State Law, GS 115-113:

(b) An initial multi‑disciplinary diagnosis and evaluation based on rules developed by the Board shall be made before any such child is placed in a special education program, removed from such a program and placed in a regular school program, transferred from one type of special education program to another, removed from a school program for placement in a nonschool program, or otherwise tracked, classified, or treated as a child with special needs.

No diagnosis or evaluation was made for Alec. I could go on and on here about why I think Alec's rights under IDEA have been compromise (there are many reasons) but in the end it will all be resolved, beginning tomorrow, when we have the official battle with this "giant".

What are we taking into this battle? Our educational consultant, our ABA therapist, a letter from Alec's neurologist stating the ABA is medically necessary for our son, and a representative from the Counsel for Children, who heard our complaints and feels we need representation.

But most of all, we are taking one more thing: Our faith that God will take care of this for Alec. We prayed about it, enlisted the prayers of our family and friends, and now I no longer have to worry.

It's all in His hands. I think we have all we need. I know God is faithful, and will be again, in this endless series of battles in this war against this autism.