• Skip to content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Shop ModernMom
  • Become An Insider

ModernMom

The premiere destination for moms

  • Parenting
    • Pregnancy
    • Baby
    • Kids
    • Tweens and Teens
    • ModernMom Monday Videos
  • Cooking
  • Living Healthy
    • Breast Cancer
    • Health & Fitness
    • Body after Baby
    • Beauty
    • Relationships
    • Love
  • Lifestyle
    • Crafts
    • At Home
    • Education
    • Travel
    • Pets
    • Decorate
    • Money
    • Brooke Burke
  • Celebrate
    • Holidays
      • Easter
      • Valentine’s Day
      • New Year’s
      • Christmas
      • Hanukah
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
    • Birthdays
    • Parties
  • Must Have
  • Contests
  • Entertainment

Children with Autism and Outside Agencies – Part 2

July 31, 2014 by kimkaplan Leave a Comment

In my last blog, I discussed how I took my son to an outside agency (by “outside“ I mean one that is not directly funded by the school district) to be tested for reading comprehension. He had scored low. Then, at his first fifth grade testing, he again scored low.

Right before his December IEP, however, he was retested and the numbers were significantly better. He had improved greatly. At the IEP, we decided to not push the school district to fund a program for reading comprehension with this outside agency.

What did I learn about working with an outside agency?

If you have the evidence and a reputable agency ready to go, then by all means press your child?s school district to fund a program. Call an IEP and find out how to properly apply for the funding.

Don’t give up, especially if you think it’s truly something that will help your child. If it?s a program that specializes and is not anything like something offered by the school district, then be diligent.

School districts will often balk at having to pay for services from an outside agency. But, if you yell loud enough, and you have support, then hopefully a compromise can be reached.

Can I pass on anything from my experience?

I’d like to pass on some thoughts that were discussed during the post-testing meeting with the facilitator.

I considered the meeting to be very valuable. On one level, I already knew a lot of what we discussed. However, some of it was new to me. I always love to reinforce my knowledge and learn even more.

*My contact said, “A learning difference, not a learning disability.”

*She also said that our kids “have uneven profiles due to possible test-taking issues. A bad day can throw test scores which can lead to misleading information.”

*She added, “Tests can be invalid if the deviation is too large which means a child scored well on a “good” day but not so well on a ‘bad’ testing day.”

*Here was a rather important one.  “Every parent has a right to look at their child’s educational record. With any academic testing done with our kids, you have the right to the RAW scores, not only the scores based on a curve. Raw scores for our kids are expected at different levels because ages matter, they’re important for our expectations. It’s like our kids verses typical kids and that has to be taken into account.”

*Lastly, she said, “You might need to fight to NOT lose a service based on standardized scores (and not raw ones with issues of test taking factored in). What can be done is you can ask for a ‘confidence internal.’ What that means is there are always errors and many scores are solely based on estimates. For example, if a child scores low on a visual test, like a block design test, the child might need future testing for visual processing issues.”

I brought up these specific talking points so they can help you understand the “language“ of discussing important autism-related issue, and one in particular—reading comprehension.

My contact?s answers made sense to me, the information and explanations were distinct, understandable, and experienced. The contact said some things were also useful in the general sense of how we deal with our kids within their school districts.

By sharing this with you, I?m hoping you go into IEPs and meetings as educated and as informed as possible. This person was inspirational and motivated to help our kids. I appreciated her openness and honesty. She wants to help. And, so do I.   

To Find Kimberly Kaplan:

www.kimberlykaplan.com

To Purchase “Two Years of Autism Blogs Featured on ModernMom.com” or “A Parents’ Guide to Early Autism Intervention” visit Amazon or Smashwords (print or digital)

Twitter: @tipsautismmom

LinkedIn: Kimberly Kaplan

Weekly Autism Blog: On ModernMom.com

Comments

comments

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About kimkaplan

As Kim and her husband cared for their son with autism, Kim was led back into writing. She wrote about her son's journey with autism which includes her son's struggles, the parental learning curve, their good fortunes...and a myriad of missteps. The resulting book "A Parents' Guide to Early Autism Intervention" has helped many parents with young children on the autism spectrum. She followed that book with another autism-related book, "Two Years of Autism Blogs Featured on ModernMom.com."
Kim continues to be active in the autism world. She blogs weekly for Modernmom.com as well as her own website. Her screenplay writing has blossomed with the addition of many autistic characters. She was featured on Shannon Penrod's show, "Autism Live." She volunteers and attends conferences as well as helps parents whenever she can.

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Search

Tell a friend

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ModernMom Boutique

ModernMom TV

Featured

The Little Boy On First Base

To all the coaches, parents, and fans of little … [Read More...] about The Little Boy On First Base

Must Have

STEM-related Toys to Include in Your Child’s Easter Basket This Year 

April has arrived which means it’s time to pull out the food … [Read More...] about STEM-related Toys to Include in Your Child’s Easter Basket This Year 

Did you know?

Remove the Lens From Plastic Frames

How to Remove the Lens From Plastic Frames

Signs of Gestational Diabetes

Pregnancy & Signs of Gestational Diabetes

How to Take Wrinkles Out of Polyester With Steam

Use Frozen Bananas for Baking

How to Use Frozen Bananas for Baking

Baby Hair Growth

Baby Hair Growth

Married Man Hides His Feelings For You

How To Know If A Married Man Hides His Feelings For You

diabetes in infants

Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes in Infants

Footer

  • About Us
  • Contact ModernMom
  • Advertise With Us
  • Press
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contributors

Copyright © 2023 Modern Mom. All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction of any portion of this website only at the express permission of Mom, Inc.

The information provided on ModernMom is for educational use only. It should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.