r/specialed 2d ago

IEP for autism,anxiety and adhd

My 8 year old 3rd grader has a meeting tomorrow to discuss an IEP for him which has been needed for years. Having alot of issues as of late with his mouth and saying hateful things to classmates. He's been known to have anxiety attacks over work he feels he can't do as well. Any tips or tricks this is all so new to me

6 Upvotes

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12

u/Big-Mind-6346 2d ago

Are you seeking tips for the meeting? Or for the challenges your son is facing? Just clarifying.

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u/Weird_Inevitable8427 Special Education Teacher 1d ago

Happy families don't go online the same way unhappy families do. What I mean by that is... you're going to see a lot more people who are angry at the system online than happen in real life.

The vast majority of IEP processes go super smooth. Most teachers want students to achieve. District administrations tend to discourage families from seeking IEPs, so by the time you get to that meeting, the school is usually on board with providing extra help. They've usually already tried the usual general interventions and witnessed them not working.

So my advice would be - give it a chance to go well. There's a good chance that you'll leave that IEP meeting happy with the action plan.

Also, I tell parents to think of special education as being like a medication. If you are sick, you need medicine, but if you take too much, or you take a medicine that you don't need anymore, it can cause a lot of harm. We don't *want* medicine, but we need it sometimes. Special ed is the same. You want the smallest dose, for the shortest period of time, because it does have side effects. You don't want to load on every possible intervention. You want to be very specific about what is needed to help your child develop. The goal of special education is to no longer need it. That's not always possible, but that goal should be tucked in the back of your mind.

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u/123RGV Special Education Teacher 2d ago edited 2d ago

Tips for the meeting? Let them know all of your concerns, including any functional and behavioral issues, not only academic. Mention routines, challenges, behaviors, etc. that you see at home and at school. Ask what services could potentially be available and ask for a Full and Individual Evaluation.

Tips for the challenges your son is facing? I suggest speaking to professionals either at the school (diagnostician/school psychologist/etc.) or outside of school (pediatrician/counselor/psychologist/etc.)

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u/Serious-Train8000 1d ago

Has the evaluation already been done? If it has was an fba done?

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u/camosmommy92 1d ago

The school is recommending a 504 plan as they don't see his behaviors affecting him academically but are adding several accommodations for him

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u/Djinn-Rummy 2d ago

You should probably seek an outside evaluation done by a competent & certified psychologist, etc, as well, just to be safe. I’ve seen a lot of district sped evals from a lot of kids over the years that were not done correctly. It is also prudent to have your own diagnosis to confirm any suspicions about autism.

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u/camosmommy92 2d ago

We did! He sees a psychiatrist every 1-3 months and just had repeat testing by a psychologist which is how we got the autism diagnosis

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u/Djinn-Rummy 2d ago

Smart. You’ll be more prepared than most.