Our story....

My son Stinger-where oh where do I start??? He's one of the main reasons I wanted to start this blog-was to let others know of our story through diagnosis, the school and all that that entails.

Ill get right to the point-it has been a nightmare regarding the public school system. Stinger was in EI at 2, went to spec ed preschool at 3, and then HeadStart(where they finally took him off his IEP) I thought we were over the bump in the road and then-BAM-Kindergarden. Aggressive behaviors started to pop up agn, was lagging behind the class, etc. I was constantly speaking to the K teacher talking about my concerns and she told me time and time agn that it was a maturity thing-so we just all hoped I guess that things would get better-they didnt. Last year we started the process of evaluating for spec education. I was new to the whole thing-so what should have taken 60 days lasted until 3 months until school was out for the summer.

The IEP TEAM:
BOY! This was interesting-and each time they continue to amaze me still- with flags here and flags there-trying to stop every amount of evidence I bring to their attention. Talk abt a frustrating system. I do have a State Advocate now though-so its gotten better. We could come to no agreement-they thought his behaviors were on purpose, I didnt. They thought he had no speech problems, I could see his language pragmatics not being where they should be. The list could go on and on......
So I opted to go outside the school-even though all the schools tests showed some form of ASD-I wasnt sure where on the spectrum Stinger was. The school simply dismissed their own findings on this!!!

We went to Childrens Hospital and came back with a dignosis of PDD-NOS-My mother Bear intuition was right on. The school was excited to get the results-thinking they had been right-LOLOL .We got the Autism label for Stinger and things are going wonderfully. That is until he started eloping(bolting). Which I have since found out is common in ASD children. The district is now involved and so my nightmare begins agn!!!!
They are questioning EVERYTHING down to the medical diagnosis-they are giving him the ADOS and I am scheduled to go in to an interview abt an hours worth long just them asking me questions.....I am just thrilled-LOLOLOL
ASKING FOR THINGS: PARENTS BEWARE!!!!!
Funny-but as soon as the district saw I wanted things for Stinger and that I was an informed parent-such as an Autism consultant to be brought in-now I am getting the door slammed into my face yet agn.
IF ANY, I repeat ANY parents out there are going through this Id really like your advice......sigh....now that this district lady is involved its getting tricky.......