TN Autistic Pre-K annual review cancelled

[Shellie Walker]

We had a meeting scheduled for 11/3 for my grandson (he lives with me and I help with his IEP). Speech therapist was out sick so the meeting was cancelled without notice (we sat at the school for 30 minutes). His annual review is due by 11/17 and his current services are not meeting his needs (he's suppose to be getting speech twice a week and ot once a week - we don't know if he's actually getting the services). The school is now wanting to try to complete his IEP by phone since I can't get another 1/2 day off work on short notice to maintain compliance with the state. His teacher's idea of how to handle when he gets overly fidgety or acts out is just to send him to the office, rather than trying to solve the issue. He most definitely has significant sensory issues. He has a pending eval with the behavioral clinic at Vanderbilt in March, but has an asd diagnosis from his pediatrician. Help please.

[JSD24]

Fidgety is a behavior.  You want data on the behavior.  What's the antecedent?  An FBA is what's needed to get this data.  He misses access to his education when he's sent out of the classroom so this should be kept to a minimum.  Does he need a fidget?  A weighted blanket?  (OT can work with him on how to fidget less - especially if it's sensory.)  Has a sensory eval been done?

Schools follow their evals & consider outside evals.  IMO, the school need to do more evals because 'all areas of suspected disability' weren't assessed.  My feeling is his education isn't FAPE with the lack of classroom accommodations for fidgeting.