Here it's for funding purposes. At the moment my DS gets limited shared TA time because he doesn't have the right tag/label to get designated TA hours. The school is pushing for a spectrum diagnosis (and he does seem spectrumy sometimes) because the funding is much better.
The federal government has never fully funded IDEA. Until that happens, districts are supposed to get federal money for each child identified and served under an IEP, but what they get is pathetically little compared to the cost of serving such a child. Identifying children is a money-losing proposition, which is why many districts (including mine) have been found in violation of their obligation to locate and serve children with disabilities ("child-find").
Did you know? They are *obligated* to try to find kids with disabilities. That is more likely what's going on there, CCN-- if your DS seems spectrumy, the district is obligated to attempt to determine whether he actually has an ASD and offer services, otherwise they are in violation of the law.
I'm sorry it makes you feel pursued in a bad way-- if "child find" is what's going on here, I actually find it good that someone is taking that legal obligation seriously. It certainly isn't taken seriously where we are. Perhaps you could just ask the psych why s/he thinks what she thinks and why s/he is taking the actions s/he is.
DeeDee
