I should clarify that by less nice I mean quoting laws and bringing up timelines. Just not sure if there are laws and timelines for evaluations of this sort vs. IEPs where there are very clear rules for how long they have to respond and do certain things. At the old district I often had to resort to listing the dates that I made requests to show them that they were behind or about to be behind where they should be by law. I am always polite and respectful with them because I know I will have to see them face to face at meetings as well as hopefully get the best help that I can from them. It just often seems that I have to remind them of the laws to get things moving
On a positive note, after I emailed today I got a call shortly after from the person who I was waiting to hear from and she is sending some stuff. By snail mail. I would have preferred an email address to leave a digital trail and I actually have no idea what is being sent, but at least something is happening. And apparently she could not send the forms until she confirmed which of my son's names was his first and which was his last name. Seriously, that was the hold up. I did write his name out for them in 2 emails, but I guess I should have labeled first and last, lol.
As far as what I said to them in the first email, it was this:
Hi, I would like to request an evaluation and IEP meeting for my son who attends a private school. He is diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and Tourette's and I am also concerned about his reading and writing. His last IEP was done over a year ago at our old school district in (Blank) County. Please let me know what further steps, if any, we need to take to get this process going. Thanks.
After that I answered a bunch of questions about DS, but they didn't ask for any specifics about why I wanted him evaluated as she said the other lady would talk to me about that. Maybe the stuff they are mailing will ask for that information?
I should get DS's MAP scores on Friday and it will be the first time I get reading scores, so I'm very interested to see what they are. The private school is definitely having trouble with DS not wanting to write and not producing writing at an appropriate level for the classroom, so I can get statements of concern from them no problem. There is no way I can show any below grade level performance. Even on writing he is probably low for grade, but still within the normal range. I don't want to wait for him to fail and then test and remediate. Maybe he is fine, but I am worried and I have learned to trust that feeling over the years.
I should also mention that although I list that DS is diagnosed with Autism, we do not consider it a valid diagnosis at this time and are working to get it removed. DS has very severe ADHD that, when unmedicated, looks a lot like autism. It's actually amazingly difficult to find anyone who accepts our insurance and who will reevaluate for autism... I've been at it for 2 years. Until we get it removed I will continue to list it, just in case it is accurate and also because it has a greater impact than his other diagnoses. It feels a little like lying, but an autism diagnosis does make getting an OT eval much easier for instance. I will of course tell them that the autism is uncertain at this point, but I really wish we could get that reeval!
Thanks for all of the help so far. I'll continue to update.
