How Do You Feel About Your Autism "Team?"
In our particular case, we never felt that we had much of a "team" to work with. Sure, we had piles of people at every meeting - the principal, the special ed teacher, the regular ed teacher, the speech therapist, the occupational therapist, the physical therapist, and (occasionally) the 1:1 aide. But these folks never worked together, and certainly never acted like a united team. In fact, there were times when we felt that the "team" was far more interested in a smoothly-functioning special education system than in the needs of our individual child.
For some families, though, the IEP team really does function as a team, with the child's best interests in mind. Sometimes, the IEP team meshes together with an outside team of therapists and caregivers to build a full picture of a child with all his strengths and challenges. Rarely, the team actually shares a vision of the child - and can plan for his future with confidence and competence.
Where does your autism "team" fit on the spectrum? Are you happy with your team? Do you feel you're working together for your child's best interests? Or are you frustrated by a group that just doesn't seem to come together?
Comments
You’re exactly right–often the “team” is simply the “employees” of the school piled up on one side of the room while you and your support people sit huddled on the other side. Last year, in lobbying to move my daughter to full inclusion, I invited as many people as I could to my meeting. I think I brought 8 people. So we were pretty evenly matched for a change. This worked to get her moved, but again, since they don’t work together, it was me telling the resource teacher to do this or that, asking the 1:1 to adjust this or that, and begging the special ed teacher to let her into his class on the mainstream teacher’s bad days instead of leaving my daughter in the middle of the chaos. One thing I wish the employees of the school district would remember: PARENTS aren’t just there as resource material. We’re part of the TEAM also. We make decisions and act along with the other members to make the whole experience work. If the parents don’t do their part, it won’t work. But I wish they’d stop seeing parents as the enemy…
Our IEP team does work with my child’s best interest in mind, however the ABA folks, Speech, and OT are not always willing to take input from one another. They all have their own programs and theories and think they know it all… At least they are all very open to my input as a parent. As for the school people, I can’t say yet, my son only starts in public school this Fall.
During Early Intervention, there was no such thing as a team and 5 hour long meetings that weren’t even done yet. I had more of a Team with the private O.T and Speech than I ever did with the school. They also never gave any of those famous lines you hear from the school. The private never sugar coated anything, nor did they evr say “but all kid do this or that”.
I applied for the lottery of many charter schools and the 2nd year my son got into one. Our first IEP meeting was an hour long which boggled my mind that one could even be that short, and they had it all down pat, right down to a Para that I didn’t even ask for, for 1st grade. Transition to 3rd grade, I never asked for a Para but he’ll have one again.
I have issues here and there with the new case worker, who seems to direct me to anyone else but her doing the school year however at that IEP meeting, it is a complete team effort.
We just had our IEP and my lasting impression was you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit. There isn’t a shared vision and this article put it so well that the professionals at our meeting were more interested in a well running SPED program than the individual needs of my child. How do you enlighten without encroaching on egos?
Love your essay! You are right! I thought of 2 things immediately and that was, when I was reading about my Granny’s live (she died in 1978) young people that age, even when living on their own had some type of support system like living with a family that was not of their origin (during the Depression years this happened) and that 21st Century life is complicated for NT and autistic alike. I am autistic and live independently with my 2 cats and I get help from family and friends on things like taxes. In fact what needs to be stressed for all of us is interdependence.
Secondly, I was thinking about the Most Holy Mother of God when our Lord and Savior was on the Cross. Before he voluntarily died, he gave to his disciple John, his Mother so she can live with him. Part of that was due to the Jewish culture at the time and part of that was due to Mary being the Mother of us all (I am an Orthodox Christian). So it is a 20th Century thing that we expect people to not be connected with anyone. Any wonder why people are having a hard time of it today?
Xenia Grant
When Jalen was in school (I’m now homeschooling), I was frustrated often by members of the so-called team. His teacher was great, that’s not why we left. But he had problems functioning in a life skills classroom environment.
The worst IEP meeting I had was when he was about nine years old. The school psychologist who was the leader of the team was much more interested in making sure her forms were filled out correctly than in my son. She even talked over the speech therapist giving her impressions of my son — asking the person next to her a question about filling out the form. She had no interest whatsoever in my son. His teacher and I were both disgusted with her behavior. Several of the other team members seem detached and you could tell it was just some routine they had to get out of the way. No pretty.
One of my twins is in a specialty school here in Boston. I have to say, the school team members here in our district, could not have done more for him in getting him this placement. It took about a year, but all along they did have his best interest at heart. Today, he is thriving. And, I will add, the team at his present school is top notch, and completely on the same page in every respect. I have heard of so many horror stories, and I feel extremely lucky with the fact that the system worked in his case.
My son is almost 17 so I’ve been to a lot of meetings. It amazes me how little the school folks are actually interested in education and little interest any government folks are interested in the individual child. So much seems to be focused on minimizing costs. While I can understand budget impact, the failure to provide needed services early leads to greater needs and costs later.
The school district in which we live is an autism/special needs disaster.
Not only was my four-year old child who had little functional speech at the time, initially denied an in school aid, over the years my child has been routinely discriminated against and abused (literally) by the school system.
IEP meetings are a farce. Parents talk but then the school system and its employees go ahead and do what they planned all along. On more than one occasion the school employees have proved to be incompetent, when it comes to autistic children’s special needs. The system appears to blames the parents for the child’s autism. (To bad no one ever informed them that their way of thinking is fifty years behind.)
My child has been denied needed services, and left full days at a time, unknown to us parents, in the so-called “Quiet Room”. State law says that no child is to be left in this room for more than 10 hours a month, so school employees refused to log the time my child spent in their torture chamber. The “Quiet Room” is empty, with no heat and the children are shut in the room with the adults either locking the door or holding it shut. In other words, autistic children are punished for being autistic. I beleive this is a blatent case of child abuse. Even with the contacting of the our states Special Education Department, and bringing numerous child advocates to meetings, all we hear is that their job is to educate in inform. Educate and inform who? The parents? We already know what is legal and what is not, and the way my child has been treated in definitely not legal.
In this county the Autism Society is pushing the idea of the parents to home school. In other words, if you child is autistic, the school system is going to do everything in its power to try to run your child out of the system. Force you to pay for and provide your own child’s education.
What do you do when the school system and the local Intermediate School District Employees, routinely find ways to skirt the law, and refuse to follow your child’s IEP, as this State refuses to give the school system anything more than a slap on the wrist.
My child is STILL having nightmares because of what this school system has done to him.
It’s no wonder that autistic children have died while in this States’ schools system.