Autism Assessment and Education Planning for Children Part-1

I enjoyed watching the video, it was very informative.  I could not agree more on how important it is to involve the entire team in the IEP process. I work at a public school and they do don't always get everyone perspective on the kid progress.  The child might display a certain behavior with the ABA therapist that the teacher might not be seeing.  Anybody who interact with the child should have some involvement in the student IEP.  I agree that only professional licence doctor with knowledge about the disorder should diagnose a child with ASD.  It is important for the doctor to know what an autistic behavior is like in order for the kid to receive the right diagnoses.  I had a student that his mother went to many doctors in different states, hoping to find out something different from what the previous doctor told her.  She became brain wash in the process and she would try almost anything the doctor told her.

I agree with the presenter when she said teachers do not diagnose student.  As educator our role are to look at the child needs and come up  with a plan that will help he or she academically.  We are the expert in the classroom so we can help the parents better assist that student in their home.  I feel that some teachers forgot their roles and try to get involve in the diagnose process.  It is a fine line so they should leave that to a licence doctor to make certain claim.  Parents are always asking for opinion, they should always be referred to someone who can answered their questions. I learned that certain parents would stood in a IEP meeting and stated everything a teacher might have said to them.  Sometimes it could be an act of desperation.

I agree the most important instrument is the evaluator.  He or she is able to see the kid in different setting.  It is also important for the evaluator to know the student.  Kristine gave a perfect example.  She was testing a little boy she gave him a green jelly bean except it was the wrong color green.  Since she did not know the student that well, she was not aware what was causing the meltdown.  The speech pathologist who had some encounter with the student recognized right away he had the wrong color jelly bean.  This showed the importance of sharing information with anybody involves in the student progress. If the evaluator knew that information she could have prevented the meltdown.  Sometimes we may think some information  is not worth sharing with the group because it might seem so minor. Also the evaluator should always use direct and indirect assessment.  One can learn a lot about a student just by observing and speaking to the care giver they know the kid better.  These are some of the key points to keep in mind while observing a child:  pretend to play, turn taking, imitation of novel acts, use of toys and objects, functional use of communication, use of language and non verbal behavior, ability to shift from one task to the next.  Patricia mentioned someone who has language does not mean he or she can use  it for his needs and wants.  I completely agree with that statement.  I work with a 6 years old boy who can talk a storm but at times he would not use it to communicate his needs. He would have a tantrum then I have to prompt him to use his words to communicate his basic needs.