Do you mind if I ask what school your child attended.

APS - Albuquerque Public Schools

Hi, thank you for the link but the site is not found. Can you tell me if there is a generalized location on APS's site?

Hi lehouser:
To help you gain more information: here is a link to the APS website: www.aps.edu/aps/specialed/autism.html.

It sounds like your daughter already has an IEP in place. It's probably best to call or visit the school(s) your interested in and meet with the special ed person in charge to gain more information. Bring your daughter's IEP with you so you're better able to discuss her needs when she starts Kindergarten.

May I suggest you join the Autism & Asperger's Group here: community.greatschools.net/groups/18940. You'll find helpful websites listed there, as well as other parents who may be able to chime in with ideas.

There are resources that available to parents of children who have autism. For example, Morrissey Compton Education Center has warm and well respected psychologists and educational specialists who can evaluate and come up with individual plans for your child. They also have people who are trained to assess "kindergarden readiness" and can give specific guidance to the parents that will help the child. They also have social skills groups. For more information, you might want to check their web site:

www.morrissey-compton.org/

The nice thing is that they spend time to really give you individual attention that will address many of your questions and concerns.

That's for that I really needed to here that from a parent with a child that has had and IEP. My son has one now and he's had it since kindergarten. He's currently going into 5th grade and I know it's not going to be easy for him but as a mother I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he can function as an adult. I just set him up for Sylvan and requested they be at him IEP meetings with me. I just want to see whats out there that will help him the most.

I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with that acronym...APS. What does it stand for? Perhaps we call it something else here.

Once your child has a classification of Autism, this should never change.

In hindsight, we would never requested a shadow as a way to address my child's needs. I would have created my mission statement on day 1, documented "measurable" goals and allowed the school district to choose the vehicle of their choice to allow my child to reach these goals. In the event that goals were not being met. I would refer to the mission statement and call an IEP meeting so that they could make adjustments as needed.

Once we demand that a service be done a certain way, this becomes a ticket for the school to say, "We were just doing what you asked, we can't be held accountable if you won't let us teach".

My son will graduate high school on time and currently has the highes GPA in his school. He will be going to college after next school year and has a bright future of independent living ahead.

My son's public school did wind up paying for a private placement of our choice but this was never our goal. Our mission statement was "I would like for my son to recieve meaningful educaitonal services that allow him to go onto higher learning and or independent living to the fullest extent possible".

We can's ask for "The best education possible" because the IDEA does not guarantee that for our children. The IDEA guarantees a Free education. Our School district strives to meet the very minimum of this requirement. If left up to them, my son would have attended high school until age 21, and would have strived to learn all of the words to The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round by aging out of these Free educational services.