When a child is determined to be somewhere on the autism disorder spectrum, parents have new work ahead, navigating the child's progress in life with expert and parent-peers. Paducah has a support group called Families on the Autism Spectrum including Kim Steele, whose own experiences have led her to the consultancy "Child First Advocacy Group." Bloom Behavior Clinical Director Dr. Becky Nastally is a Paducah-based psychologist and an advocate who specializes in helping families make sure their kids ge the most appropriate services from area schools. On Sounds Good, Kate Lochte branches off of an earlier conversation, to learn more about how parents deal with teachers and schools.
When it comes to a school recognizing that your child is on the spectrum, there can sometimes be complications in eligibility. Determining this is the first step in terms of giving your child what they need in a school setting. Medical diagnosis criteria can be different than the ones used in schools. For instance, at level one (high-functioning), a parent may be faced with a situation that, while their child has autism, the school doesn't recognize it, as it's a high-functioning level.
Kim Steele says it's important to look at the evaluation, going through the individualized education program (IEP) and highlighting all ares of need that are noted. With higher functioning kids, it should be more than just reading, writing and math skills, but also behavior goals, social cognition goals and adaptive goals. Once a plan is drafted, in the meeting with the admissions and release committee (ARC), can the child be placed in either a general setting or a more restrictive resource/special education setting. Steele reminds parents that they can call for an ARC meeting as many times as necessary, for instance revisiting behavior goals in 12 weeks or looking at math and reading specifically every 9 weeks. She recommends building these things into an IEP at the beginning.
Parents in the region are becoming more aware of their rights and therapists are open to working with school districts. The Kentucky Autism Training Center is available for professional development skills for teachers and school administrators, providing tools for research-based interventions and teaching strategies.
Bloom Behavior Therapy's Clinical Director Dr. Becky Nastally and Child First Advocacy Group's Kim Steele work with parents of children with autism spectrum disorder as the kids enter the public school system. Dr. Nastally can be reached at bloombehavior.com or 270-908-0461. Steele can be reached at kim@childfirstadvocacygroup.com.
