Does anyone know?

Hi! My daughter was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome a few weeks ago, and I was wondering if anyone knows, or has any experience, of whether there is any expectations for the school to provide support in the classroom for her, or anything like that? Her psychologist has recommended that she have support at times in the classroom as she has difficulty in that environment, but the principal is reluctant to apply for support because there is already two support staff that are occasionally in that classroom - the entire school is around 27 students. The problem is, while those staff members are wonderful, they are not equipped to deal with my daughters needs - they don't understand her difficulties and how to best relate to her. My daughter has been getting in trouble in the classroom because she gets distracted easily and finds it hard to concentrate, kids tease her and she is coming home saying that everyone is stupid, and she wants to be gone - which I am extremely worried about. It seems to me that the school is in no way willing to help out with managing her behaviour at school, since her diagnosis they have not changed anything in the way they talk to her,etc, and I don't even know if it is reasonable or not for me to expect that they would! Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

God bless her! You can definately get support workers for her. It will help her alot to just have a little extra guidance. I would just keep on the case. Explain why you think your daughter deserves more support and they contact whoever is in charge of the funding etc. Support workers are great! And they can look into Aserger's syndrome to provide her with the help she needs. Goodluck! xx

Thanks for your help! She has gotten through school so far without the help, but her behaviour is getting worse, and she is having trouble with going to the toilet, plus some of the staff are quite rude to her, which is setting a poor example for her to follow. The psychologist thinks some support would really benefit her, help her keep on task occasionally, and that kind of thing. I'm worried that they are going to try and 'sweep her under the mat' - just ignore it and continue on like 'normal' which I don't think is the right approach. Plus she has a lot of trouble with bullying, which they tend to just ignore, too. I will have to keep on their case then - as long as I'm not being unreasonable!

Not sure where you are but in SA Autism SA offers support and advice to parents. They are also willing to go into schools and offer support and advice to teachers about best practises. Sure that each state will have the same kind of organisation.

Thanks! We are in VIC, but I'll see what I can find!

My oldest is 5 and has just this week been diagnosed with ASD. The school are seeking verificaiton from the paediatrician for the diagnosis in order to gain support for him in the classroom (won't be full time, but some is better than none). I would contact you states Autism body and ask them what your options are. The school are obliged to do more to help here, and if they aren't going to support her, maybe it's time to seek another school?

In Tasmania you would get her on the servere disability register, each state should have something similiar, from this they assess your child and determine their needs. She should get some educational support time as well has having an Individual Eductaion Plan (IEP) devised which outlines goals both educationally and socially for your daughter, this should be revisited every year, assessed and updated.
There is support out there it is however sometime difficult to access so be prepared to work for it but once you get it your daughter will bennefit greatly form it.

Thanks heaps for everyone's help! If we can't get what she needs from her current school then we will definitely think about other schools, but I want to do all I can with this school first. I will contact the department of education and hopefully they can tell me what to do next, who to contact, etc. I think the school is quite complacent because it is such a small school and I don't think they have had any child with special needs, so perhaps they are just hoping they can 'trick' us into not pushing for support. The kinds of plans mentioned are the kinds of things I would have thought they would have to implement, but there has been no talk of anything like that by the principal and I had wondered why. I'm not expecting full time help, I know that is out of the question, but even a bit of help is sure to be helpful for her. Thanks again!

My DS1 is on the spectrum. He is starting school next year, so we have just gone through the funding application process.

In Victoria, you apply for the Program for Students with a Disability. The funding criteria are really strict, and to be honest you may find that with an Asperger diagnosis your daughter is ineligible unless she has a co-existing condition such as ADHD or ODD. One of the criteria is a language score 2 or more standard deviations below the normal for age - I doubt your DD would meet this. Sorry. sad

If you do get funding under the PSD, the funding is made available for the school to use as they see fit, which may or may not include an aide. However the PSD does have certain conditions attached which are in place to improve the educational outcomes for the child. Two key features of this - which I would suggest you insist on, regardless of whether or not your DD is funded - are an IEP, as mentioned by PP, and PSG meetings each term between the parent/s, the teaching and support staff and therapists.

You have every right to request that the school modify things, within reason, for your DD. I would suggest the use of visuals at transition times, and provision for 'movement breaks' to help keep her on task. These are things that do not require a huge input from the school but which can make a big difference. Prhaps it would be helpful for the staff to undertake PD relating to ASD. With the prevalance of ASD's in the community, it seems a serious oversight if they cannot understand your DD's needs.

Contact Autism Victoria. They are very helpful. Also, if your DD is young enough to qualify for the FaHCSIA funding, apply now. It will assist you to access therapies etc.

Good luck. Some schools manage children with an ASD better than others. I do hope your daughter's school is one of the good ones. smile

The way it works in QLD is all the special needs "diagnosed" kids are allocated a specific amount of aide time relative to their diagnosis.

Then, the school divides up the time based on who needs most time. So if your DD is seen as functioning well, even though her diagnosis has given her for example 5 hours a week aide time she may only get 1 hour because the school feels the CP diagnosed kid needs more hours than they've been allocated for them.

Not sure if that makes sense or if VIC is the same?

Thanks very much for all the help! I think part of the problem is that it is such a small school, and they have never had an Asperger's child before - or any other child with special needs for that matter. My daughter is the only one in the whole school who actually needs a bit of support - that probably makes it worse I suppose! I would be satisfied if some staff were to do some PD, I'm it would help them to know how best to relate to my daughter to encourage her to actually do her work - I'm just not sure if they are even open to doing that. I will speak to her teacher about my daughters behaviour, see if she is open to some of the suggestions mentioned here. She is a lovely teacher, my girls love her, and I'm sure she would be open to a couple of changes. Thanks again for the help!

my little bro has autism, he has a chewing tube, and a few tactile trinkets to focus his energy on while in class... if aspergers kids relate to sensory like autistic kids do, maybe try giving her something like that as well, u need a co operative school though, my bro is in a little school but they are very understanding of the special needs children... there are three in his class alone lol smile do they offer her anything at all? if not an aid does she have cards or anything?? if not maybe look it up, there are alot of things u can provide if the school will not that may help your daughter express herself in positive ways at school... although one on one teachers aid is always a good thing... good luck anyway, sorry to hear she gets picked on, thats really wrong... everything i know is autistim related, so i dont know how much help it will be lol