Same Old Song

FMO was given an interim 30 day placement with comparable services to what was written into the IEP. The SLP began assessments to determine current baselines. Before she even received and read the cum, she requested psych-evals. The psychologist kept telling us we had to qualify for eligibility to receive services. We kept insisting FMO has already been determined eligible under the Speech Language Impairment qualifier for services he was already receiving in his last district. She already had specific services in mind before assessing him. The SLP and the psychologist ignored the Late Talkers eval. and didn't follow ed. code procedures for discussing previous assessments.

The recommendation was made by the psychologist to place him in a Special Day Class. What a big surprise. Not only is it more cost efficient to educate multiple disabled students at once in an SDC instead of provide inclusion support, but there is over a $30,000 difference between what funding comes in for a student receiving speech language support and a student receiving services for autism or "autistic-like". They don't have to be autistic to get this funding, they can just have traits.

However, here is the big BUT: the ed. code states specifically that autistic traits cannot be attributed to a specific learning disorder. Lo and behold, in a less profitable eligibility category, Specific Learning Disability, one of the areas of concern listed, among others, is auditory processing.

If this line of thinking is too difficult to follow, I will simplify. AUTISM IS A RACKET.