My 15-year old probably has Asperger's & his school thinks he's a stoner

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

The kid in the OP has an IEP in place for ADD, which the OP believes is the wrong diagnosis, IIRC. (I’m pretty sure I do recall correctly, I just wanted to add another set of letters to the alphabet soup that is that sentence.)

Which actually brings me to another question: How old is that IEP? Does an IEP expire? Does it need to be updated every year to remain in effect? I’ve never found a benefit to the IEP that was made for my son in sixth grade, so we never met with his school again; I don’t know if any problem he had today would be covered by that old IEP or not.

102

IEP’s need to be reviewed yearly by law. Even if they are not, they remain “in force” unless the student’s eligibility for sped changes. Of course, a student can always be dismissed from sped if he/she no longer needs it. Parents are always invited to these meetings, since they are part of the IEP team.

103

Almost certainly not. IEPs have to be rewritten every year. Times where for whatever scheduling reason, we’ve needed to let things slip for a week or two, the school staff gets rather antsy and will ask us to sign something giving them permission to cover the gap by extending the existing one.

104

Niiiiice…so yeah, we’ve never gotten a notice past that first one (which was actually handed to me at the meeting, not delivered to me before it.)

Let’s hear it for Evanston schools. (Yes, that was even before we were in CPS.) :rolleyes:
But I’m still a little confused on the OP’s behalf. Should her son’s old IEP for ADD (assuming it was made before this year and not updated yearly, which is what it sounds like) be any sort of protection for actions occurring now, when the problem isn’t an ADD related one and he’s not even displaying symptoms of ADD?

Lots of people are talking here like that’s the case, and I’m not sure if it is or not.

105

A manifestation hearing, which is part of due process for kids with disabilties, is supposed to settle that issue. If the behavior is a manifestation of the disability, the child cannot be disciplined in the usual way. It would be up to the IEP team to determine if the student’s ADD contributed substantially to the act of smoking whatever it was he was alleged to have done.

106

By law the IEP must be redone each year. WhyNot if yours has never been reviewed the school district could be fined lots. I don’t actually know what. I am under the impression that if I am late even a day on any of them my job is at stake. Chances are they did them without you. They can do the new IEPs that way but they have to be able to document 3 good faith attempts to contact you.

107

Hello everyone,
I am sorry don’t have time to review all the responses right now, but I’ll give a quick update. We did meet with the principal and the meeting went better than I expected. She did meet with us by herself, and seemed to understand we were not there to get confrontational, we just wanted information.

She didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know…she did say there was no other alternative and that her hands were tied, blah blah, blah. When I questioned her about them telling my son that he wouldn’t be in trouble if he confessed, she back pedaled and said that they were trying to make him understand he was not in trouble as far as criminal charges go. She said she never told him he wouldn’t be in trouble with the school. She’s insisting he misunderstood her.

The second drug test from the lab has now come back negative for everything, THC, cocaine, barbiturates, etc…

We have met with a lawyer and have a second meeting today. The lawyer we have chosen has dealt with these kinds of hearings before and is familiar with the system here. She said that unfortunately the zero tolerance policies in this county give the individual principals absolutely no leeway to make any kind of judgment call on their own, so they have to follow the policy no matter what or it’s their butts in a sling. The lawyer feels that it is a win-able case and that there’s a good chance she can get these charges dismissed or at least get the punishment knocked down to something lesser.

I will say that to the principal’s credit, she did say that she was impressed that we had our son drug tested because most parents don’t do that (seems crazy to me they don’t), and she tried to tell us with out telling us (nudge, nudge) that if it were her child she would fight it, too. I am still very cheesed with her, but she was successful in her damage control with us.

OTOH, we STILL have no work sent home to him, and she did promise on Monday that there would be a packet waiting for him on Tuesday and it wasn’t. Wednesday, still no work. It has been promised again today. I think it will make them look worse if they don’t do it, and we will use that, too.

Bottom line, he is being charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance. Two lab tests do not support that. They are trying to connect whatever happened at the bus stop with him falling asleep, and I truly do not believe the two are connected.

As for the sleeping, there has been improvement with the melatonin, but it is hard to tell because he isn’t in school. My mother lives with us, and she has been making sure he gets up and does something during the day besides play video games. We have given him chores and I have randomly assigned him some reading and other busy work because Ibedamn if he’s going to lay up in the bed like he’s on vacation. He did something incredibly stupid and he does need punishment. I told him that he should be prepared to work on his school assignments all through the holidays, and I don’t want to hear a peep out of him about it since he has been playing while the rest of the family has been working.

I have an IEP meeting next week as well. I did scan the responses and I see that some of you have graciously offered info about that. I am going to ask about how often these things should be rewritten and reviewed. We will be getting the appointment with the neurologist directly and hopefully completely redoing it.

Thank you!

Will let you know how it all comes out.

108

It sounds like everything’s on the right track, and I’m glad to hear it! Good luck!

109

Overall it sounds like things are improving. But – pardon me if I’ve missed something – what exactly is it that he did wrong that’s triggered the zero-tolerance crap? Is it the two puffs on an apparently tobacco cigarette on nominally school property? Are the kids who gave him the cig being sent to alternative school too?

ETA: I mean, why aren’t they just dropping this and apologizing?

110

Please update when there is something