When V was in Kindergarten his teacher told me if she knows a child has ADD or ADHD she is not allowed to tell the parents. If she does say that, then the school becomes obligated to have to pursue testing, so instead she can hint around at it and hope the parents pick up on the hints. (I bet many parents don't pick up on these hints.)
I remember V's 1st grade teacher saying to us "there is something about him I hope you figure it out." I just wish she could have told me more about what she was seeing, I felt like she was holding information back due to pressure by the district.
My theory is that schools don't want to have kids with special needs. Why would they? That means they have to provide services (thus more financial costs for them). Only if a kid is extreme are they going to diagnose a child. I've had someone else from another school district that worked in the Special Ed department confirm this too.
At the start of this school year (2nd grade) I asked for a complete battery of tests on V, including ASD. The ASD team came and observed him for 30 minutes, talked to him for 2 minutes and said he did not seem to show any signs or symptoms of ASD. They never asked to have a parent survey done. And in talking to V for just 2 minutes I know you'd be able to pick up the odd inflections in his tone of voice, including the monotone voice, both of which is common in Aspergers kids. I feel the ASD evaluation team from the district did a poor job, it is rather clear V struggles with many ASD attributes.
It sounds good that schools can do the testing - BUT I HAVE LEARNED TO PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION when it comes to the school diagnosing my child with anything. The best solution, use outside services to have my kiddo diagnosed.
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