EPISD & Autism

[lexsmom]

Originally Posted by their_mom

I live in El Paso and i have been here for almost 3yrs and i will be honest with you. The school system here does not provide all of the resources your autistic child will need. I am too a mother of an autistic child and i have had nothing but headaches from this school system. They dont even offer the para-educators (people who are assigned to sit w/your child in their classroom) My husband and I are fighting desperately to move so that our child will have all of the resources he needs.

Where are you guys thinking of moving? Within El Paso or out of the state? I was thinking of living in Las Cruces since they seem to have good programs at their public schools?

[PDD-NOS_Mom]

Originally Posted by lexsmom

Thanks for all the help. I did call EPISD SPED and that was not helpful. I think we may home school and find therapist to work with our child. If anyone has any recommendations on good therapist for ABA, speech and OT I would appreciate.

I have a young child with Autism and we home school. I have an in-home ABA program for him, as well as a therapist that helps me.

He also gets OT/ST/PT at Sante Pediatric Clinics (Airway & Montana). My ABA consultant, who is moving in a couple of days did a one day intensive training at Action Care, and many of their clinicians attended all the workshops she held here for the past 6 months.

I speak with lots of parents of autistic children, and I hear very good things about SISD. I hear not so great things about EPISD. A friend, who was a SpedEd teacher for a looooong time in EPISD gave me lots of pointers on getting better services during IEPs:

-Ask for what your child needs nicely, if that doesn't work switch to DEMANDING what your child needs...respectfully.

-Anything they tell you they can't do, re-phrase and let them know your child needs it and end of story. Ask them HOW and WHEN the changes you are requesting will get done.

-Audio record your sessions, you will need to send them a signature certified letter telling them you will be doing so about two weeks prior.

-Make copies of everything you need, and hand out your copies to them.

-Know your rights, and stick to them. Do not let yourself get bossed around or intimidated.

-Take someone with you, you have a right to have a guest attend.

The needs of your child will be dependent on his/her developmental age and level of affliction.

There is a private school called Bridges Academy, but they only accept very high functioning students with next to zero behaviors. Very small class size, though. Perfect for those children with autism who have no or little behaviors.

I would agree with the above poster that the squeaky wheel will get more services. I would also arrive with a folder of charted progress, abilities, behaviors (if they exist) and how to deal with them, needs, and accommodations needed.

If you are home schooling, then I would get acquainted with Eraser Dust (the teacher supply store off Sunland Park Drive) and I would get an ABLLS-R package from Different Roads to Learning - Autism Education Tools, Autism Teaching Resources to help you build an in-home education plan for your child. I would enroll in RethinkAutism, as they are an online ABA platform that is very easy to follow and very affordable at $125/month. It will give you access to ALL their behavior analysts, and they can troubleshoot for you. Hope that helps!

[lexsmom]

Thanks for the help. Do you have any recommendations on ABA therapists to help set up an at home program or any programs in El Paso you would recommend? I also had great luck with EPISD and services but they just don't offer much in ways of teaching autistic children, it seems like a very archaic program. I am looking into SISD to see what they have to offer.

[PDD-NOS_Mom]

Originally Posted by lexsmom

Thanks for the help. Do you have any recommendations on ABA therapists to help set up an at home program or any programs in El Paso you would recommend? I also had great luck with EPISD and services but they just don't offer much in ways of teaching autistic children, it seems like a very archaic program. I am looking into SISD to see what they have to offer.

Unfortunately, there are no BCBAs or BCaBAs that are working in the El Paso area that I can recommend to you. In fact, I would strongly recommend that if anyone approaches you about setting up a program here locally...you stay away from them. I know of a couple of 'consultants' that fly into the area, but the work they do is outrageously inadequate and very expensive. Save yourself the grief and money, and avoid them at all costs.

There is a company that has been trying to break into the El Paso market for a while now, but again...they are very Lovaas style (Verbal Behavior Approach is the method that is currently most popular and getting the best results) and also very much a 'one size fits all' type of program. I would also not recommend them, if they ever get around to opening or off the ground (they have been looking for people to work for them for close to 2 years, now).

While it is very helpful to have a consultant come into your home and train you (we were lucky enough to get a great consultant to 1:1 train me for 6 months), I don't think it is impossible to do it on your own. I really think you should give RethinkAutism a try. They have BCBAs to guide you and the program is customized to your initial assessment. You can also read my blog, to get ideas. This is my URL:

Living With PDD-NOS

Good luck. Feel free to comment on my blog and ask any questions you might have. I honestly think you can do this on your own, wand save yourself the headache and expense of falling prey to an unethical consultant (and there are many!).

[DavTay68]

Hi Lexsmom, I moved from central NJ and El Paso is no NJ. But if you are Military then there are more program avaliable and paid for. If not then there are ACES program which is on teh west side. from what i have been told teh west side is better than the NE and LV and East side. The schools have no choice but help your child. be strong and know the Federal Laws ie: IDEA so when your ARD comes around you are prepared. If you have an IEP that is infirced then teht Federal Law say the new school MUST except it no matter what.... Its the Law. Be Educated

[ginger20]

I had a terrible experience with the ARD. I brought all the necessary paperwork over from my other IEP and they told me that since they did not have the same resources they did not have to comply. They dropped my autistic child's OT time down to half and she had behavioral at school and they said they could not offer that so they discounted that also, I asked about outside resourecs and they said no. It has been a horrible experience with the EPISD. I have done everything also, recorded the meetings, written letters outlining issue and nothing matters. I am so sorry I moved my autistic child to El Paso. It is not set up to help autistic children. My child is very high functioning and is regressing and has not moved forward at all. I hope the EPISD changes or I will move since I cannot let my child be treated like she is unable to learn or function in a school setting. Such a sad place.

[DavTay68]

Lexsmom - EPISD also has an AIM program. There is the TXaba site to get info and ACES Inc is on the wast side for ABA. Also look into County services. If you home school then you might lose the school services that they do provide, im not sure

[DavTay68]

Originally Posted by ginger20

I had a terrible experience with the ARD. I brought all the necessary paperwork over from my other IEP and they told me that since they did not have the same resources they did not have to comply. They dropped my autistic child's OT time down to half and she had behavioral at school and they said they could not offer that so they discounted that also, I asked about outside resourecs and they said no. It has been a horrible experience with the EPISD. I have done everything also, recorded the meetings, written letters outlining issue and nothing matters. I am so sorry I moved my autistic child to El Paso. It is not set up to help autistic children. My child is very high functioning and is regressing and has not moved forward at all. I hope the EPISD changes or I will move since I cannot let my child be treated like she is unable to learn or function in a school setting. Such a sad place.

You also have the right to requst another ARD and you dont have to sign the IEP until you are happy with the IEP. if it cant be agreed upon then it will go to district level.

[Cathy Palmer]

Originally Posted by their_mom

I live in El Paso and i have been here for almost 3yrs and i will be honest with you. The school system here does not provide all of the resources your autistic child will need. I am too a mother of an autistic child and i have had nothing but headaches from this school system. They dont even offer the para-educators (people who are assigned to sit w/your child in their classroom) My husband and I are fighting desperately to move so that our child will have all of the resources he needs.

EPISD does offer para for elementary school, but when they start Junior High, they are on their own. My grandson has always been mainstreamed with some resource classes, but for Junior High we were only offered a autistic class for very low functioning (non speaking and not potty trained) and he sure doesn't fit there, the only other self-contained class is an aims class of MR and 1 other autistic child. we are very upset about this. I have heard YISD has much better services. We live in Northeast El Paso.