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    Joined: Feb 2011
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    I hesitate to mention this-- but-- in my experience, it may be useful in some situations to bring in a brightly colored file folder in your stack of materials...

    just print out a few formal complaint forms, etc. and then hand-letter "OCR" onto the tab of that brightly colored file folder. (If you're in a situation where things are already starting to go south and it's contentious, label it "OCR/Complaint").

    If things go south in that meeting, then you can splay your materials just slightly as a sort of very minor threat display...

    long about the time you begin using statements like "perhaps YOU need some technical advice from someone OCR on this situation... they were VERY helpful as I was trying to understand this-- would you like that number?"

    and

    "I'm not sure that is in line with what OCR is thinking here,"

    "When I called OCR about this..." also by the way, I very carefully rough out statements which are TRUTHFUL prior to meeting, but those which may imply to school administrators that OCR is much more enthusiastically behind my statements than is, um-- actually so in conversation with them-- they generally aren't super-duper helpful over the phone unless you get very lucky. But if you say to OCR "So, the school told me that X is just fine and I don't think that seems right because Y and Z-- am I reading that correctly on your website?" they may confirm that you're not reading it wrong. Good enough for me, at least in a meeting where I need federal backing. Generally, in phone calls, you'll get confirmation of things like procedural stuff, definitions of terms, etc. I did learn one very critical thing in one of those phone calls once, however-- that even if we as her parents WANTED to, we don't have the RIGHT to waive any of our DD's rights under federal law. We can't agree to an illegal accommodation for that reason. None of us can. Because her rights trump that, and they are hers alone. She can't waive them either, as a minor.

    The very fact that you CALLED at all is an incredibly powerful threat display when you're dealing with an unruly room full of yes-men/-women who are behaving like petulant preschoolers, however. Particularly when you say things like, "Oh, I completely understand. Yes, let's DO consult with counsel about this. I think that really would be best."

    Then smile wolfishly. It confuses them when you are SUPER confident that their attorney(s) will say the same things that you're telling them already. Remember, if you've done your homework, you KNOW what the law says-- and you're right. Own that. smile

    I also have other meeting tricks-- like making sure that I have everyone's name and title spelled out fully in my own notes-- I make a POINT of it, in fact, and I ask if everyone is signing a signature sheet to document the meeeting-- "can I have a copy of that," that sort of thing.

    It makes them very unsettled, generally speaking. Teachers and school staffers, I mean. It's out of their comfort zone, that kind of thing. Attorneys are unfazed by it, generally.





    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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    I am trying to find just the right article to describe what went on in Darien, CT a few years ago but haven't been successful. This one should give you an idea of why you are facing this at some of your IEP/504 meetings though:

    http://www.darientimes.com/18417/complaint-against-darien-schools-gains-steam/

    24 families ended up filing a lawsuit against this one high socio-economic status district when they got their hands on written documentation and PowerPoints training their staff in how to shut parents out of the planning for special Ed students. District staff was ordered to present "a united front" and get prior approval before entering any meeting where expensive items like OOD, 1:1 aides, iPads, etc were to even be considered. It was documented that all decisions were made prior to the meetings and parents were systematically excluded. No - sadly it's not your imagination...

    What was effective for my DD and other 2E kids I know who got radical subject acceleration was a clear declarative statement in a neuropsych report that this acceleration was necessary. For my DD, who was crippled by school based anxiety at the time, the neuropsych stated that she *had* to have exposure to high level audio books twice a day. This took the form of "enrichment/anxiety" breaks while in 2nd grade at the public. Once these were in place it was easy for OOD spec Ed school to place her in 8th grade reading comprehension as a 3rd grader when their own testing confirmed the high level comprehension. That moved to 1:1 HS literature for 4th grade. Even though everyone now accepts it as necessary a new clinical director tried to throw a roadblock last spring because she "wasn't comfortable" with a 5th grader being around HS students when I asked about moving her into an actual classroom. Simultaneously, though, a friend's 2E 5th grader who is PG in math was approved to attend 12th grade math in the public HS. She used the same neuropsych who apparently has the magic touch for unlocking these types of things.

    And as to to original question about who determines "appropriate"? I think it's supposed to be like the supreme court's definition of "obscenity" - I can't define it but I know it when I see it. I believe it's supposed to be determined on a case-by-case basis by the IEP team. As the case above points out, though, there are some serious issues there. And many people do think "at grade level" qualifies. For a non-disabled kid that's hard to fight against. As difficult as life is for a 2E kid as least the disabilities open up the discussion.

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    What did the report this summer say?

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    I can't begin to say thanks enough for all the feedback. You are all so helpful and I am so grateful for your willingness to share your experiences. They will help me be a proper advocate for my twins.

    Pemberley, AEH was kind enough to help call out the correct score on the testing we had previously done a couple of years ago, thinking we were walking into testing for a dx of adhd, definitely not gifted. New psych who actually has tons of experience with gifted kids did fresh testing (IQ and achievement, and a boat load of other tests). IQ was even higher (171) but achievement testing confirmed another learning disability (thank you again AEH for mentioning the possibility of LD)so they tested some more and found she has dyslexia. So on top of the vision issues our dev optho and ped opthos confirmed this summer, she also has dyslexia to deal with. She also has a development hand issue which makes her have to use her non-dominant hand for writing (meaning a double whammy for writing). We are so grateful to finally have found the missing pieces but sad because our experience is that the school will focus on only on her disabilities and not that she was already studying cell reproduction and algebra in 4th grade.

    Well, I am going to go in there with a positive, team working attitude...but will bring my back up arsenal..just in case. Thank you again for always being so supportive. I am so very grateful!

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    Laurie, I have the benefit of working with a school that gets 2e at least to a degree, and wants to do the right thing. Even so, it's difficult to get the appropriate education for complex kids. I've gotten a lot done by making very careful use of the prior levels of performance section on each goal.

    Mine are both dx with dyslexia and dysgraphia, but with very high reading levels. I ensure that both associated goals include the reading levels and VIQ numbers alongside the lower spelling and writing scores. For each (sub)goal I look to have, I make sure there's a score in the PLoPs that show the potential, paired with a PLoP that shows the deficit. When the proposed goal hits grade level, I then have them rewrite to hit the reading level/VIQ percentile instead. As such, the spelling intervention that DD started in 5th grade had targets for high school level spelling, not grade level spelling. The use of vocabulary and sentence structure, targeted higher TOWL scores than grade level, but instead targeted her actual vocabulary and sentence construction scores.

    YMMV, but it's worked famously for us.

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    I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts about how FAPE and LRE work together. Is LRE just meant to cover mainstreaming/inclusion, or could it also mean access to program/curriculum child would have without disability?

    Could the same argument be made for acceleration for OP's very gifted child with several additional Es?

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    FAPE is primarily about instruction and access to curriculum frameworks.

    LRE is primarily about settings, especially separation from the mainstream. This is why there are two primary signature pages on an IEP: one for the main plan (accommodations, goals, service delivery), and one specifically for placement, with the latter where one explicitly (in percentage ranges) defines and consents to the degree of separation from the general education setting.

    So, hypothetically, a 2e child's FAPE could involve significant academic acceleration and remediation, but in a substantially-separate environment (very restricted). Among well-meaning districts promoting differentiation as the solution for GT students, the ideological balance prioritizes LRE over FAPE. Idealized GT schools prioritize FAPE over LRE. (Though these are rarely free or public.)


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    Relevant letter from OCR that specifies what FAPE can be for 2Es:

    http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20071226.html

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