Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Help - School Wants to Discontinue OT

Hi All! It's been awhile and that is a good thing. However, It's IEP time so here we go. Just a refresher: DS is now in 4th grade going into 5th. He has dysgraphia (actually, he has dyspraxia and a part of the that is severe dysgraphia) and Ehlers Danlos; so, handwriting has been a huge issue all through school so far. After some major battling, I got him some great accommodations for writing - scribe, keyboarding, extra time, etc. As part of his IEP, he has been getting typing and handwriting lessons during OT pull-outs. He gets pulled out twice weekly, each time for about 25 minute sessions. One session was supposed to be for handwriting and one for typing. (I say 'supposed to be' because my son has indicated he pretty much only works on typing during the sessions.) This particular arrangement started beginning of third grade, when I insisted that he be taught to type during OT. Occupational therapist is now wanting and recommneding that all OT services be discontinued for my son for fifth grade. He says DS types great - 34 words per minute; so, he doesn't need OT any more and, plus, it is not good to pull him out of class now that he is in 5th. I was JUST told this and IEP meeting is tomorrow (no matter - I won't sign a darn thing until I have the IEP right and I don't care how many times I have to meet with them to get there but still).

Both DH and I are not comfortable with this at all. First of all, I realize 34 words per minute is good but he needs to rely on this skill as he can not handwrite so is that a good enough level at which to quit? I don't think so. Am I right, or no? Also, this speed is on a regular keyboard, I am thinking he needs support/lessons on getting up to speed typing on an iPad keyboard. My husband adds that, 'yes he can not rely on handwriting and, yes, we can not stress his hand joints with handwriting BUT he should still get some OT instruction on handwriting to at least solidify SOME functionality.' He still writes his 9s and 4s backwards. As for the '5th grade is harder so he should not be pulled from class argument,' to me this is the last year he can afford to be pulled so let's make the most of it. My thought is that this service will stop in middle school because the course load will be too heavy then to continue with the OT. But not in fifth. To me this is the last year he will have the time and luxury to fit in OT!


Also, I think he needs to start using EFFOFex. He is in accelerated math and he is going to need to be able to the higher level math more independently using that program. Can not the OT provide support with that as well?

Any thoughts, advice, and insights are welcome and deeply appreciated! I need some reassurance and advice for sure!

Just our experience...Our OT outside of school discontinued services when out DD11 (who was 10 at the time-dyslexia & dysgraphia, and right handed syndactyly)reached 24 words per minute. He said that continued practice was the only thing left to bring benefit and sessions were not needed for that. He gave us a home plan for continued practice As for handwriting, he did some instruction but again, he indicated that practice for the basics for when actual writing was needed was what remained. He did give us lots of sheets to practice with (handwriting) and recommended kidstype or typingclub for typing practice. For OT in school, our DD got 20min once per week for 1 school year. We actually saw better results having her using the online typing programs, practicing every day, than OT so we were fine with discontinuing OT. Best wishes with your quest for continued services.

We just went through something similar. DS is in third grade and at his meeting a couple months ago, they wanted to drop direct OT and do a whopping 5 minutes per week on "indirect services" like AT support. Except that there was never any AT plan. The 5 minutes was supposed to be to "explore AT." What?! DS types about 13 words per minute. When I asked about keyboarding back in Nov. the OT started doing keyboarding with him a few times per month but also dropped handwriting. So his handwriting quickly went downhill. Of course, no one bothered to inform me that they weren't working on writing w/ him anymore. They weren't doing anything for him in terms of math except every once in a while the teacher would scribe a test (but sometimes not). I made them put an AT eval into his IEP and we had to have a conciliation conference about the dropped OT services. They put it back in 4 times per month rather than 3 times per month. But I wonder what good it's even going to do if the OT doesn't seem to understand the issue and he is only getting about 1X per week. I have the Handwriting Without Tears book and will try to get him to do it over the summer. I'm also trying to get in for an OT eval but there is a long waiting list. AT eval results are coming out today or tomorrow. I will post later if there is anything helpful in there.

At the conciliation conference I brought in articles about dyspraxia and dysgraphia. The one about dysgraphia talked about the importance of remediation, not just accommodations. So that is maybe something you could try. The student needs to be able to at least function with basic forms, worksheets, etc. Stress to them how in the long run, remediation is going to work out a lot better for everyone than trying to accommodate everything. I don't know if this makes you feel better but it sounds like your school has been a lot more helpful than ours. I think they would stare at me aghast if I wanted people to regularly scribe, for example. The most they will do is send him to the special ed room for math tests to have someone scribe. Class work--he's on his own (although DS maybe be less severe than your DS, however a lot of his writing is illegible, he doesn't show work for math, and he resists work because the writing is difficult).

Although he is a child, average adult typing speed is 40 WPM. You may be successful by stating that DS needs OT until he consistently types a minimum of 40 WPM without errors, including complex words. It is anticipated that typing/keyboarding will be his primary note-taking strategy, and note-taking is anticipated to become increasingly important throughout middle school and high school.

This is a very good point. Chemistry Labs come to mind as one example of forms: Lab notes are handwritten on duplicate pages.

Thanks all. Just got back from meeting. I wrote an email yesterday telling them I was not in favor of them taking it away. The special ed coordinator emailed me back that she totally agreed. Today the OT pushed the issue but we stood firm and we kept the services. Thanks for the help and the reassurance!

That is not true everywhere. In all the states of which I have knowledge, parent signature is required for any change in the IEP, and if you reject or decline to sign the proposed IEP, the old IEP stays in force under stay put.

I haven't been working since 1999 but back then in fl after the initial iEP your signature just meant you were present at the meeting. No agreeing /disagreeing. You had to start fussing and calling lawyers if you disagreed. Or call another meeting and call another meeting etc.

I'm coming in late - but GREAT job Irena! I'm glad the team didn't agree with the OT

FWIW, 34 wpm is awesome for a kid with dyspraxia - it sounds like receiving help with AT from the OT is working really well for your ds! One note on science labs - it's true, as spaghetti has noted, that you can absolutely type your notes, you don't have to use handwriting in a lab notebook - ds hasn't ever done that. The only issue he's had with lab notes is not wanting to have his iPad with him while he's working on chem and bio labs where he's worried about accidental spills... so he does sometimes take lab notes using handwriting, but then has to transfer them to his iPad for writing his lab report.

I hope everything else went well with your IEP meeting too!

Best wishes,

polarbear

This is what just happened w/ us. School set up a "conciliation conference" but couldn't actually drop services. (they wanted to drop direct OT and services for speech articulation but leave other things). I think they would have had to go to due process to fight us, but not sure. I got the impression that they are used to parents agreeing w/ whatever they suggest and signing whatever they want signed, so when we wouldn't sign it (even though we had very good reasons why) they were flabbergasted and didn't even know how to handle the situation.

Wow, thanks all! This is great feedback. I will use your feedback especially Spaghetti. I want him to get the most out of these learning to type years/opportunities so that he really is competent and has good foundation in it - he's gonna need it!