Thank you so much for all the replies. A little more detail may help clarify:
The regional magnet she attended was located in the neighboring large city where the private is also located. Our town indeed has a school psych assigned to work with kids attending private schools and magnet schools. The magnet was required to contact her and never did. In fact they repeatedly stopped us from doing so with their insistence "she would never qualify". It was June before we were given the information to contact her ourselves. Trust me - I have been kicking myself over and over for not having found a way to have made this happen earlier.
Yes, the town will provide up to 45 minutes per week of special ed services for a student enrolled in a private school within the town's borders. Since this private school is located across the border, though, the large city would be responsible for determining need and providing service. Based on our experience last year we have absolutely no faith in the efforts they would make. Even if they provided service I do not feel confident that it would be of sufficient quality to address her issues.
Yes, they are saying she is dyslexic. Oddly the director of special ed said she never believed dyslexia existed before meeting DD. I never knew there was a question about that... Anyway the director of special services indicated that this does not appear to be a typical form of dyslexia and indicated it is somewhere between "very rare" and "unique". They rejected the idea that her scores were deflated because of the anxiety when I raised it with them. As I said they are taking a special interest but are flying blind.
The private school is an amazing place - totally child centered, totally no pressure, totally individualized. In my gut I KNOW she needs to be there it is just a question of whether I can do it now or if we need to get a handle of just what additional resources she will need to have provided. They had their K-1 and 2-3 teachers review her test results and they feel strongly that they can offer the best learning environment for her, as long as she has the additional help with the dyslexia. The woman from the dyslexia program had her organization review the test results and they are also confident that they can meet her needs. I just don't know what additional services may end up being needed and I can see the cost rising and rising to even more unreasonable levels.
The public school special ed teacher apparently is completing Orton Gillingham training this summer and I have heard 100% positive reviews about her. She is supposed to be fabulous. We are including in the IEP a request for enrichment opportunities but I have been told it will be up to the classroom teacher to include them. We plan to meet with the principal early this week to discuss placement with the correct classroom teacher.
I will call the pediatrician in the am - planning to ask for a complete ophthalmological exam as well as a neurological or neuropsych exam. DD suffered a concussion in February but a relative who is a pediatrician felt strongly that was not a factor when I showed him the test results. I think Dee Dee makes a good point, though, and I will strongly request one. We will obviously discuss the anxiety too but it is amazing how quickly it dissipated once she was out of school. I am sure it will be retriggered once she steps foot in a school again. Any other suggestions for requests or questions to the pediatrician?
We have been playing telephone tag with the director of the largest 2E program in the country. Even though we are not in their school district I guess DD's situation is unusual enough that people have been extremely kind in trying to help us. Any suggestions for questions to pose this person once we are able to schedule our phone conversation?
I am also interested in any questions or key phrases to use when speaking to the principal in the next few days. I feel so burned by the magnet I am more than a bit uneasy about expecting the public to meet her needs. As I said earlier they are definitely taking a personal interest but really have no experience. (i.e. they had no idea what the term "twice exceptional" was when I used it during our IEP meeting the other day.)
It is interesting that the mix of responses here is so closely echoing my own thought process as I go back and forth between the 2. Thank you so much for your thoughts. I am so, so glad to have found this forum. Please keep your ideas coming - I will be needing them as we make our final decision very soon.
