DD7 had her IEP meeting for next year. She's currently in a G/T class for 160 minutes a day, and a regular 1st grade class for the rest, and except for a promotion to 2nd, none of that is projected to change. The school and district have dug in their heels about a grade skip for two years now, though when the VP (apparently the principal is tired of dealing with us, and delegated) declared that question already answered, I flatly told her that we do not accept "no skip" as a final answer.
DD is very much a teacher pleaser, so although we've gotten them to commit to a couple of accommodations in 1st (an advanced work folder she can select from, extra computer time where she can select her own material, etc), when the teacher is short of time and/or distracted by other things, DD gets asked to work on grade level. Instead of the teacher accommodating DD and her needs, the relationship swings the opposite direction, with DD accommodating the teacher. She then bottles up all her frustration and negativity about her needs being denied, brings it home, and takes it out on us. To address this, I inserted a comment in her IEP for this year, something along the lines of: "Working on grade level is not appropriate. Significant accommodations must be made in the regular classroom to meet her needs."
So, at least we've got something nice and legal to fall back on if the next teacher starts backsliding on us... not that I blame the current teacher, who can be as much a victim of inappropriate placement as the student.
Here's the bit where DW and I were flabbergasted... the VP turned to DD and asked her to "use her giftedness" towards grade-level assignments and find creative new ways to solve the given problems, etc. It really bothered me at the time, but I needed to chew on it a bit after the meeting to figure out why... they're basically transferring their responsibility to my DD. It's not her job to make their assignments engaging and challenging... it's theirs. They're the adults, and they're supposed to be the ones who identify her needs and meet them. She has a responsibility to be on time, on task, and behave appropriately. They're responsible for providing her with an appropriate education. Our state even has legislation that says so.
And if this is the message they're sending her... that if she's bored it's all her fault... then no wonder she keeps beating herself up over every little mistake at home.
I suppose if she really was permitted to "use her giftedness" in class, she'd feel a little better about it. But I was quick to point out the contradiction, because just this week DD was given a worksheet where she was basically counting pennies and converting them to larger coins. I looked at it and told her she missed one, and she immediately responded, "Ms. X told us not to use quarters!" So much for higher thinking skills... just conform to the classroom and the instructions on the paper. Sigh.
Just wanted to vent my frustrations, and also share with the group, because I'm sure some of you have either heard this argument, or will encounter it in the future. I'm half inclined to send off a condensed and less ranty version of this to the VP, but I think I'll hold off until we see how 2nd grade is going.
