Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Taking Away Accommodations

So, just wondering... is it common for the school to keep trying to sneak away accommodations? I guess this another trouble that tends to go along with 2e kids?

I had my DS7 re-evaluated for dysgraphia and dyslexia (he has an IEP for Congenital Hypotonia, Anxiety and a vision disorder) and as a result we had another IEP meeting. Some accommodations for executive functioning were added and some accommodations for addressing his strengths were included (just a vague accommodation that he should have enrichment after mastering curriculum - whatever that means). They added some vague accommodations for spelling and phonics, etc. Psych said she could NOT label him dysgraphic in her report because he performed at least averagely on the writing test (I suppose because he performed averagely on WJIII achievement?) But I find this a little confusing because his OT tests are still pretty dismal... He is still two years behind his peers and writing an inordinate amount of reversals. His writing fluency is slow and labored. We had/have good accommodations (scribing in particular) for that because it is/was attributed to his documented disability of hypotonia. I fought pretty hard back at the end of September for those writing accommodations with a lot of help from some great people here. More background info, I have a private neuropsych eval now scheduled for May1. I am hoping a private neuropsych will be able to help us get a formal diagnosis of dysgraphia (if indeed he has that and even though he compensates well he certainly seems to have it and the school psych did agree with me on that) so that I can get it formally on record at school to add strength to the writing accommodations, to help staff understand DS better and to get maybe extra tutoring if there is some particularly helpful for dysgraphia. Also hoping the neuropsych can give us more concrete answers/insight re whether or not ADHD-Inattentive is present or not.

Anyway, we have the IEP meeting and they tried to take away is writing accommodations! They changed many of the ones that called for scribing! For example, DS had a modification that read , "Provide a scribe for multiple written sentences” and that was changed to "Provide a scribe for multiple written sentences when DS requests assistance writing or an adult observes signs of frustration such as multiple erasures." Another accommodation that had read, "assign shortened writing tasks and break into chunks, reducing the amount of written work" was changed from "with each major writing assessment" to "when DS is feeling fatigued." They did the same thing with an accommodation that read, “Break math assignments into shorter pieces and offer breaks daily” to "daily if DS is feeling fatigued." When I push back at the meeting I feel like they gang up on us pulling out writing samples showing how well DS does without a scribe. THEN after they present with all of this proof of how much writing DS is doing, they complain that he has increasingly becoming very irritable over the last month or so and behaviors are coming out. YET amazingly they do not see the relationship between the increased writing and DS's emotional state even though he developed an anxiety disorder last year and had a breakdown because his disability wasn't properly accommodated for last year!!!! I have noticed his becoming increasingly more miserable and starting to hate school, pretend to be sick to get out of school, seeming very fatigued, etc. at home. When I argued that the increased writing is what is causing the irritability they act like I am nuts.