Instead of "enable" or "short change" I got "she is capable of more than you are giving her credit for." Ugghh. A few possible wording items to consider:
- Rather than an amount of writing that would trigger para support we got "DD will do 10% of the written output and para will do 90%." We have never counted the number of words in a given day but it helped with our argument that requiring her to ask for help was inappropriate.
- DD's psychologist suggested telling her "this is how YOU learn best" in order to address the not wanting to appear different after being expected to request help. I like how first they require these kids to ask for the help they are supposed to receive and then try to claim that since they are doing more and more on their own the need for support must not really be there after all. Gee why don't I wait to pay my tax bill until the school district runs out of money and asks for it. Gee - you went so many months not needing my money I guess that means you can function independently and don't need the support I am required to provide. Huh? What? I am supposed to just pay my taxes without you showing that you need the support and specifically requesting that I provide it? Really? I didn't know it was supposed to work that way...
- The failure to provide the required scribe led to DD being penalized for her disability. Amazingly she was earning 100% on every weekly spelling test while they were being scribed. When the teacher started having her write it herself she started missing several words each week. I complained that she was being required to work through 2 levels of learning disability (dyslexia AND dysgraphia) to do this. Once the teacher marked her wrong for spelling "ran" as "a-r-n" I was able to effectively argue that she was being penalized for her disability. No one could disagree that when sounding the word out there was NO WAY that DD would say "rr" "rr" "rr" = "A". It HAD to be her dyslexia causing her to write the word as a reversal. It was up to them to try to prove that this wasn't the case. Amazing! Once I made this argument directly to the superintendent all hand written spelling tests came to an end. Also amazing - having them scribed again has meant a return to 100% on the weekly tests. Go figure...
- If your IEP requires the accommodation it is required. Period. In our case we had to involve both the superintendent and the state Dept of Ed to be taken seriously. We have also made clear that we are ready, willing and able to pursue a civil rights complaint. The classroom teacher continues to violate the IEP but other members of the team are now VERY quick to correct the problem when we bring it to them.
