I want a 504 for future teachers to prevent some of the strange things that are happening now. For instance, she is kept in from recess to finish work or tests. She gets half of the words on her spelling tests marked wrong because she is slow with writing and leaves blank words. She has a ton of copying homework (spelling) which takes hours. She just does everything too slow.
blackcat, I think what you really need is the step that comes before putting accommodations in place - you need an accurate diagnosis of what's at the root of the issues you're seeing. You suspect there is more going on than ADHD, and you have good reason to. You'd like to have the school district give you what you need, but there's a bit of a fundamental difference between where you are coming from and the services that school districts are obligated to provide. The school is going to be looking at the *impact* on access to education (of whatever the challenge is); a private eval is going to look at impact across life functions. Please forgive me if I haven't stated that clearly... it's still early in the morning here and I'm not 100% awake yet
You can choose to spend your time fighting the good fight to get everything you need from the school district (and mon has given you great advice about how to go about that above), but (jmo), what you need for the long run (for your dd) is a clear diagnosis.
As expensive as it may be to get a private eval, I'd look forward and think - what is going to happen if she doesn't get a private eval now and is still struggling with many of these same questions 10 years (or less) down the road when she's in college or she's a young adult out on her own? It's most likely going to be even more difficult for her as a young independent just-starting-out adult to pay for an eval, plus I'd also think through how you might feel if she does find out at 20 that she's dysgraphic instead of finding out now - are you going to wish you'd had the diagnosis earlier? Is she?
So anyway, I'd step back and instead of focusing on what she needs for accommodations as the first line of concern, focus on what you and she need for clarity (an understanding of - is this all ADHD, or is it a combo of ADHD and some other issue). The clearest way I can see to get there is a private neuropsych eval, if there's any way you can get one. Once you have the eval, you'll have a diagnosis (or not, depending on the findings), and then you will have that report and clarity to use as data when advocating for the accommodations your dd needs at school.
I'd also add, that even if the neuropsych eval turns up only ADHD and nothing else you should still be able to request accommodations for what you've listed above with ADHD being the reason she needs the accommodations.
Her teacher asked if we could try reducing her meds so I did.
I personally feel that suggesting something like this is overstepping the bounds of the role of the teacher - she's not a dr. OTOH, it sounds like perhaps the teacher sees an issue and wants to help your dd. If this is the case, hopefully you will be able to count on her classroom observations in support of your advocating for accommodations. The thing is, her support will be more effective if *you* have a clear picture of what's causing the issue, rather than relying on a teacher to give input based on assuming what's at the root of the challenge. OK, I am sure I totally did not explain that very well! Hopefully it makes a little bit of sense
Hang in there,
polarbear
