Does your IEP designate a specific number of words, lines or sentences he is allowed to write without a scribe? Does it identify when he *can't* be expected to write it himself? Does it specifically state he is not to be expected to ask for the accommodation? DD's teacher last year thought for sure she was helping by telling DD "Do as much of it as you can yourself before you ask for help." They were telling me how great it was that DD was *able* to write more than I thought she was able to. Yeah and then the migraines, the shutting down and the school anxiety ramped up big time. She became even more aware of her weaknesses and wanted to badly to be like the other kids. Teacher never understood that requiring DD to work to the point of failure or fatigue was not good for her.
Yes, Yes and yes. We had this exact same problem last year:
DD's teacher last year thought for sure she was helping by telling DD "Do as much of it as you can yourself before you ask for help." They were telling me how great it was that DD was *able* to write more than I thought she was able to. Yeah and then the migraines, the shutting down and the school anxiety ramped up big time. She became even more aware of her weaknesses and wanted to badly to be like the other kids.
And that was how we ended up with a really good IEP. Because I HAD to put a stop to it. So, yeah, I guess we are really on the right road it seems. Ticking each box here...
DS does type a lot now... so that's good. It's the math that is getting problematic now because as they embark on long addition, subtraction, multiplication and division the dysgraphia really interferes with that and the school can't seem to figure out how he can "do worksheets" and type them. (and yes it is time for my snide remark that I am not sure what we even need teachers for all they are completely useless without their precious "worksheets.") They did put Panther Math Peper on his Ipad but DS says he hasn't yet figured out all of the functions and how to do the carry function. Turns out, they put it on his ipad and never showed him how to use it. He says teacher doesn't know how to use it. C'mon really?
As an aside (or maybe not), in the midst of all of this, it is starting to feel like the school wants this all to be about ADD/behavioral... Almost as if they what to convolute the issues - almost like they'd RATHER all this be about ADHD and not EDS and dysgraphia. For example, they wanted to do an FBA (even though he is never in trouble or disruptive or anything). I still do not understand why they asked for that. And they want to talk attention all of the time when I think what we really need is what they are not bringing up - I think we need an Assistive Tech eval. For example, when I said "no" to doing OT in math class, principal emailed back saying he agrees with me, but not because it is a bad idea for kids with dysgraphia and EDS - he based it on "DS attention difficulties." It's a bad idea for dysgraphics period whether they have ADHD or not. Why does the school suggest an FBA instead of an assistive technology eval? It just is so weird to me and I am seriously suspicious of it but I can not figure out what they are up to.
I assume I can request an Assistive Tech eval, right? I guess I should formally do it, in writing. And I need to do what Polarbear advised me a few months ago - get the assistive tech stuff in his IEP.
