LOL about the curve balls!
I'd wait it out and see what recommendations are suggested with the RTI. Plus make sure you have a good list (for you) of what you think your ds needs and what you want the school to provide (if you can get everything you want).
*IF* you want to pursue an IEP, read this paragraph. And remember, I'm just a parent in one school district out of the entire country, so don't weight my advice too highly… I'd try to find an advocate instead who knows your local schools
The way that RTI works here is - it's tried before an IEP eligibility process happens. However, if a parent turns in a written request and can successfully demonstrate that RTI isn't appropriate (for whatever reason) then the IEP eligibility process can begin without the RTI.
To clarify, DS has had WISC IV, WJ, Beery and several behavioral evals from a Hoagie's listed pscyh. Would these not tease out a speech-language issue?
Sorta, but not completely and not well enough to understand what's going on before deciding how to remediate. We didn't realize the extent of our ds' expressive language challenge (i.e., beyond handwriting) until he was in 4th grade and started to tell us about the issues he was having (which is a bit ironic, since it's an expressive language issue… but I digress :D). The SLP eval we had included the CELF assessment, and that will separate and show the areas related to expressive and receptive language that are potentially issues. The TOWL and PAL would be given by either a school psych (or maybe an OT?)… and they contain more specific info re challenges with written expression.
In other words, the ability/achievement testing shows a potential issue, the Beery helps separate out is it fine motor or vision related, but the specifics of how a child's expressive language is impacted and needs to be remediated aren't spelled out clearly in those tests.
And if you think that's a lot of testing…. just be happy you aren't dealing with a kid who's not technically classic dyslexic but can't learn to read… you can't believe how many different assessments my reading-challenged dd had, and… how much info we actually *did* get from every single one - I don't have a one of them that I regret having - even the evals that showed "no problems" are good data - because they tell you what you don't *need* to worry about.
It's all just a lot to consider and get through though… but I will just add one last thing - I am *forever* so grateful that we went ahead and pushed for an SLP eval for my ds. He will always struggle with handwriting, but the world is so keyboard accessible that dysgraphia is almost a non-issue once you've gotten through school. Even as you get into middle and high school it becomes less and less of an issue each year because technology is such a large part of our everyday life. But expressive language challenges - he really needed help with that - there was no way he could have found his own way and plowed through successfully without help. I hope your ds doesn't have that added issue, but if he does, push for the speech therapy. It was a lifesaver for my ds.
Best wishes,
polarbear
