Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Eval results - advice needed

We have been dealing with an adversarial school system and i'm not sure that I have any meaningful advice since I haven't gotten very far. I think what you may need to do is push for actual "written expression" services rather than just OT. Schools see "OT" as a related service that cannot stand by itself. I don't know how things differ in different states, but here ADHD would be classified under the "Other Health Disability" category for an IEP, if the ADHD is causing impaired educational performance compared to peers. This is where things get sticky. To me, it's completely obvious that my ADHD/gifted child has impaired educational performance becasue of the disability. There is a lot of incomplete work, she is excessively slow meaning she misses other things (for instance she may be sent out of class to do a computerized math test for 5 days in a row when other kids do it in 45 min and then go on with school as usual). Her written expression is affected because her executive functioning ability is impaired and she can't organize her thoughts on the paper. However, all the school could talk about were her good grades and her great standardized test scores. Never mind the fact that a fourth grade teacher isn't going to put an "F" on a child's silly stories that aren't written to grade level. There would be literally no way for her to fail. I looked through the State evaluation manuals for the two categories they were assessing (SLD and OHD) and there is nothing in there stating that she needs to be failing to qualify for services but the bottom line is that the district is trying to cut special ed from their budget and they don't want to give services to a gifted kid like DD who does great on reading/math standardized tests. They completely ignored everything negative that was in the evaluation report, claiming that she has a 504 plan that meets her needs (it was written before she was even evaluated). Maybe there are some schools that implement 504 plans properly, but in her school it was a joke. Nothing really changed after it was signed.

If you have a private evaluation that states that he has asperger's sydrome, there should be a special education classification for that. Here there is one specifically for autism spectrum, I believe. One thing you could do is to contact an advocacy group or even call the State Dept. of Education and ask if they can tell you how to access the eligibility criteria for each category, and how the category needs to be assessed in an eval to determine eligibility.

Keep in mind that they have to consider the results of any private evaluation that you have gotten. If they do their own eval and find him ineligible for an IEP or certain services that you think he needs, you can request an independent educational eval at the expense of the school district. I just wrote a letter to the special education director stating that I disagreed with the school eval and that I want them to pay for an IEE. They only have 2 options: Pay for it and give you a list of stipulations (like cost, qualifications of the evaluator, etc), of take it to due process in front of a hearing officer and show that their eval was appropriate. School districts almost always grant an IEE from what I've been told. Then you would have a third opinion if you want one, and you wouldn't have to pay for it. The school HAS to consider the results and if they disagree with the eval you can take them to due process. You can also go to due process after a school eval (since you basically already have an independent eval) and let a hearing officer decide about eligibility based on what you already have. Our state offers mediation as well,as something less extreme than due process, meaning someone from the state actually mediates an IEP meeting so that parents/school can reach some sort of compromise, although I've heard this is kind of a joke here and they are biased in favor of the schools.
Before doing any of that, though, I would talk to whoever was in charge of your child's eval at the school and say you think he should be evaluated and that you believe he should have an IEP. If they evaluate, and then tell you he just needs a 504, and you don't agree or get anywhere, contact the special ed director and outline your concerns. If one concern is writing, print out a copy of the language arts standards and point out where he is not at grade level. Find copies of eligibility checklists from your State and evaluation manuals for each category. Just because a child has passing grades and good test scores doesn't mean they can't qualify for an IEP.