I wouldn't write a letter to the psych - the time frame he's giving you really isn't terribly unreasonable at all, and if he's a well-respected professional, I'm guessing something unexpected came up and he'll do his best to get the report to you as quickly as possible, so all the letters in the world won't help you get it before then.
OTOH, I think I'd call and ask if you could get a list of the WISC scores - you don't need the full report, just ask for a breakdown of VCI/PRI/PSI/WM/FSIQ. Our neuropsych was able to give us that info on a sheet with date of testing etc that her computer spit out - I don't know if it's a standard WISC report or not, but we used it didn't take any time for her office to generate and we were able to use it when applying to a program that we didn't want to provide with a full neuropysch report.
Re school, why not ask the principal if you could go ahead and schedule the achievement testing while you're waiting for the WISC results? The one thing that I'd really consider is - your dd isn't going to be a different kid if you find out her FSIQ is 160 or if you find out it's 120 or if you find out it's 100. She is who she is, and something that's going on at school has led you to think she needs a larger challenge, right? So what happens if you find out she isn't "gifted"? Are you really going to think, ok, just leave everything alone as is, or are you going to still have a student who needs more challenge in school?
I think what I'd focus on right now, for advocating, is what has happened this year in school and what type of challenge do you think she needs. What other types of data do you have to show she needs something more? Work samples? Work she's done outside of school etc? Conversations you've had with her? Her teacher?
What does her teacher think? Having a teacher who thinks she needs acceleration may actually be a more productive tool when advocating than any set of WISC scores.
Best wishes,
polarbear
Hey polarbear,
Those are all great questions, and yes, really all I want to know is the list of WISC scores. I know the school won't schedule achievement testing without at least that.
So, the problem with this kid is that I don't know what her deal is. She always gets 3s (highest) on report card. All teacher says is that she needs to work on math facts and is chatty. At 4 WPPSI FSIQ was 124 and she told psych she didn't try her best. CogAt last year she was in the 40th% for verbal which everyone agreed was not accurate. She had extreme psychomotor OE as a toddler and pre-schooler (I can't really explain why but I don't think it was hyperactivity.) She usually just doesn't or can't express how she is feeling so I just don't know if meltdowns are due to school being too easy or adoption related stuff or something else. If I find out her FSIQ is 115 then I will look to some other explanation and solution. If it is 160 then I would say we should for sure be looking at a skip. But even if it is over 130, I don't know if a skip is the right thing so I would like to see what IAS says.:)
This is hard because I understood older dd and could more easily figure out what she needed and why. I just don't know with this one. Does she need a larger challenge at school? I don't know! I don't mind waiting for the report but I need the numbers so if there is something concrete we can do at school I want to get it done before school ends. Which I now realize is May 21. That isn't much time.
I really appreciate the feedback. I feel like a bad mom for not getting this kid better, but she is challenging. (Also awesome. But a tough nut to crack.)
