Earlier this week we had our IEP meeting for DD11, finishing 5th grade at OOD Spec Ed school. This year has been fabulous. Not only has the environment been nice and calm with all the disruptive kids moving to the middle school area or leaving for another placement, all her interventions have been going well. She is now reading *above* grade level, is loving her math intervention while breezing through grade level work, handwriting is probably as good as we will be able to get it, AT is working well and she seems to be making some progress in speech now that we are focusing on oral motor needs. She is happy, confident and enjoying life. I really couldn't ask for more.
So at this meeting I thanked everyone and said that I feel it is time to make everything come together - basically integrate everything - so we can see where any holes may be in order to let her get some traction for higher level work starting in 7th grade. Everyone agrees. Everyone is happy. Everyone is proud of how far she has come. Awesome!
But the one thing not fully working is having her gifted needs met. The school has been very supportive. When she started there in 3rd grade they placed her in an 8th grade literature group which became 1-1 high school curriculum in 4th grade. In 5th grade they tried introducing a HS peer so she could have someone other than teachers to discuss things with but it hasn't really worked. This is a fun extra for the other kid so while DD (and I) appreciate the effort it hasn't really met her needs. She also says she enjoys grade level science and social studies "but I'm not really learning anything." So we have to figure out the best way to meet her needs for HS literature curriculum and more rigorous, higher level science and social studies.
After the meeting my district offered me 2 possibilities to try to address this need. We have a meeting next week to brainstorm and see what's possible. Looking for input here from those of you who have been through this transition to focusing on the gifted side.
1. An offer to bring in their TAG coordinator to help design an appropriate program since the spec Ed staff is willing and well intentioned but really don't have experience developing a program for a gifted kid.
2. An offer to have DD start her day at the local middle school LA class before heading to spec Ed school for the rest of the day. I pointed out that she had done 8th grade as a 3rd grader so it would have to be high school instead of middle school. They seemed ok with this.
Since this meeting I have discused with parents of kids involved in the TAG program and they seem to think asking for DD to participate in TAG may be a good solution. (One day a week focusing on specific projects under an umbrella concept.) DD would enjoy being with gifted peers and would probably enjoy the projects but not sure how she would work around the LD limitations. Maybe if the projects were then completed at spec Ed school and integrated into her daily program? Not sure if the district or the spec Ed school would go for this.
DD would love attending an actual HS class but it seems like a cumbersome way of meeting her needs. I'm thinking it would be better to get spec Ed school to put her in an actual HS class in house and have her attend public HS class only after we figure out how to work around LD issues to complete higher level assignments and/or we determine there really aren't any appropriate peers for her at the spec Ed school.
Any thoughts? Other ideas? What has worked for your kids?
When I first join this community people told me the early years tend to focus on remediation and it all starts coming together around 5th grade when the giftedness seems to take over planning. I'm seeing it happen. I don't see her being able to mainstream because she still needs so many service hours and accommodations but still this is a very nice problem to have. So much better than all the years I spent fighting and advocating and trying to get people to understand.
