mountainmom,
You've already received wonderful advice. I'll add a few thoughts based on my experience with my 2e ds who's in high school now. His challenge is expressive language (output) and written expression.
My greatest concern I think when it comes to having her take the social studies AP class is that her written output isn't that advanced (I looked over some of her answers in recent assignments).
I am guessing that the "AP" classes you are referring to (at this point) are pre-AP (tracked to lead to AP in your district?). One thing that has been helpful for me in determining direction to take for my ds (and that he is doing for himself now in high school) is to network through teachers and other parents and weigh information on the workload and content of the classes that you're considering. What you're seeking is a higher level of intellectual discussion (which was something that was very important to my ds in late elementary and early middle school because it was not being met in his classroom). The challenge with Language Arts and Social Studies classes in our district though is what is expected of the students in terms of output. Our ds did well in honors-track LA/SS classes in middle school and in high school because we were able to appropriately accommodate his areas of challenge, but as he moved into high school the amount of homework required for honors LA/SS became an issue. Not that he wasn't capable of the intellectual challenge, but simply because the amount of time required to complete the homework for him was about 1.5 - 2 times longer than for other students due to his 2nd e - and the amount of homework being assigned by the teachers in those classes was, well, insane (or to be more pc, quite time-consuming) even for neurotypical students. My ds stuck with the honors track, but it's also caused him quite a bit of frustration and occasional feelings of close to depression because of the free time that's lost compared to the free time that his peers have. He's also purposed chosen not to take certain LA/SS AP courses at his high school because of the way they are taught - teaching specifically toward the test rather than learning for the sake of acquiring knowledge, hence spending a *lot* of time in class and outside of class writing essays. I don't know what the situation is in your school district, but ds was able to find alternatives to the heavy-writing-load AP courses here that are college-level and equally intellectually interesting.
I think she expresses and explains herself much more eloquently in oral speech versus written. If dictating were available to her she would do much better.
The first thing you need to do is to move from "thinking" to "knowing with data to back up your knowledge". If she doesn't have a diagnosis that supports what you suspect, get an evaluation (either through school or privately) that specifically looks at her expressive language, written expression abilities, and physical handwriting abilities. Through that eval you'll get info that can help you define the path she needs to be on re accommodations and remediation if necessary. While it's been stated above that she might not be able to move into a higher level class while still receiving IEP instructional services, pay really close attention to what she needs for instruction - if she needs explicit instruction in written expression it's still possible this could be accomplished *and* she can successfully navigate a higher level class. It may require a huge advocacy battle on your part, but the key is understanding thoroughly what her challenge is. We pulled our ds from public school in 5th grade (at his request and because he was not receiving the instructional services outlined in his IEP) - so our situation is not exactly same as yours, however, fwiw, we had ds working with a private SLP from 5th - 8th grade specifically on written expression, and while in school (working ahead of grade level) he had accommodations as needed and the school allowed him to employ techniques his SLP developed specifically for him when writing. I can give you more input on what he used (accommodations and written expression remediation) if you're interested.
Re accommodations - put a priority now on figuring out what accommodations will work for your dd. Students with written output challenges sometimes rely on keyboard for output, sometimes rely on voice-to-text, sometimes use audio recording for taking notes etc). What works best depends on the root of the challenge, the student's personality and situation (can't use voice-to-text in a classroom). You'll get valuable input from an evaluation, and you'll also need to watch closely yourself, get input from your dd, do your own research, perhaps seek input from school AT specialists or AT experts outside of school. Keep in mind that your goal is *independence* for your dd for her life. Scribing isn't going to accomplish independence. Life goes beyond school - school staff will look at what she needs to be successful this year in school; you need to look at a plan that will lead to her being successful in life for life.
I feel that this area of interest has always been her gift, starting at 3 years old when she preferred watching documentaries/history channel over cartoons. Another example was when we were on vacation in Europe touring Paris and all she kept wanting to talk about was WW II and current events with North Korea. It's nice that she finally has a class in school where she can discuss this global issues and world history.
No matter what happens in school (try for all you can, but in the event that you don't get an ideal placement) - keep feeding her video, books, trips, museum visits, whatever that feed her passion. For all that accommodations and remediation and advocacy at school helped our ds just simply get through school (successfully), the journey through school for kids with significant challenges can be really rough and take a toll emotionally. If I could go back in time and do anything differently I would be sure sure sure to keep focusing on what my ds loved outside of school. We did a lot of this when he was in early elementary, but by the time he entered middle school we were running really short on spare time - he was wanting to be in challenging classes at school, we were working hard on remediation at home, we were trying out new accommodations etc. that there was little time left over for anything else.
This is the first time ever that she's mentioned something moving too slow for her and wanting more from a class so I think it's important to finally nuture her 'gift' the best way possible.
I agree with you, and also feel that you'll be giving her another "gift" you might not have considered in advocating for the placement - whether or not it works out. You'll be teaching her how to advocate for herself (eventually - by watching you stand up for her now), and you'll also be showing her that you believe in her.
Good luck as you move forward - let us know how your advocacy goes.
Best wishes,
polarbear
