Blackcat - I understand your frustration with RTI. And I am so sorry for all you went through your kids. My son told me the OT gave him a pom-pom to hold to help with his grip. He did say it helped, but a pom-pom? It's like your pencil grip scenario. It's not going to fix his challenges.
How did they find issues with your daughter and deny her services? Did you pull her from the gifted school or out of school entirely?
The RTI section of our district's website is completely confusing. I do not think they have any genuine RTI process. And when I brushed up against the ill-defined not-quite (or as you said, "fake") RTI program with my daughter, I did a lot of research on RTI. In principle, I think RTI has so much merit.
My daughter ended up in fake RTI when her reading scores dropped--right at the time when her speech issues surfaced. Yes, she had been reading well above grade level before that. Of course, I hadn't seen her scores--so was surprised when she told me she was leaving the class for reading. When I asked the school about it, they told the curriculum they were using. I looked it up and found out is a recommended Tier II RTI curriculum.
And then I was baffled about how a student who had always read above grade-level was suddenly in Tier II RTI? What happened to Tier I RTI? Is it RTI? Yes, no. Depends on who you asked. I pulled her--and her scores were just fine on the next round of testing (all computer-based and just a few weeks after the one that caused the problem).
Another reason we wanted to hold on speech therapy a year ago was the fake RTI experience. She was so upset at being pulled from class for reading that the idea of being pulled for speech was not comfortable to her.
But that's an aside to the journey with my son. I feel like everyday is some kind of new hope and another wall to smack into. I am so glad to know I'm not alone.
