Hi there, My son is 8 years old and in regular third grade classroom. After many years of problems, evaluations and negative school experiences, we have reached the point of getting a formal IEP in place.
He is not nearly as off the charts as many of the children discussed here but I hope that you will be willing/able to suggest in particular the pitfalls to watch out for in this process.
On an evaluation done this summer he scored a Full Scale IQ of 125 on the WISC-IV (Integrated) and 133 on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognative Abilities. In subsets he scored in the 99.6+ percentile in all subsets involving reasoning and in the 40-50 Percentile in all subsets dealing with processing and organization.
The Psychiqatrist also feels that we are dealing with Early onset Bipolar, ADHD combined type and a moderate level of Oppositional/Defiant Behaviors.
In terms of school, our son has great difficulty with completing assignments within the specified time (especially tests). Writing full descriptive sentences without fatiguing rapidly (although he can verbally relate complex sentences and concepts.) He was effectively expelled from his previous school (montessory program). Although to be honest after the situation there, I would have removed him sooner if it could have been managed. He has great difficulty staying on task and controlling his impulsive behaviour. He often appears to be less socially mature than his agemates, but when placed with students 2-3 years older than him, has no such difficulty. The school has infomally placed him the the emotional support system but to date are doing little with him since they don't see any problems.
DS bursts into tears almost every afternoon when he gets home from school. From what I can gather from him, it isn't due to anything in particular, just that he feels overwhelmed. Last night, he barely slept because he was afraid of a reading test scheduled for today. The test involves writing short answers to over 30 questions in 20 minutes. He said that in the classwork, he has never been able to finish more than 18.
The school is going to do an OT screening to see if he needs help with his pencil grip. They also offered to start tracking his behaviors according to times of day. We do not have a formal IEP meeting set up yet, but expect it to be scheduled within the next month.
Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions.
