I thought I would update this thread on the progress made this school year:
We have been back in school for nearly a month & I met with dd11's teachers as well as her counselor & the speech therapist today. Bottom line is that she is not eligible for an IEP & that I will need to pursue a medical diagnosis (dysgraphia, dyslexia?) in order for her to have a 504 plan. The school is going to do a full language & an IQ evaluation. And, until we have a written plan her teachers agreed to limiting her homework time, allowing her to do her assignments on the computer, backing down from 20 to 15 spelling words, etc. Hopefully, it won't take too long to get her diagnosis/evaluations done & have the 504 plan put in place. I am going to the pediatrician's office tomorrow to get some paperwork to take to the school.
Wow ! Sounds like the school is more than meeting you half way. I love that they are providing 'temporary accomidations' while they get the testing done. My hunch is that even without an IEP to 'make' the school help her, the school may give her services because it is their mission to help children. 'getting your legal rights' may not be as important as figuring out what your dd's needs are, and meeting them, one way or another.
I'm a terrible speller, and it's sort of like other bodily functions - it is embarassing to be caught in public, but it's rare that any real harm is done. The difficulty with higher order thinking skills worries me more.
If you aren't familiar with this afterschooling company, I would take a look and see if you can intigrate this into your homelife:
http://www.criticalthinking.com/sea...;code2=p&catalog3=p&x=17&y=8The Critical Thinking Co.
I used their graphic organizer book as a mega-bribe during the elementary years. The cool thing about Gifted Kids is that sometimes if you hothouse just a little bit, they leap forwards.
Best Wishes,
Grinity
