Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Other Health Impaired

I have posted in the past about my now 9 year old gifted, ADHD, Dyslexic and Dysgraphic son. I am very confused about what to do next.

My son has a 504 plan but I don't think this will help him much. He learned to read well without any services but his writing is terrible. The school counselor has suggested an evaluation for special education services but she said that he would likely only qualify because of his very poor writing skills. There is also the possibility that he would only qualify for SpEd for ADHD Other Health Impaired. This is what I think will happen. If a child qualifies under OHI, then will the school help with the dyslexia or dysgraphia? Or will he just be taken to the resource room to be monitored to make sure he completes his work? I am going to talk to the principal about the scenarios.

His grades plummeted this past grading period, and the teacher wrote things like he can't complete just one step in a task and that he needed one-on-one support. She wrote nothing positive and marked his papers with "Fs" and big red marks. He is in general well-behaved and liked by other kids.

Anyone have experience with SpEd OHI?

Thanks

At our school, once you get in the door, you can get any kind of academic services. My ds has dysgraphia, dyslexia, ADHD, and some health issues. He compensates for the dyslexia and reads very well. He's labeled OHI. IMO, he really needs help for the dysgraphia and social skills (because of the ADHD), but he has accomodations for the health issues. I think he could be dually labeled, but he wouldn't get any more/different services if he were.

Special ed is a set of services-- NOT a place. The team would first make a list of needs, based on testing done by the school (and you can add private testing if you have it).

Once the team agrees on the needs, they decide on goals, and only THEN on services that will support those goals. (It is hugely important that the list of needs be comprehensive; if a problem isn't on that list, they aren't going to be obligated to work on it.)

For a kid with writing problems I would ask for OT. For dyslexia, you'd want specialized help with an approved method (look up mich's posts on this). The point is, the child has to be placed in the least restrictive environment where the goals can be accomplished, and the services offered are supposed to match the identified needs. I'd probably say yes to pullouts for the special services (OT, Orton-Gillingham...) but if they try to put your gifted kid in resource room, you can tell them it's not the Least Restrictive Environment. (Wrightslaw website has a lot of info on this.)

FYI in our district, they don't identify "dysgraphia" but they identify "disorder of written expression." You may have better luck using that term, depending. You may want to get your private diagnosing doc to make recommendations in writing about what's needed at school, and if possible bring that person to the meeting; sometimes school personnel don't really know how to treat LDs and don't offer the right therapy to get the job done.

HTH,
DeeDee