Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Frustrated with things at school

Hi all!

I'm a little frustrated with things at my kids' school right now. First let me say that I LOVE the school in general, it's a charter and it's awesome, even though it's 45 minutes away from the house.

So DS6 was evaluated as "gifted" almost 2 years ago and diagnosed ADHD a little over a year ago. I asked for an IEP last school year, but the principal at the time said "no, his needs are being met" and wouldn't give me the time of day after that. That principal left, so at the beginning of this school year I asked the new principal for an IEP. She forwarded me to the new SpEd "director" and she said that "his needs should be being met in the multi-age setting" and to wait until the end of the first grading period. Well, that was Thursday and I emailed everyone again to ask for an IEP. Question for you all - what are my "rights" to an IEP for him? If I don't get one, what can I do?

Next issue...
DD8 was diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive type) a few weeks ago by the same child psych that diagnosed my son a year and a half ago. He gave me an ADHD worksheet to give to her teacher. So she returned it last week and circled all 0 and 1 for her. Meaning she didn't see any of those behaviors at all or very rarely...

However, on her report card that we picked up that same day, she marked "needs improvement on the following: Listens & follows directions, Uses time wisely and Demonstrates respect to others. Then in the comments section she says "is a kind student, however she needs to work on focusing during class, especially during group work."

Uhm, doesn't that directly contradict what she marked on the worksheet?? I was going to print out a copy of her report card for our meeting with the psych last Friday, but I forgot (of course)...

Anyone ever run into a situation like this?

Sorry this is so long and rant-y... I'm just so frustrated.

yes, we had issues like that, except my DD8, doesn't have a diagnosis of ADHD (or anything other than gifted as far as I know). I didn't know what was going on, but I tried to get an IEP for TWO YEARS.

We are doing independent study now...

I think, at least in our state, you need to make the assesment evaluation in writing and they have, I think 60 days to respond. Schools don't like IEPs...they HAVE to do the stuff they agree to and you have the right to refuse the plan if it's not acceptable.

What's independent study? or assessment evaluation?

Holy cow, 2 years?! Well, I guess we're going on about a year and a half. Ugh.

When I talked to the diagnostician that works with our school, she said he'd have to be re-evaluated because the test is almost 2 years old. I said that's fine, let's do it so by the time the end of the grading period comes, we'll be ready to go. Uhm, that didn't happen...

"assessment evaluation" meaning you want your child to be assessed for the need for an IEP. They may want fresh paperwork from the doctor about the ADHD...you didn't say how that is affecting your son's grades or behavior...in our state, you ask for the assessment, then there is a whole slew of stuff, school psychologist eval, teacher input, etc...we didn't have any diagnoses though, so I figured we wouldn't get anything. Before they implement an IEP, there is usually a behavior modification plan (total failure in our case) and a few meetings. If they refuse to do any additional assesments, they have to give you a reason for the refusal in writing as well.

My own DD (now 8) consistently was marked advanced or proficient for subject learning, but never got above "sometimes" for most behavior/effort grading areas. The teachers kept enphasizing the issue was HER behavior, never any talk of how her "giftedness" might be interfering. Eventually, I saw that they really just didn't know what to do with her and I was too tired of fighting when we have so many options where we live.

Independent study...it's homeschool, but we have a campus. Butter goes one day a week for 3 hours (optional) and the teacher usually does the science experiments. She can also go to other clubs and classes (she takes multimedia, art, drawing and games club). It uses the same cirriculum as the regular school, but we have minimal work turn in and I didn't have to pay for the books

Ahhh, ok, I understand what you mean now. If that's the case, the stuff from the psych for him is still pretty new, and if we needed it, I know he'd be glad to write something up for him (as would his pediatrician). We don't have a school psych, or if we do, he/she is not at the school full-time.

The independent study thing sounds awesome!

Thanks for the info. I'm going to try to dig a little deeper if I don't get the answers I want from the email I sent last week.

Here's what the SpEd director replied: "Thank you for your email. We will contact our diagnostician and let you know her recommendation. I will keep in touch with you when she gets back to me. Thanks again for your support."

I know every state is different, but it is my understanding that in our district you can't even get an IEP unless the child is demonstrating an academic delay of at least two years. So a gifted kid who is significantly underachieving but still making grade level will not have a chance at one. I don't know if this is true in your area, but if it is it may be why they are basically blowing you off. Unfortunately, I don't know what you are supposed to do to address the issues then. It is about allocating resources, I guess, but really not fair to the kids! I hope that you are able to get some sort of plan worked out with them that will benefit your child.

What are you wanting to achieve with the IEP? Are you looking for instruction in areas your ds has a challenge in, instruction outside the scope of the classroom in areas of strengths (gifted/accelerated), or are you looking for accommodations that will help minimize the impact of his ADHD an enable him to fully access his curriculum at school? An IEP would be used to give individualized instruction in areas where a child has challenges or is falling behind, in *some* school districts children who are identified as gifted may have IEPs or other types of individual learning plans but this varies by school district, and accommodations such for ADHD/etc that do not involve direct individualized instruction are usually made through 504 plans if they are individual enough they aren't already a regular part of the classroom environment.

Re the 0s and 1s on the ADHD questionnaire vs the notes on the report card - we've had a similar situation with our older dd. I think the thing to remember is - the report card gives you information that can be used to help your child be even more successful in the classroom than they already are, and many children are distracted in a classroom setting, it's not necessarily something atypical. The ADHD questionnaires are attempting to summarize atypical behavior - so distractibility noted as a concern there (from a teacher's perspective) would be distractibily beyond what the child's age-peers are distracted by in the classroom. FWIW, my dd is easily distracted and will admit it! Most of her friends appear to be easily distracted in the classroom too - but it doesn't look like the type of distraction you get with ADHD... but it does interfere with schoolwork and is something I am not surprised to see appear on a report card

polarbear

I'd like to get him instruction in areas where he needs to be challenged (math) and help for him in areas in which he seems to be struggling (reading comprehension/remembrance). The teacher has given him math that's way beyond what they're doing in class, but he's still telling me he's bored and "done with it". I would love something to minimize the impact of his ADHD, but right now we're on medication, so that seems to be working well so far. Obviously I'd love to get him off of it and be able to function well in class w/o the meds.

See, it (being distracted) is affecting her school work and that's the concern. Especially her math. She gets distracted, frustrated and then gives up and ends up hating it. However, her test scores are fantastic, so I know she knows it, but doesn't do well in school or in homework because of the distractability. Just frustrating because I know she's amazing, but she doesn't think so.

We got the meeting for the IEP finally!!! Yippie!!!