Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional State Mandated Test = Accomodations Galore

warning: venting ahead

If only teachers spent the rest of the year supporting their 2E kids the way they do when it comes to state mandated testing that affects the teacher's and school's ranking.

All year I've had to battle to get my son's regular ed teachers to incorporate and accept accomodations in my son's IEP. In fact, two weeks ago one of his teachers informed him that he could no longer email assignments to her in case they had viruses in the attachments. She has expressed before that she thinks he's coddled and should just be held accountable.

But let the school be affected by his testing, and it's no holds barred, Baby. He has a scribe AND reader, a separate room, extended time. I'm surprised they didn't hire a massage therapist for him.

And while I support all of the accommodations, it's just so frustrating that the support doesn't extend to "real life".

I would be very tempted to point this out in the next IEP update meeting - as far as I'm aware, it's not legal to offer accommodations on state testing that aren't already in use in the classroom - at least it's not in our state. NOT saying that so that they'll take away his state testing accommodations - just suggesting you use that as an argument supporting adding them to his IEP for *all* testing and classroom work.

And - ugh!!! Totally frustrating!!!

polarbear

OMG(oodness) that would get me venting too.

A solution to that is to put the assignment in plain text in the body of the email instead of using an attachment in a proprietary format such as Microsoft Word. I wish more teachers used plain text.

Just speculating, but personally, I wonder if they'd really be happy with a plain-text solution.

IMO, it sounds like the school doesn't want to make the accommodations for an unstated reason, and is looking for ways to say so without having to be explicit. They can't be explicit, because they'd be setting themselves up for trouble.

It might help to remind them that the state would come down hard on them if it found out that they were giving big accommodations to a student during a high-stakes test, but not at other times. Phew. That would be bad for the school.

You're right, Val. He is continuing to send emails to two other teachers who wrote on their IEP forms specifically about the increased ability to do better work and get it in on time with the emails. This teacher in particular sees his "genius" and continually questions when he can't do something to her expectations.

And you're also right about the discrepancy. It is why I agreed to throwing everything at the wall in regards to accommodations for testing. It will be HUGE in fighting any future efforts to remove support in the classroom since it was available when it benefitted the school.

I really feel for kids who are 2E. Some teachers see the gifted and don't believe the LD can co-exist while others think the parents are over inflating the gift because all they see is the LD. Only a few see the whole picture and are able to help the "whole child". At least this has been my experience.

I am curious to hear my son's account of today - sitting in a room all day by himself with two adults, one to read to him and one to write for him.

Update: my kiddo came home last night and said what he liked the most about having a scribe was that he could give the full answers that were in his head.

I asked him about the reading test, and he said that most of the questions about the topics were quite easy and that he even provided advice to the company that made the test regarding next year's test. When I asked him how, he explained.

"One question asked if I was sitting in a car going the same speed, could I sense the motion or not. I explained that they shouldn't ask questions in a vacuum because the question failed to provide enough information to adequately discern the motive of the question. Had they considered the texture of the road? Was it bumpy or smooth? Did the vehicle have windows where the viewer could tell things were moving by quickly. What about the road itself? Were there turns or curves that would create a sensory event for the passenger when direction changed despite the speed staying constant? I recommended that they consider asking better phrased questions if they wanted more accurate answers."

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see the scribe's face as he jotted down that particular answer...