Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Compensation vs Rehabilitation

I just got off the phone with the admissions director from the LD school and I need input from all of you.

First, he was not at all confident that they can meet DD's 2E needs - they will have to closely examine all her test results. Her high level comprehension/verbal ability may be outside their scope. They have to review her scores but his initial thought was that he would not be comfortable placing an 8 year old in a working group with a 12 year old. The question for them would be whether placing her with 10 year olds will be enough to meet her needs. That is problem #1.

#2 is that they emphasize Rehabilitation almost to the exclusion of Compensation. We were supposed to meet this week about adding Assistive Technology to DD's IEP but it was snowed out. (DD is still home from school - don't know if we'll get back this week at all and then next week is February break. Who knows when we'll actually meet...) From what I understand from our conversation the LD school is just starting to allow students to bring in personal iPads and laptops but they provide no support or instruction. They want the kids to learn to write - if we want DD to learn keyboarding skills we will have to work on them with her on our own. They do not believe in providing scribes or voice-to-text support. He said something about a student may determine that they learn best through audio books but then they will be responsible for tracking down the audio book themselves. This is to provide a level of independence to make it more likely that their students can succeed at the college level. I am just not sure if it's really feasible for DD's situation.

So I am looking for thoughts about this rehabilitation vs compensation idea. Frankly if DD's areas of weakness could be remediated that would be great. I don't see it happening though. Maybe a few years ago this compensation idea would have been a bad path but if technology is available that makes it possible for her to work around her challenges with less strain that trying to forge through them doesn't that make sense? I think there are worse things than having to use keyboarding or audio recording devices - right? I mean if she could improve her ability to write notes then I assume the 3 years of OT she has received would be showing some benefit and it's really not. Isn't it better for her to have someone scribe her 3 page creative writing assignment than to have her turn in 5-6 illegible words?

If this can work I want to hear the arguments for it. If it won't work I need to hear those too so I can formulate my argument for why the 2E school in NYC or some other type of program is the better option.

Thanks in advance.

Wow! That had to be a dissapointment for the conversation to go this way for that option. Following your story but useless to advise. Others with more knowledge will undoubtedly be here soon.

Pemberley
My DS is in 1st in a gifted school. He has an IEP for writing issues - no one uses the words dysgraphia - his teacher and OT have put in place some of both compensation and rehabilitation although I wouldn't have called it that! He writes the timed math but isn't timed. He does written and verbal spelling. He writes the stuff that they do throughout the day. He does writing with the OT. BUT they are also teaching him keyboarding and he is allowed to choose how much of his homework he wants to type or write. I sang my praises of this in the kudos for the teacher thread because the effect on self esteem has been mind blowing. He is much more comfortable writing now and there is even some improvement in his writing - but their rationale is that by 3rd grade he will need a typing accommodation for testing so starting now will make life easier and less stressful. And that he has so much to express that the frustration of his limitation was pretty excruciating. And in his school by 4th all the rest f the kids are working on the computer and learning keyboarding. It's a computer driven world, writing is important but not alone anymore.

I can't say enough about having the typing option. He uses an iPad. Given that anxiety is an issue in your situation having the choices that my DS has might help as well.

DeHe

Pemb, this is a complicated business. As you know.

I would ask them what they do for issues that simply cannot be remediated. From what I read, many dysgraphics find good work-arounds-- for some, typing is a life-saver, for others, voice-to-text software works well-- but it is not something that magically goes away if you get enough OT. Most dyslexia is remediable, I think, but it seems as though your DD may have things going on that can't be fixed fast.

If they are interested only in people with quickly fixable disabilites, who will turn out to be "just regular gifted," then it will be a poor fit.

My philosophy as a parent-- and again, my kids' needs are different from yours-- has been to remediate and compensate both. Our perspective is that you fix what can be fixed, but you also acknowledge that disability is part of life, and there may be differences that persist and will need to be lived with. We do not want to close any doors early in our kids' education. And I don't see the need to be rigid about assuming our kids will outgrow every aspect of their issues.

It sounds like a bad fit to me, though you may want to go observe to be very confident in your decision. I hope those other schools turn out to be something workable!

DeeDee

I guess it's not surprising that no one has weighed in on the side that "rehabilitation" alone is the best course of action. All of this confirms my thoughts that this school is not a match.

Yesterday we got word that the superintendent approved placing DD in a different elementary school within the district for next year. This could have been a good solution (and we requested it repeatedly) last year when we were battling with the unreasonable principal. Now, though, I think the writing is on the wall that DD needs out of district placement. Hopefully the superintendent's position indicates our path forward will be a bit easier than if she took the position that our current school is meeting her needs...

Will keep you posted as we move forward.

p.s. MON: We will only consider placements at schools that keep out kids with behavior/conduct issues or who are aggressive. Both the LD school and the 2E school have that exclusion. I think most of the "approved" spec ed schools in the state include kids with emotional and behavior issues. I think this will be a big part of our argument to get them to pay for the 2E school instead.