Brief update: A number of issues came up over the summer that made it look less and less likely that the spec ed school recommended by the district would actually work. After much angst and delays on the part of the district we finally had an IEP meeting yesterday, after both local district and spec ed school started for the year. We went into the meeting totally believing that it was just a procedural necessity to pave the way to a settlement agreement concerning the 2E school.
Total surprise - the district and the spec ed school both stepped up offering any and all accommodations necessary to make it an appropriate placement. We could not believe it.
As for the issues discussed here while making the decision -
AT - DD will receive direct instruction 5 days per week plus push in support and participate in the daily computer period with the rest of the class. The district will also provide an AT consultant to oversee implementation of the program. DH and I will be trained on helping her with the iPad as well.
Travel time - They will reimburse for the cost of our providing transportation to eliminate the long (45minute-1 hour+) on the bus. By private car the trip should be 20-25 minutes instead. Time consuming for me but much better for DD.
2E/giftedness - DD will be in 2 reading groups (one for decoding level, one for comprehension level). She will receive 1-1 instruction on her high level audio books. She will have special projects in lieu of worksheets for homework. She will be placed with the higher level (i.e. 5th-6th grade level) students in the 2nd-6th grade mixed class. She will work with middle schoolers as appropriate for social studies or science. District will pay for an outside educational consultant with an understanding of 2E to oversee the program. School director will seek 2E training for the staff as needed.
There will be 4 students with 1 spec ed teacher plus speech and OT for the fine motor issues. They have to work out a plan for addressing the "bouncy" kids that will be a distraction for DD. We were clear about the psych's position that we cannot risk another failed placement. They all seemed to be taking this quite seriously. DD will not start until all services are in place so she will be home for 2 more weeks. I asked the district several times what their "Plan B" would be and the director of pupil personnel services did not answer. I think we all know that with all they are throwing at the placement and everything we went through to get to this point it will be a direct move to the 2E school if this doesn't work.
So for now at least DD and I get to stay home. Hopefully she will get all she needs at this school. If not we and the district will have tried everything so we will all know the 2E school and our being separated as a family is something that we will have to do.
Happy-happy!