Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional District too inept to do eval

I suspect DD has another issue besides ADHD causing slow writing and slow processing. I don't think she would qualify for an IEP because her achievement is so high, but we need to figure out what to put in a 504. But everyone in the district seems so inept no one would know what to test for. The special ed administrator (who has obviously worked in special ed education), didn't know what dysgraphia is. No one seems to know basic disabilities. And he didn't suggest evaluating her even after I kept going on about the child find mandate and how at some point someone is going to sue the district.

Are parents who are stuck in this situation just forced to pay for a private eval? If I say that I'm going to do this because they are inept, they will say "Ok, so you're waiving your right to an eval then." But then if I do agree to an eval, they will do an eval that's not appropriate and that stuff will be stuck in her school records. How would they evaluate for a disability if they don't know the basics of disabilities or testing?

I should have worded that differently. Waiving my right to a school eval because I think they are inept (therefore we'll just have to have a private one). But this really irritates me because we'll be forced to pay out of pocket. The school district is incompetent, so parents have to pay for their own eval.

Blackcat... even if you were to get a school eval and they were competent - chances are you'd still need a private eval. My kid is pretty severely dysgraphic b/c he simply can not write and yes some of it EDS but the majority is dysgraphia and the school did an entire eval on my insistence allegedly specifically for dysgraphia and dyslexia and it seemed pretty useless. The report said very little about his writing difficulties. I was all excited thinking I would get somewhere and all I really got were some recommendations for executive functioning skills. I still needed an outside eval and dx. And even that seems to have little effect. This year the psych was supposedly pretty jarred by DS's writing issues in math class when she was observing for inattention and seems to be taking it more seriously. But, really, one needs a private diagnosis on it. My school is actually pretty good and they are not nearly as idiotic as your school sounds but still dysgraphia just isn't very well addressed. It's like there is this big pink elephant standing in the room and everyone wants to pretend it's not there and they just keep looking all around it. It's odd. I feel like with this ADHD eval I am hoping for one of two results - adhd to be properly diagnosed (to the point where I really feel comfortable that the diagnosis is correct) and try some meds; or for someone to come out and say that that DS's dysgraphia is causing what seems adhd and needs to be better accommodated or something like that. It seems to me like my Ds's school is all over anything behavioral - adhd, executive functioning, atypicality, asd, etc. but can not seem to understand or wrap their minds around dysgraphia. Now, like I said, this year is getting better as they said they are going to have DS use Panther Math Paper! (YAY! although I had to propose that - they didn't know about or come up with that themselves).) But DS also has an EDS dx and a letter saying that keyboarding and technology to use in lieu of DS physically writing is "medically necessary." So I think I just get more elverage with that Dx than I do with dysgraphia.

A sum of my situation is as follows: I think/suspect that my DS's "behavioral issues" - his inattention, his adhd like behavior are very likely symptoms/by-products of dysgraphia but no matter how much the school evaluates him, no matter how much they observe him, no matter how awful and fraught with reversals his written work is OI never see them actually use the word dysgraphia or address it directly. Why? I really have no idea.

Anyway, it just seems like an awful lot of schools can not identify or deal with dysgraphia. The eval the school did for my DS last year ostensibly to identify dysgraphia and/or dyslexia resulted in nothing helpful at all. Even though DS's profile just screams dysgraphia! After the eval, the focus of the school switched to executive functioning and actually major direct attempts to take away my son's writing accommodations.

Thanks, I'll look at all of that.

They did take the outside report we have which lists possible modifications in the classroom, and said they can write a 504 based on that, but that just looks at ADHD and slow processing but doesn't get into what the cause of the slow processing is. So what if it's something like dysgraphia? It seems like we would need specific modifications for that. So they keep saying that they are willing to write a 504 and I keep saying that I think there's something else going on, they never really offer to evaluate, and we go around and around. If I requested an eval in writing, I'm not sure what they would do, but I don't want the toxic school she is in to do any kind of eval, esp. since no one seems to know about basic disorders.
Whoops, there have been more posts, I was just responding to MON's post and haven't read other replies. I'm spacing out.

Irena, thanks. I think we will need an outside eval, but am trying to figure out what the school is legally required to do. I'm not going to have them do anything this year but what if we wait til next year when she is a new school (hopefully a more competent one).
I haven't read any links yet, but I thought with child find mandate, the school is obligated to evaluate children suspected of having disabilities. We already have some outside reports showing ADHD and a processing issue and the teacher is seeing problems in the classroom. So wouldn't the school then be obligated to conduct an eval, whether or not a parent requests one?

Well, I know in my state if the school refuses to do a competent eval or the eval they did was incompetent/not reliable, you can legally force them to pay for your private eval. I could have done that but the time, expense and frustration just wasn;t worth it to me. But it can legally be done.

For whatever it is worth, we were denied a 504 in public elementary school even with an official diagnosis of dyslexia from the top hospital in the state. The principal claimed that a major life area is not limited because he is just a little behind in reading, not two grade levels (apparently IEP range here). I think I could have had a great appeal. There is nothing that says a kid has to be below grade level to qualify. For a 504 you just need a diagnosis. It doesn't have to be school testing. I think you would need school testing for an IEP.

I also contacted the dyslexia parent adocacy group in our state, and she said that an ADD or ADHD diagnosis is almost automatic 504 approval. I don't really get that, since both should be a reason to have one. If the child is not living up to his/her potential and has an actual learning disability, it really shouldn't matter if they score high or low on random tests.

I think the modifications/accomodations would need to be written up as specific to your child. Some of the most common ones for either ADHD or LD are.

Extended time/reduced assignments
reminders to turn in work (my friend's daughter who is ADHD needs this every day)
Notes provied (as they get older this becomes important)
Not being counted off for spelling/grammar (this is important for LD)
Keyboarding accepted

And then it becomes more specific to the child.

added breaks, etc.


I think the ADHD is probably easier to get a 504 because it typically is not convenient to the teachers. LD on the other hand, can be a kid who is completely silent.

That has been my experience with the whole process. Most schools, with the exception of our horrible elementary school which I pulled my child from, typically approved 504 because the accomodations/modifications are not that difficult to implement. Now, 504 says nothing about remediation, nothing about extra instruction. It is only modification and accomodations.

Also, the school doesn't actually test for a specific disability. They are going to say LD, and not specify what they have. I haven't actually looked at the test results, but they constantly told me "we do not diagnose". They just see if your child "qualifies". My experience is they try to look for a reason to say you don't qualify unless the results are indisputable.

My friend in another state has an IEP for her ADHD daughter. She had to have the school evaluate for that but she also got independent diagnosis to confirm it. Her district has been much better at making sure kids get IEP or 504.

My district wants to deny everyone unless their hand is forced. I have no idea why some approve easier and others don't. Most of the schools I have been at would put a 504 in place with any outside diagnosis.

What are you trying to acheive? That will determine which way you want to go.

I want a 504 for future teachers to prevent some of the strange things that are happening now. For instance, she is kept in from recess to finish work or tests. She gets half of the words on her spelling tests marked wrong because she is slow with writing and leaves blank words. She has a ton of copying homework (spelling) which takes hours. She just does everything too slow.

When she is not medicated, then things become even more complicated, in that she does nothing at all. If I sent her in unmedicated regularly, honestly I think she would need an aide and some pretty major classroom modifications. But luckily with her meds what we are mainly seeing is just slow processing. Her teacher asked if we could try reducing her meds so I did. She became very happy and social and delightful but could not accomplish any work whatsoever. Teacher said, please, can we raise dose back up.

Ugh. This upsets me. Her happiness (a mere child) is sacrificed to make it easier on the teacher and school. What she needs is less meds and a scribe and word processing access. That is what my DS gets otherwise he'd be in the exact same boat because his ability to write is none-existent and dysgraphics write each letter very slowly they have to think about how to form each letter and number - EVERY time - it takes up so much energy, time and attention. But you know that is what she needs and that is why you need a diagnosis and accommodations of dysgraphia. I totally understand.