Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy No Progress Being Made

I'll apologize up front if this becomes more vent than anything else as I am truly frustrated.

I've had huge concerns about the education provided my DS6 since he started K in the fall. The worst of it is that there were promises made and none of them have come to fruition. We were promised a cluster reading group that would meet 1-2 times per week with the Reading Specialist and additional math support provided weekly by the Gifted Teacher. We are now on day 100 and my DS has had 1 meeting with the Reading Specialist, no cluster group and 1 meeting with the Gifted teacher. After each educational session with a specialist, my DS comes home so excited about what he has learned. It carries over for several days of practicing his new skill. Each time this happens, I get my hopes up that they will meet his needs in school and then there are never any additional meetings. UGH! There is no GIEP at this point as we have not done formal IQ testing, so we have nothing to hold the school accountable to meeting the promises made. Does anyone have any recommendations for how to hold a school accountable to following through with promises made? We e-mail, call, have meetings and the changes just don't seem to last past 1 day. I will be starting a meeting journal where I will keep consistent notes, however not sure that will help much because at this point, they don't deny the promises were made, they just avoid meeting the need.

Have you considered meeting to set an agreed-upon schedule for the delivery of promised services?

Since you are in Pennsylvania, have you considered sending a formal letter now to request testing? If you do that, they should do so with in 30 days. It is probably a good time to do that now so you have the information to plan for next year. Depending on the results, you may be able to advocate for acceleration or another placement that is appropriate for your child.

One thing you could do after meetings is to send your meeting summary via email to whoever was there, explaining the plan as you understand it. That would create a paper trail of what was said during the meeting. Then, when was is said isn't being done, you can point this out.

This is the "money quote" that you need to share with the school. It sets up a very positive vibe, and should help with getting a schedule set up.

Good luck!