Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADHD DD with reading difficulties... lawyer update

Here is an update on our DD7 who has not been able to get a special ed evaluation for reading because she's performing at grade level. She has ADHD (high hyperactivity, but not forgetful) and unaccommodated sensory processing disorder stuff.

We met with an educational lawyer for a consultation and were advised to send a letter to both the school and the district special education director, requesting full neuropsychiatric and occupational testing. The letter states we have made numerous requests and that we will pay for it out of pocket and expect reimbursement if our needs are not met.

Sounds encouraging.

On the giftedness side of things, the lawyer flat out said there is no school in the area to suit our DD. She said homeschooling is likely not the way to go - but both DH and I already knew that!

We need a gifted specialist to meet her needs. And we need a reading specialist to meet her needs. And we need an OT to meet her needs. For all our best intentions, patience, resourcefulness, and education, we are not the people to meet this child's educational needs.

The lawyer suggested the district ***might*** fund a specialist to work with our DD one-to-one for 1-3 hours after school for enrichment purposes. That sounds ideal to us. Has anyone had this actually materialize? Is it a fantasy? I'm skeptical...

It's likely there is no school that has something in place that fits your DD-- but it may be possible to find a school that's flexible enough to make the right accommodations through a combination of acceleration, differentiation, and/or special ed services. You'll know much more after the neuropsych eval.


I hear you. I couldn't do it either. (Please no flames from HSers. This is my estimate based on me and my kids.)


Does not sound ideal to me. If they will pay someone, how about paying them to teach her (and any other equally gifted peers you/they know of) within school hours?

My kids would go crazy if they had ill-fitting school all day followed by the good stuff in the afternoon when they are tired, and no time off for play or other activities. YMMV.

Yes, I agree, why not do it during school hours. Why not do it in a school with other kids like DD? Are there no other gifted kids with LDs out there needing this???? Where are all these bright kids going? I'm dumbfounded.

Our elementary has some noticeable (to me) 2Es who don't "test" gifted/disabled, they test average, so they go along frustrated and unserved.

In most places there aren't enough 2Es to cluster them. There are a few places I've heard of... not here.

The best we have found is to put really good accommodations in place for both Es, including the gifted placement appropriate to the child's current needs, and adjust as we go.

DeeDee, I ended up speaking to the special ed person at school and she was baffled that we wanted special ed services (despite our many conversations) now that DD7 was being referred for gifted programming. So I think we may have cleared that up, at least temporarily. I drafted a letter to her, including a description of 2E and how the district typically does not recognize or accommodate 2E students. So off we go - just as you have out lined.

Even with this VAST discussion board of people who have btdt - people with a high degree of commitment and know-how, mind you - I still feel I'm reinventing the wheel. I'm still shocked this subset of gifted learners is largely ignored.

How can that be?

If they come out average because their exceptionalities don't show on tests, and they don't have any outrageous behaviors, it's actually pretty easy for a school to miss them.

Seablue, seems to me your job is now to keep explaining and educating. Keep your evidence handy, help them see what you see, treat the school team as "on your side," but keep showing them and documenting issues that arise. It can take a long, long while. But sometimes you really can get it done.

Thanks, DeeDee, you're absolutely right. I definitely work collaboratively when I have a goal and need help. Building alliances to get where we need to go and enticing the school personnel to help. I keep verbalizing how I believe the district offers everything we need, we just need to access it.

It's just frustrating that it feels like reinventing the wheel.

Yes. My son's aspergers was diagnosed before he started school, and despite our best efforts the school failed to accomodate his gifted traits. In fact, he was doing so well with his asd, that we got rid of his iep, hoping that this way we could get them to actually work on educating him academically. Big fail.
They just went ahead and stuck the compliant underachieving gifted kid into a classroom with no real differentiation and no peers and left it at that. He was suffering greatly in that environment and I pulled him out. We already had almost 4 years experienc with him in this school district at that point and I didn't see any real possibility of getting something that would work.

I'm sure there are other kids like my son, however, our district is pretty anti-gifted and I was done dealing with them.

I agree that it is incredibly frustrating. If your child is compliant and lives up to their basic expectations, they are satisfied, even if it is not appropriate for the child and long term will cause issues.

I hear you. It can seem ridiculous, educating the educators over and over.

One of our 2Es is well understood by his teachers in late spring. Every school year. (It's a great month, May.) We think we have fixed this problem now; but we'll know for sure in August.

The district people acknowledge that explaining 2E over and over shouldn't be my job, but it clearly is. Moreover, it's actually a rewarding job, because I think I'm leaving the teachers more capable for the next kid who needs something unusual. I'm fixing this bit of the world over here.

Good luck fixing yours!