Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional What to ask for?

I had a meeting with my son's new teacher today to prepare for first grade. He is six.

I'll give the background below, but the basic issue is that I'm not sure what I can ask for. My son has difficulties with some things (explained below). However, they say that he isn't eligible for any 504 or IEP accommodations even if he gets a diagnosis because he works ahead of grade level and there is nothing they could offer. He is having enough difficulty that he won't be able to stay in school if we can't resolve the issues. They don't offer any sort of therapy or accommodations for executive function or attention issues if a child is working above grade level. They say he isn't eligible for speech or social skills even if diagnosed with a relevant disorder or pragmatic speech delay because there is nothing preventing him from doing grade appropriate work (evidenced by his high scores on standardized testing). This is true of both possible schools (a public school and a charter school).

Last year, his teacher let him work independently on second grade work on the computer. That helped a great deal, but he had trouble with subs because they tried to have him do the regular work and he wouldn't. He was sent to a first grade class for reading and apparently did fine there. However, he just has a great deal of difficulty staying quiet and well-behaved when he isn't interested in the work; he gets up and tries to be other kids to play with him or to be a class clown.

He has no diagnosis, but had severe developmental delays that eventually resolved. He shows an odd pattern on testing, though (missing easy questions and getting harder ones, etc.), and still struggles with certain things. He definitely finds some things harder than other kids; he has been tested extensively, but some things just may get clearer as he gets older.

Despite his teacher's efforts to give him independent work, he sometimes has to be patient and just has a lot of trouble. It may be an impulse control or executive function issue; he just has trouble doing things he isn't interested in and has some difficulty with social skills (he was bullied last year). It could also be straight boredom combined with insufficient maturity.

The new teacher asked if we wanted him skipped a grade, but I don't see how we can do that unless he can learn to follow classroom rules even when bored occasionally. It sounds to me as though he is going to be on his own to manage or not manage.

I'm not sure there is anything else I can do or ask for, besides trying to get him the same options as last year. Has anyone successfully obtained accommodations for a child working above grade level?

It occurs to me that your state may have curriculum frameworks for social-emotional development (they are usually under the health frameworks), in which case he may be meeting academic criteria in the "regular" subjects, but not in the health/social-emotional frameworks. If it's part of the frameworks/curriculum guide that that the DOE puts out, then it's part of grade-appropriate performance. And that makes it a major life activity covered under section 504.

A sampling from each coast below:

From the MA standards:

Social and Emotional Health PreK–2 Standard 5 MENTAL HEALTH
Strand
elop skills needed in daily life as they
come to learn about their identity
and how to manage interactions
with other people.
Students will acquire knowledge about emotions and physical health, the
management of emotions, personality and character development, and social
awareness; and will learn skills to promote self-acceptance, make decisions,
and cope with stress, including suicide prevention. .
PreK–12 Standard 6 FAMILY LIFE
Students will gain knowledge about the significance of the family on
individuals and society, and will learn skills to support the family, balance
work and family life, be an effective parent, and nurture the development of
children. .
PreK–12 Standard 7 INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
n that relationships with others are an integral part of the human life
experience and the factors that contribute to healthy interpersonal
relationships, and will acquire skills to enhance and make many of these
relationships more fulfilling through commitment and communication.

From the CA standards: K-3 Expectation 1

...promote positive bonding to peers and adults in the school and community and identifying a support system.
Developing and using effective communication skills to enhance social interactions.
Developing and using effective coping strategies...goal setting...assertiveness...
...practicing self control
...friendship and peer relationships

As aeh suggested, my son is ahead of grade (entering 1st this year) in all his academic work, but classified as "developmentally delayed" in social-emotional skills and has an IEP. If you have access to an advocate, I would recommend talking to one familiar with your district. It sounds like they are not really classifying students appropriately if they are denying consideration of an IEP because his grades are good. You might want to poke around wrightslaw.com, too.

Good luck!

How do they measure skills like that, though? I haven't seen those in the requirements, but am going to the DOE site right now to look. It just seems like those could be difficult to quantify. Are certain tests commonly used? Because DS has been tested quite a bit, I might already have the testing. He does better in a testing environment than in a classroom, though.

Thanks very much for the help!

SLPs have tests for pragmatics. E.g., the pragmatics checklist of the CELF-5. The CELF-5 Metalinguistics (for ages 9+). Clinical observations from a speech path.

There are also social skills checklists. SSRS, SRS, etc. You may have some of these if anyone screened him for ASD. Even if they're sub-clinical for ASD, they may be normatively low.

Another option is work skills, which is on many IEPs. This includes work completion, time management, following directions, time on task.

I asked about classroom behavior and was told there was no help for that. What sort of help could they offer if he did qualify for that? His speech therapist would do the CELF or something else if I asked even if the school doesn't want to, then I could use that to strengthen my argument if needed. Everyone keeps telling me there is nothing else they can do. He is only six, so some options may not be available.

We did behavioral checklists that the teacher also filled out - the evaluation says it was the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS).

I looked up the required curriculum. There isn't much (e.g., he knows how to share during a game), but some of them require him to "discuss" things. If they ask open ended questions, he's guaranteed to fail in a testing situation.

So if he did qualify for social skills, what sort of help could we ask for? They told me previously when I asked that they only offer social skills if kids qualify in another area as well.

My son has a special ed teacher doing four sessions a week with him working on social skills. She does one pull-out session where she works with him one-on-one (not sure what they do for this), one push-in session in the classroom coaching him on working with other kids, and two push-in sessions at recess coaching him on playing with other kids.