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We've been struggling to get the school to see DS7's dysgraphia. We have an outside eval, I've taken in work samples from their assignments and no luck. Last week during a teacher conference I thought I had hit the jackpot. She had a reading comprehension assessment that he missed 3 out of 5 questions. His reading comprehension level is grades above on every assessment he's been given. This is not a child who struggles with second grade reading comprehension. I mentioned that I thought the dysgraphia may be playing a role in his ability to answer because writing sentences was required. She agreed to do the assessment orally. She just let me know that his answers during the oral assessment were the same. "When we discussed the questions and passage further he was able to answer me correctly. I think he just needed to clarify his reading." Of course, I guess it's possible he didn't understand the passage but it seems unlikely given that this has never been an issue before.

Now, this is the same teacher that "assessed" him for tier 1 RTI using a rubric where he met or exceeded grade-level standards. So, we don't have an IEP. We are currently pursuing the 504 but the assistant principal tells us this teacher will be the one to observe him for 4-6 weeks to see what accommodations he needs for the 504. Does the teacher normally have this much power/authority in this process?

Have you gone through a few passages and asked him to answer the questions? If so, how does he do? Does he understand what's being asked?

When we asked for an IEP assessment for one of my kids, an entire team worked with us. A psychologist tested him, a speech therapist tested him, he was observed in the classroom, and we and his teacher had to attend meetings and fill out a detailed questionnaire. It seems odd that they'd base a decision like that on a single teacher's observations.

(A recent thread said that delaying testing or denying because of RTI is illegal under
federal law).

One of the hallmarks of dysgraphia as I understand it is that the oral output is substantially more sophisticated than the written output. At least that was the case for my oldest many years ago. I think it is unusual for the school to rely solely on the teacher for a 504. In our case, the Assistant Principal and the School Counselor also observed in the classroom.

Val-I went through a passage with him a couple of days ago. We are doing some history study on our own. We actually read the passage on Monday and I asked him the questions yesterday. He answered them correctly and more thoroughly than I would have expected. This is also a topic he has never been exposed to before, so there's no prior knowledge of the subject.

I'm guessing he didn't have brilliant answers on his second grade assessment. I'm not sure how brilliant you can be when answering questions from a 6 sentence reading passage about a fictional grasshopper

I'm not remotely concerned about his reading comprehension. I'm concerned that this teacher has make up her mind about DS and she'll never see the dysgraphia.

I haven't asked them for a full eval yet. Primarily because I don't trust them. This entire team has already decided that there's not an issue. The school psychologist made it pretty clear that he wouldn't receive spec ed services when we gave her our outside eval. How do you battle the foregone conclusions?

Is it because he is not performing below grade level yet? I gave this article to the spec. ed director and the principal before even putting in a request to evaluate DD. http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/3/3/2158244013505855 I did this hoping that they would evaluate her with an open mind. Even though they seem to have already made up their mind, I would send them this article, and then put in a request for a formal eval naming your specific concerns. They should come back with a list of specific tests that you can either approve or argue about.
I see your concern though....the last school DD was in was incompetent and I knew it was pointless to even bother with them and that if I did I would have to get the spec. ed director involved in the process. Have you tried talking to him/her? I would try that, and send him/her this link.

Thanks for this, blackcat. I'm not sure this article would be very well received. I certainly don't feel any sense of collaboration with this staff. It's felt like Us vs Them the whole time.

And yes, it's because he's not performing below grade-level. They simply don't see the disability and don't seem to want to accept the outside data.

I have a feeling that even if you were able to get an IEP they wouldn't give him the help that he needs. They need to be able to see a problem. Maybe it would be better to invest in outside help/tutoring? Keep pursuing the 504 so that he can get accommodations, at least. If you haven't talked to the special ed director, I would suggest it, just to make a point if nothing else. You could also file a complaint with the State but if you haven't requested an eval, they probably wouldn't do anything or take you seriously. BTW, it's the same way here for a 504...the teacher is asked for their views, but they should also be asking for your input as well and considering the outside report. I brought in an outside psych report and they almost took it TOO seriously and wanted to copy the suggested recommendations practically word-for-word even though they weren't necessarily all approriate for DD.