Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments terrified they will hold him back

3rd quarter grades are in and ds has two subjects below 60%. The others are low 70's. This quarter he was diagnosed with three learning disabilities, ADHD but also in the 98th percentile for IQ and 99.2% for mathematical reasoning. Interestingly it is math and writing he has the lowest scores. What are the guidelines for holding a child back from moving to the next grade? Given the personal issues with his teacher we honestly believe there may be some malicious intent on her part so we have a hard time truly "caring" what the grade is as long as he passes the 4th grade. Does anybody know?

If I'm understanding correctly, he has an IEP? If that's the case, he cannot be held back without a discussion with his IEP team about whether his plan is appropriately written and implemented.

The IEP just got finalized. I don't know what that means for his past work from before the diagnosis.

It means what aeh wrote still stands.

I'm kind of shocked to hear about a school that actually will hold a kid back for any reason. I have friends that are fighting their school trying to get them to hold their kid back and the school absolutely refuses. I have no idea what the rules are like where you are but I would be really surprised if they would, even more so with a kid with newly identified LDs. I'd argue that work prior to accommodations (I'm assuming he has some sort of accommodations in his new IEP) is completely meaningless.

His IEP addresses his dysgraphia and ADHD/Executive function deficit. A number of papers have extremely low scores for not fully showing work or elaborating on the written assignmenrs . His tests are all high and he scored off the charts with the AIMS test they did for math but his lack of ability to write and organize his thoughts has dropped him from all A's and B's last year to CD's and D's this year. He's my oldest so I don't know how they do grade placement anymore but back in the day you got below a c you failed

Doesn't this depend on the laws of the state and the school district policy?

So how does his IEP address his dysgraphia and ADHD/Executive function deficit?

Picking a few examples from my DS's IEP that might be applicable -
Instructional Accommodations:
- provide extra time to complete written assignments
- reduce the amount of writing when necessary
- scribe for written assignments

Assessment Accommodations:
- verbatim scribing of responses
- negotiate written assignments; reduce length or increase time
- assess in a variety of ways
- allow for adequate response time, oral or written
- extended time limits to complete tests

Now TBH most of the above are not always needed for my DS but if I was in a situation where his grades were being impacted I'd be pushing back really hard on them to follow what is in his IEP. Hopefully your DS's IEP has some clear accommodations that will help (and if it doesn't then I'd be looking to revisit the IEP).

Yes his IEP states the same kind of things but because he scores so well on tests his teacher is very much against accommodations as she feels his issues are behaviour related. She thinks because he scores so well on tests he just doesn't want to do the work and we are catering to his manipulations.

Cola,

Did you just finish the IEP process recently, and did the work that was graded down occur before the IEP was in place?

If the work occurred before the IEP was in place, I'd keep a copy of it just for documentation of the impact of your ds' disability, and I'd look forward rather than worry about what's already happened. Keep an eye out for the same thing happening again, and when it does, first address it with the teacher and then if that isn't satisfactory in resulting in change, send an email to the teacher and the SPED rep on your ds' IEP team with the issue outlined and explaining how it doesn't follow accomodations/etc outlined in the IEP, if that doesn't produce any change, call an IEP meeting.

If it is grading that has occurred since the IEP has been in place, I'd call an IEP meeting now.

The other thing I'd do first - no matter when this happened relative to the IEP being in place - is to talk to the teacher about it (if you haven't already), and follow up with an email to the teacher summarizing the conversation, what you brought to her attention and her reply and any follow-up or conclusions you both agreed to.

You are probably thinking, what's the point, the teacher is set in her ways and not going to bend. Probably true - but what you are doing and what you *need* to be doing is documenting what is happening - in writing. Every email you send is a document. Save the pieces of graded work from class as documentation. When you approach the teacher to discuss, when you call a team meeting as needed etc, you are completing the second part of what you need to do - show good faith in advocating and following through. You'll be the person who will probably be most responsible for insuring the school follows through on the IEP. The SPED resource staff and your ds' teacher should be responsible, but it sounds like his teacher isn't going to be. By proceeding in a logical manner, documenting everything, and communicating as necessary in a timely manner you are going to be doing your absolute best to be sure your ds has the services and accommodations delivered that are outlined in his IEP.

Best wishes,

polarbear