Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Ways to advocate for enrichment?

Hello all! Parent-teacher conferences are next week, and we of course have a lot to talk about regarding my 2E 7 yr old DS. He's auditory and tactile defensive SPD, so that creates its own set of problems, but to top it off, there is no GT funding or program. Essentially, they are under no obligation to differentiate, but I think some of his issues this year are at least in part to boredom. He's working on 4th grade math at home, and adding and subtracting is not exactly holding his interest. I feel like we ask for a lot of accommodations already, and feel a little guilty about asking for more.

Last year his kinder teacher let him do Reflex Math (at his level) and Reading Counts computer quizzes daily, but this year it's about once per week. With last year's sensory breaks and the daily enrichment, he had exceptionally good behavior at the end of the year. They switched from computers to tablets this year and the tablets are not as plentiful (not available daily). He asked for harder work in Math, and the teacher told him there wasn't anything to give him. Anyway, I think the fact that he has nothing challenging all day long every day has something to do with how he will behave. Any advice on how to communicate this in a way that the teachers may accept? I've found presenting solutions rather than problems almost always works better.

Can you buy a book say like Primary Grade Challenge Math or Challenge Math by Edward Zaccarro and present it as something he could work on for extra challenge?

I can certainly ask. I'm not sure how well received outside materials would be received, but maybe I can ask them to suggest? I planned to bring in a couple workbooks my son does for fun at home.

Our enrichment unlocked when a neuropsych (paid for by the district) stated clearly in his report that DD HAD to have it. He used all the necessary key words in his report (gifted, learning disabled, "truly exceptional", twice exceptional, etc) and then explained why the high level material was essential. No one ever questioned it again.

A friend with a 2E kiddo who is PG in math had her son do Kahn Academy every morning. She provided printouts showing her 8 year old second grader had taught himself trigonometry "just for fun" but the school wouldn't accept it. They did, however, pay for an evaluation to the same neuropsych we used. His report unlocked radical exceleration for him as well.

If the real block is computer access (and that's not just an excuse), could you offer to put a laptop in his classroom for the rest of the year? We've done this (for accommodations, mind you) for years until the school caught up and provided one.

These days, a refurbished laptop can be had incredibly cheaply - under $200 even here up North with the brutal exchange rate.

That's a good idea to have in my back pocket... and I even have a spare laptop. I'm thinking it's more of an excuse, though. They have tablets for an entire class, but they share between two classes. They don't use them all day long, just at specific intervals. I'm wondering if it's more because they don't want to give him "special" treatment, even though I feel it would actually benefit everyone. I think the main issue will be convincing them that he needs the challenge (and then finding a way to provide it).

The report last year from the school psychologist stated he was bright, but he was tested with the KABC-II and because of he 2E-ness, it didn't demonstrate his abilities well. He was given a 124 IQ. Just tested him again with the WISC-V, and again his total GAI (127) was lower due to the verbal subtest (he has auditory processing issues), working memory and processing speed, but visual spatial was 138 (99%), fluid reasoning 134 (99%) and the tester specifically called out the mathematical reasoning subtest (figure weights) where he topped out at 99.6%. He's a bit of a perfectionist, so being told to "without mistakes" was a bit of a sabotage for the processing speed, not to mention it does take him some time to write. The tester was amazed by the way that he thought, and the fact that he did the block design not by trial and error, but just by looking at them and then placing where they went. She said his brain was like a little computer. He also completed the second set of 9 blocks, but busted the time requirement, so it didn't count.

I'm going to bring his report, and I'm hoping if I can show just how strong he is in mathematics, it will help.

One note from your WISC testing - you mentioned perfectionism as a possibility for the reduced processing speed scores - was any further testing done to be sure there wasn't a fine motor or visual processing speed impacting the scores?



What are the tablets used for? If your ds' written output etc is significantly better using a tablet, or if it's listed as an accommodation in his IEP, you should be able to either request a table just for him that is available to him each day, or request that he be given first priority when students ask to use the tablets. My ds had an arrangement like this in elementary when his class had a limited # of alphasmarts - the students were allowed to check out alphasmarts on a first-come first-served basis, but ds *always* had the choice of using one if he wanted to - the teacher just didn't tell that to the other students, and no one ever seemed to notice.

Ultimately we did what was suggested above though - provided ds' own laptop. It was also written into his IEP accommodations that he would be using his own laptop provided by parents.

polarbear

He has a fine motor delay (SPD)so I'm fairly sure it played a part. The counselor noted poor pencil grip.



polarbear[/quote]

The tablets are used for enrichment. They have some learning apps loaded to them and also the Reading Counts and Reflex Math. He used to do the activities daily last year, and now it's once a week on Wednesdays.