Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional 504 for anxiety- Anyone have suggestions?

DD is 7, 1st grade, has been a complete mess all year. We just had her evaluated and the dr ruled out ASD, but said she is anxious, OCD, etc. So the school wants a 504 plan for her, separate from her GIEP. The primary problem she has is that she will raise her hand in class, then just go mute or start crying if they call on her. A bit of a disaster, I guess?

Anyway, wondering if anyone has any helpful tips or experience to share. Thanks.

I don't know about specific 504 recs as my DS doesn't have one (yet) but having read about what he might need I know that you will probably want to get her more time for tests (so she doesn't get penalized for OCD/anxiety slowing her down), and maybe less homework required to show mastery...

OCD and anxiety are tough - hugs.

My DS16 now has a 504 for anxiety. But we only created it last year as a sophmore in H.S. Should have gotten him one back when he was in junior high. I did have his tested that previous year and it turns out DS has low processing & working memory. I feel that some of his anxiety comes from not being able to react as fast as his peer/teachers expect. DS started having social problems in 6th grade partly because he wasn't able to keep up with all the verbal sparing.

The 504 has helped a bit. If nothing else but for his teachers to realize that this is an issue for him. One of his anxiety points is writing essays and he has been given extra time to complete writing assignments. He gets more time on some tests. And for H.S. it's allowed him to get preferential teachers. At a big H.S. this can be a big deal. Although the counselor hasn't always been able to fit the preferred teacher into his schedule. The big question for you is what would you put on the 504. What do you think would help her?

My son started seeing a psychologist for anxiety in 6th grade. It really did help. After that settled down he stopped going but he started with a new one who is an expert with gifted kids his freshman year and still see's her.

Things have gotten a lot better with DS. I hope you can find something that works for your DD.

I wonder why they want a separate 504 and IEP? Usually this should be handled in an IEP.

In any case, a few ideas:

Clear, written instructions on all in-class assignments, homework assignments.

Assignments adjusted for timing and content, e.g., don't make him do repetitive work if he can show mastery.

Breaking larger assignments into smaller tasks.

Calming area and breaks offered when he is visibly stressed

Pre-alerts to changes.

Positive reinforcement.

Bypass peer sharing/editing (option to share with staff instead).

Option to dictate / Access to speech to text software.

Lanie - Sent a PM

Was your dd evaluated by a neuropsychologist or an education psych? Were LDs ruled out? The reason I ask is that learning challenges first looked like severe anxiety for my ds when he was the same age/grade. It wasn't at all obvious from any of his school work. While anxiety may be the core issue behind things such as raising her hand but then not answering the question, there might be something more going on - for instance, maybe she has a challenge with expressive language and can't get the words out. Recognizing LDs can be really tricky - our ds, for instance, could (and did) talk at length using huge words and complicated sentences - when he could talk about something factual that he had experienced. When he had to answer open-ended questions for teachers at school, he couldn't do it, but we thought it was just shyness or part of his personality for quite awhile.

polarbear

Not sure about the OP here, but in our school districts "GIEP"s aren't processed through SPED as part of IDEA, they are handled by the gifted department and are an entirely different type of form. IEPs (for LDs etc) have accommodations written into the IEP, but are also a much more thorough document with goals that have a different type of accountability attached. I also think that what's included in the IEP document is in some way required by either federal or state policy. Gifted IEPs are very much left up to the school district to determine a plan and whether or not to implement IEPs for gifted students. I think in many ways (here) the use of the term "GIEP" is misleading - it's not an "IEP" in the sense that most people think of an IEP.

Best wishes,

polarbear

This is EXACTLY her. Almost all meltdowns are related to a struggle to express herself. Open-ended things stress her out to an extreme.

We had her evaluated by an ed psych who is extremely well-respected in the area to rule out ASD. He is considered the local expert, and he's mostly-retired, and it was self-pay. He wants to continue to see her, but he travels a lot, and she is already seeing a child psych for therapy.

She was going to be tested by a panel of neuropsychs, but we put the brakes on that when the guy she was assigned to made her so uncomfortable she just growled at him. I was given the option to switch her to the dr who runs the program. Maybe I should just go ahead with that? I'm just so worried about ending up with an ASD diagnosis when my gut tells me it's probably not that. She is joyful with other kids. So thoughtful, loving, patient, etc. with people. She just struggles so much with expressing herself.

Thank you for all of the responses. I am taking notes to prepare for meeting with the team at school next week.

While children with ASD sometimes struggle with expressive language, it's also possible for children who are not on the autism spectrum to have expressive language challenges. Our neuropsych had a graphic that showed three circles, one representing ASD, one representing ADHD, one representing Dyspraxia, with the symptoms of each listed inside each circle - so many of the symptoms overlap between diagnoses. Not only expressive language, but sensory and others.


Is the dr a neuropsych? If so, I'd want to look at what testing your ds has already had - did the previous evaluation include ability vs achievement testing and a review of development history + current academic work. If it did, were there any discrepancies in subtest scores or were they close to the same across all tests?
Was any additional testing done other than relating directly to ruling in/out ASD?


Your gut is telling you it's not ASD, and one psych has already ruled ASD out - chances are it's not likely ASD - and chances are, she's not going to get an ASD diagnosis from a neuropsychologist. OTOH, if it's expressive language you're specifically concerned about, you'll most likely need a speech/langauge evaluation (through an SLP) - whether or not you pursue further neuropsych testing.

You can request a speech/langauge eval through your school.

Best wishes,

polarbear