Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments I'm new - Can "gifted" be included in an IEP?

Hello! I'm new to the forum.

I have a 6yo DD diagnosed with Aspergers and also highly gifted. Her IQ is about 150. She is in 2nd grade, reads at 5th grade level (as of the end of 1st grade). She is advanced in her academics, except for math. She has an IEP for Aspergers, but nothing in it regarding giftedness. I've heard/read about parents being able to get giftedness into an IEP, but I'm not sure how that works.

I'm asking because our school has a very pathetic gifted program, and her teacher doesn't seem to "get it" that DD needs more challenging work. For example:

1. This semester the GT program consists of a pull-out, once-a-week for 45 minutes of a "reader's theater". That is IT.

2. Her teacher knows she reads on 5th grade level (or maybe higher) but she does not require DD to choose books from the library at that level. Her thought is that DD should choose whatever she wants. I'm all for freedom and not pushing children, but honestly, this is ridiculous in light of her reading abilities. We cannot seem to get the teacher to change her mind on this.

3. The spelling words are pathetic. Literally. This week one of the spelling words was CAT. CAT!!! In 2nd grade. And for a very bright student, it's nuts. But we can't get the teacher to give her a separate list of spelling words.

So, now we are thinking - how do we FORCE the issue? It seems that the only way is to get it into the IEP somehow. But our school views an IEP as something related to special needs or learning disabilities, not giftedness.

Our child psychologist, who conducted the WISC on DD, also thinks that DD might have a discrepancy related to math. This is because her scores on the WISC are as follows:

Verbal Comprehension 47
Perceptual Reasoning 46
Working Memory 28
Processing Speed 31
Full Scale 152

Our Doctor said that if there is a big discrepancy in the scores, then there could be a learning disability. And that even though DD might be at grade level or above on a certain subject, you still have to look at the total IQ profile and see if something is out of whack on it. Basically, if she is low in one area, you don't dismiss that just because it is above grade level - you try and bring that area up to the level of her other subjects. I hope I'm making sense on that.

So, our Doctor said this, "Additional discrepancies in WISC-IV subtests occurred on those subtests measuring social reasoning and abstract spatial reasoning. While these scores are not below average, they are discrepant from other subtest scores. DD may need some additional assistance in those areas where reasoning as well as rote learning are required, particularly where social reasoning in required. Given these findings, DD would technically meet criteria for a (315.1) Math Disability, with a specific weakness in math reasoning."

We showed this to the IEP team at school, and they just blew it off as ridiculous. I don't know what to do about this. I'm not familiar enough with this to know what is right, wrong, correct or not correct.

If anyone can help me at all, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Welcome! I'm sorry I can't help with the IEP part, but as far as the reading level goes. My DD6 is also about the same level. We got the librarian on board with helping her pick appropriate books. While she was allowed to choose a book or two from what ever level, she was also nudged (read that as made to, in a kind way) take out books at her level that were of appropriate topics.
DD's math is also weaker than her verbal. Same as yours, it is still above grade level, but it is almost 2 yrs below the reading level. For our DD, I think it is all about how math has been taught to her so far. It is not done in an interesting or creative way, it is just boring sheet upon sheet of the same thing, and then a timed test to see if they can do the math quickly or not. DD is not into that sort of thing at all. If they would make it more enjoyable, I think her level would rise quickly.
So,you're not alone with the variety of levels in your daughter. Others will be able to answer more questions about IEPs though.
Again, welcome!

In my teacher training, when we talked about IEPs the point was brought over and over about dicrepancies between ability and achievement. That is one way people go about including giftedness in the IEPs. Her reading is probably as high as it "should" be, but perhaps in math she needs something else to bring her up to speed. Since her perceptual and verbal are close together, maybe that is a consideration.

Nevertheless, some people have successfully included gifted parts in the IEPs. Maybe you could try at your next meeting. I would advice you to read more on this (maybe Hoagiesgifted has some specific resources on that?) and try to get something. It is more likely to be done if they have specific suggestions.

However, as Dottie says, it is much harder for kids working above grade level.

Good luck!

Unless you are in a state with gifted laws you are fighting a very long uphill battle in most cases. My DD9 has asperger's and is gifted as well. We have an IEP that addresses her speech therapy as related to the aspergers and her creative writing in ELA, she uses a keyboard. We have some other accomodations and because we are in a state without gifted laws we wrote a partial day into her IEP. So she attends public for ELA and speech only and homeschools everything else. The public school said they basically can't do anything for her in the other subjects because the grade level. Her reading level is much, much higher but we are holding her at only one grade level above, hoping for two this year, to allow the school to address her writing and pragmatic language needs, which are closer to grade level.

As far as the library goes, many AS kids don't like fiction and are often reading fiction much below their reading level with non-fiction material. My DD is just now beginning to read fiction on grade level.

Unfortunately, I agree with Melissa........

We live in a state which GT programming is not mandated by law, and my DS8 with Asperger's goes to public school with no GATE programs whatsoever!! So, his gifted issues are not addressed in his IEP. In the past, he was almost denied for grade skip because his IEP team just focused on his "disabilities" and totally ignored his "abilities". Since he is working above grade level in all academic areas, his IEP just needs to be focused mainly on his behavioral issues. Last year, when he was in 3rd grade, he started having some behavioral problems at school. He was inattentive, defiant, and disruptive in class. We knew why he was misbehaving because he was bored!!! We also knew that his team would not consider his gifted needs in his IEP, so we took a little different approach. We convinced them that he needs an advanced curriculum in order to stay engaged and keep his behaviors in check. So, accommodating his "gifted needs" was implemented as part of his behavioral plans. Now he goes in to 7th grade for his math (Algebra I), and gets his own language Arts worksheets in class. He is very happy now. His behavioral problems have magically disappeared now and the team has stopped pressing a issue of possible ADHD diagnosis.
I know it is very frustrating dealing with school staff who are not familiar with 2E issue. I feel for you...
Good luck.