Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional 504 eligibility meeting

We are having a 504 eligibility meeting for my dd8 at the end of the month. We have a diagnosis of dysgraphia and dyslexia. We are unlikely to get anything for the dyslexia because she tests above grade level. We are hoping to get her extra time for her writing and possibly allow her to keyboard for non-handwriting assignments. Any words of wisdom?

Good luck! We're in CO, too. Dd11 had a 504 in 4th grade and we then opted out of it and wrote the extra time & quiet testing environments into her ALP instead. I think that we were on shaky ground for those accommodations, honestly, and I don't expect that she'll have them beyond middle school (and we haven't sought them for things like talent search testing). Dd's accommodations were based upon a dyspraxia and SPD dx at age 7.5. I don't know if either dx is accurate although SPD may be.

The accommodations you are asking for sound entirely reasonable for a dysgraphia dx alone even without the dyslexia dx. Who initiated the 504 process? I'd expect that the school will be reasonable if it was their idea.

Unfortunately, we have had a diagnosis since last summer but the school has refused to provide any accommodation because "she doesn't need it."

I asked to have DD do the Wilson Reading program at school last fall. Since she is not at the same level as most reading-challenged kids in her grade, they said she would need to go with the upper grades. This meant they would pull her out of math -- a strength/passion area. I didn't want to go that route. Instead, I have continued working extensively with her at home on her reading.

DD's writing is a completely different story. She never makes her letters the same way, her spelling is somewhat phonetic and even she can make sense out of it half the time. The school OT recommended she practice her letters AT HOME or learn to keyboard AT HOME. I keep being told that she doesn't qualify for support at school.

I have decided to make this my battle ground with school. DD is exhausted when she gets home from school. I don't have the energy to do this on my own. I am worn out and frustrated along with her. The school agreed to a 504 eligibility meeting based on her writing but I'm not sure what to expect.

With school being almost out, do you expect to get this in place by the end of the year? We've had some schools be more cooperative than others with the less cooperative ones stalling until it is "too late" to do anything. I hope that you don't run into that type of thing.

Will she be a 4th grader in the fall or a 3rd grader? Do you have anyone at the district you can contact to advocate further if the school doesn't work with you and do you have any other schooling options if not?

I am hoping that it will be in place for next year. I tried to kick this up to a higher level earlier in the year. It resulted in a massive number of people at a meeting and nobody taking any action. Everyone wanted to talk more about her IQ than her LD diagnosis. It didn't result in any action from the school, just more suggestions about things that I could do at home.

I finally sat down with the teacher one-on-one mid-year and asked for her help. She volunteered to collect her own "data." When I asked to see the "data" before the end of the year, the school asked to schedule the meeting. If this is unproductive, I will try to kick it up a level again in the fall.

DD will be in 3rd grade in the fall. I recently checked out an "alternative gifted" charter school. I think that it would be perfect for her but the waiting list is huge even though they have only been open since the fall. Their director suggested finding other 2e parents and starting my own charter like this. (LOL) I haven't really looked at anything else. I talked to DD about homeschooling but she doesn't want to leave her friends. I'm not ready to completely give up on our current situation. I am concerned that as the writing component grows she won't be able to keep pace with the gt program -- hence the request for accommodations.

PM me if you are in the northern Colorado area, but I am thinking you are further south in that I don't know of any new gifted charters (or actually any gifted schools at all) in N.CO. I'm working on resources and options up here including seeing if I can get enough gifted/divergent kids together to make a hs co-op, afterschool program, or something like that.

Had the meeting. I think that it went very well. The teacher backed me up on all of my concerns and suggested accommodations. I don't have the final document yet but am optimistic that we are going in the right direction.

Yippee!!!