Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Does this sound like 2e?

Ginger, until they've done a FULL evaluation in ALL areas of suspected disability, they are not legally allowed to say she doesn't qualify for an IEP! If you think she needs any services at all from the school (any kind of remediation at all), then you should try hard to get the IEP. A 504 will provide accommodations (like reduced spelling list) but not any services to remediate the difficulties.

Right away, before they do their eval, you should send them a letter asking them to evaluate for "disorder of written expression" (dysgraphia does not always exist for schools) as well as language issues and anything else you think is affecting her schoolwork or participation.

You may want to do some reading at wrightslaw.com or get their book From Emotions to Advocacy-- this details your child's rights.

DeeDee

Thanks, DeeDee, I will check into that... So many things to consider. I feel like I could use a lawyer sometimes.

Wow ! Sounds like the school is more than meeting you half way. I love that they are providing 'temporary accomidations' while they get the testing done. My hunch is that even without an IEP to 'make' the school help her, the school may give her services because it is their mission to help children. 'getting your legal rights' may not be as important as figuring out what your dd's needs are, and meeting them, one way or another.

I'm a terrible speller, and it's sort of like other bodily functions - it is embarassing to be caught in public, but it's rare that any real harm is done. The difficulty with higher order thinking skills worries me more.

If you aren't familiar with this afterschooling company, I would take a look and see if you can intigrate this into your homelife:

http://www.criticalthinking.com/sea...;code2=p&catalog3=p&x=17&y=8

The Critical Thinking Co.

I used their graphic organizer book as a mega-bribe during the elementary years. The cool thing about Gifted Kids is that sometimes if you hothouse just a little bit, they leap forwards.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

That could happen. In our experience, though, it's unlikely. Actual services (such as PT, OT, speech, remediation of dyslexia by a reading specialist) are doled out minute by minute to those who qualify for them through testing and push for them in meetings. For children with IEPs, there is supposed to be federal and state money flowing into the school to fund those services. For children with no IEP, there is no extra money coming in: the school would be paying out of pocket. It happens, but not too frequently.

If you only need the accommodations (adjustments to assignments, that sort of thing), that's awesome, because they don't tend to cost the school any extra money and are much easier to get.

Wishing you luck,

DeeDee

I spoke with the reading specialist at the school yesterday as she was unable to attend the meeting. I asked about the IEP vs. 504. She has 2 (college-aged) children of her own with similar cases to my daughters who are under one of the older models so they have IEPs. Her advice was to make sure that the 504 accommodations (if that is all that my daughter needs) will be enforceable in college. Because her kids continue to need those.

I do get your point, DeeDee, about the services & her need to qualify for them. I will closely monitor that aspect of this process. Thanks for the heads-up. I have found this counselor & group of teachers extremely helpful & willing to work with my daughter. But it has taken a long time to get to this point & I want to make sure we get everything taken care of properly so we don't find ourselves back here again in the future.

Thanks for the resource, Grinity. I will check into it. I like the metaphor of hothousing; all 3 of my kids fall into that at times. Actually, so do I.

I just want to point out that if you request an evaluation in writing, they district has to do it within 60 days. If the district does an evaluation and you disagree with the results, you are legally entitled to a private evaluation at public expense. The schools often use people who are not licensed psychologists to do their evaluations, and for a child who may be 2e, you need the evaluation to be done by a real expert, not just someone trained to administer tests.

The difference in the comprehensiveness and quality of the professional evaluation that we obtained under this provision and the evaluation that the school had done its own did was shocking. It was definitely worth it to insist on the outside opinion.

I am basing this primarily on these:

http://cfr.vlex.com/vid/300-independent-educational-evaluation-19759442

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2007/julqtr/34cfr300.301.htm

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2007/julqtr/34cfr300.304.htm

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2007/julqtr/34cfr300.305.htm

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2007/julqtr/34cfr300.502.htm


A brief summary of the relevant sections is provided here:

http://www.behavioralinstitute.org/...hoeducational%20evaluation_factsheet.pdf

The law here appears to be on the side of the parent and child. The school is, naturally, on their own side, and I believe that parents should never forget that.

Sorry about posting the wrong links - here are the current ones.

34 CFR 300 Subpart D, EVALUATIONS, ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATIONS, INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMS, AND EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENTS

34 CFR 300 Subpart D link

34 CFR 300 Section E, PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS DUE PROCESS PROCEDURES FOR PARENTS AND CHILDREN

34 CFR 300 Section E link

34 CFR 300.502 Independent Evaluations
34 CFR 300.502 link

I tried to reply to this thread quite some time ago but kept getting booted out.
@aculady: thank you so much for the link to the CFR site. Invaluable.

Newest update: school did RIAS IQ test, dd scored 131. Nonverbal reasoning skills were highest score. APAT (auditory processing) was all over the map. Her scores looked like a scatter plot. OWLS (oral & written lang. scale) given twice, 5 months apart: 1st time receptive score was 79, which is below average; 2nd time 113 which is high average.
I was referred by her pediatrician to have neuro-psych testing done & went to a psychologist who submitted a preliminary report to insurance. But all they would approve testing for was the same stuff the school had already done.
So I called the school counselor & she was able to get a Notice of Refusal to Take a Specific Action which I took back to the pediatrician yesterday. He was initially going to refer her to a pediatric psycho-neurologist, but then told me about a study being done at UF that she may qualify for which is being funded by a grant. I don't know yet if they are going to accept her case, but he seemed pretty sure that this was the kind of data they might be looking for.
And on it goes...

I have continued this thread here: new topic with results of dd's evaluation, 504, etc.