Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional IEP today, dd, 7 y.o. put in GT and special ed

Our daughter is seven years old. She is in first grade. We just had our first IEP for her today.

She was put in GT and special education for autism, with the specific subcategory of autism in the diagnostic report being asperger syndrome, plus speech impairment for pragmatic social language. The assistant principal volunteered to read "Different Minds" over Christmas break.

The school determined GT because dd only missed two questions on the first grade CoGat. They seemed less interested in her high WISC and WJIII scores.

The meeting continues tomorrow, and the focus of the IEP is on her aspergers, not on her gifts. Do some of you get specific IEP language, accommodations, or services based on giftedness in a special ed IEP? We do not do gifted IEPs in Texas.

If you do have language like that, what does it look like? Thank you for your help. I think we are the first ones in the school to have had a child in gt and special ed at the same time, though I understand that a few years ago there were two other children with a similar profile.

Hi Treasuremapper,

Ours is the Asperger's/GT combo too. He's 8.

What is offered for G/T students in your school generally? Now that your DD is identified, they will surely try to give her access to what the other G/Tkids have; the law requires that her education be "appropriate" and that she be included with other children to the extent possible. If you want something different from what the other G/T kids have, or more, you will have to negotiate.

They will not put G/T into an IEP in my state either; it goes in a Written Education Plan, which is a separate document.

However, in our case the disability helped us negotiate better G/T services, because it was clear that DS behaves poorly when he is bored, and keeping him engaged required subject acceleration. This was discussed at an IEP meeting as part of the project of figuring out what he needed; because the needs are those of one child, the planning for the two issues can't be entirely separate, even though the documentation is handled separately. We are lucky that the G/T teacher was on board; that helped a great deal.

If you want more details, feel free to PM me. You might also find useful conversation at OASIS (www.aspergersyndrome.org ; they have a nice parent forum).

Best wishes,
DeeDee

Edited to add: I remember now that you had thought she wasn't on the spectrum. Did you get further testing that changed the opinion of your professionals? Girls are so hard in this regard. I hope this hasn't been a terrible whiplash experience for you.

Yes, Deedee, you remember us! Our dd was evaluated by a developmental pediatrician, a neuropsychologist, a pediatrician, a neurologist, and an educational specialist at our local university.

All found that she was not on the spectrum. But as soon as she started school instead of homeschooling, it was very, very obvious that she was on the spectrum. When she was homeschooling, her life did not have many of the stressors that occur in schooling.

I have never heard of a written education plan. I will PM you. Thank you.

In Colorado, it is an IEP for the special ed, which we have for Asperger's, and an ALP (Accelerated Learning Plan, or Advanced Learning Plan, something like that) for the GT, which we also have. Most of our meetings have the whole team on both sides, although we do also have a separate updating meeting for the IEP once in a while. The school just works on everything together, but the state paperwork is separate for each one.

I am really impressed with Colorado's system.

It truly isn't all of CO that is so accommodating. We live in CO too and have been told that 2e kids often qualify for neither GT nor special ed. We have a 2e dd who is HG with ADD and maybe something else going on. We had to fight tooth and nail to get the district to accept a 99.9th GAI for an ability score for GT id. She has qualifying achievement scores for math, science, writing and reading, but her only id thus far is gifted in reading b/c the WISC doesn't have subtests for math, for instance. For a general intellectual ability id, they need achievement in science, math, social studies, and reading as well as ability subtests for math and verbal not just composite.

Even with the id, our district now contends on their FAQ page that GT id doesn't guarantee any services if the achievement piece is not consistently in place. The special ed dept tells me that, if the achievement piece is not well below average, that special ed also isn't possible.

I'm glad that you're having better luck, though!

Wow.

Treasuremapper: My son was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 1/2 and it wasn't til K that he was labelled gifted. He only had accommodations for autism in K and 1 (even though he was in the so-called accelerated 1st grade). We switched him to a school for the gifted (against all the experts advice) where he is a full grade accelerated and doing fabulously! This school emphasizes the gifts and accommodates for his autism in a very nice balance for the most part. There are a couple on campus who do not "get" him...his direct manner of speaking and his poor eye contact make him appear disobedient...but his teacher is incredible. We are very lucky this year. This school goes all the way to grade 12, so we may never have to switch schools again!!!!

Anyway, my point is that exceptionally gifted and autism can work in a school, but you have to advocate like crazy! With your DDs scores, can you apply to DYS? If I could ever find a minute, I plan to do that because I think they would be good advocates. I've been putting it off because everything is going so well this year. Good luck! Nan