I'm just trying to gather information for a school meeting; I don't know if we're going to try for an IEP or not. However, I have been told before here that it's possible to get an IEP based on a functional delay (in my son's case, delayed fine motor) even without an academic delay. I've looked through Wrightslaw and found references, but can't find anything straightforward I could print and bring with me. Can anyone point me towards a reference? The special education teacher refused to even attend the meeting saying my son wasn't eligible even though he is having considerable difficulties in class right now.

Lillie-Felton.

You'll want that.

OTOH, if "accommodations" will work to enable access to the curriculum via mitigation of the barriers that the disabling condition imposes, perhaps a 504 plan is a better tool?

Thanks... We're looking at both options and a 504 is an option as well.

If you don't want to answer this question, I fully respect that. But I am wondering how is a significant fine motor delay not an academic delay? Are you referring to the academic achievement test showing no academic delay?
How is it affecting his school life? I had students with fine motor delays and we accomodated them by providing a way to type or use other technologies when their knowledge was being tested and handwriting was just a vehicle to express it. Furthermore, if they are in elementary school, this is obviously a barrier to developing writing skills.

He has has had occupational therapy before, but has weak muscles and his fine motor skills backslide without continued therapy. He has trouble keeping up when the teacher writes on the board. However, he works 2 years above grade level. As a result, the special education specialist refused to even meet with me.

He's in first grade, so there aren't large writing assignments yet.

I've been exploring the answer to this question for weeks now. What I have found is that for each person you ask, you get a different opinion-even within the same district. The state department of ed says one thing and a school psychologist working in the system says the opposite.

I feel a significant resistance in my district to help my HG son. I feel that they resent his talent and reject his need. I'm starting to sense that maybe they just don't know HOW to help him. I wish they would just say that instead of stonewalling.

I guess I share this because I was spending a lot of time on this and getting nowhere. I'm not suggesting you give up your pursuit, but don't feel crazy if this remains murky. That's what I've been feeling

I'm also going to change the conversation with my school. They've told me repeatedly what they CAN'T do. I'm going to start asking what they CAN do and fill in the gaps on my own. I can try and force them to see the law and DS's need, but that is a long battle. All the while, there is a child who needs help NOW.

Just two cents from a newbie

Start him learning typing now.

I'd highly recommend getting testing by a specialist OT. You can go to a children's hospital clinic and get specific hand strength measurements and other very technical testing that is essentially irrefutable.

Has the school completed a thorough educational eval? If not, you should request one in writing, naming all the tasks that he struggles with. You can also request an AT evaluation, to look at whether being allowed to use AT helps him function better.

In addition to Lillie-Felton, you should type "functional" into the search box at Wrightslaw. They are required to provide help not only for academic but also for functional skills that impede progress in the educational environment. This certainly includes handwriting, as well as things like buttoning pants or other issues that hinder him in his school day. This is something most schools don't know about, so you need to be able to cite chapter and verse.

The district we were in last year said the same thing, performing at grade level meant no possibility of IEP. We have switched districts and are finding the people much more accessible and interested seeming, but also no process towards a formal plan, either 504 or IEP, has been started.

DS is still having meltdowns once in a while in the middle of writing assignments at school (which takes his attention away from the tasks for 10 minutes here and there), and his teacher has reduced the writing requirement for him (which I believe is the same as changing the curriculum expectation). Both of those things put together make it appear to me that he is not completing grade level expectations, and I don't see how that is different from academic delay.

Is that a valid argument for IEP? That if the teacher has already altered the expectations (let him write 2 sentences not 4, use capital letters if you like while the rest of the class is expected to use lower case, let him draw a picture instead of writing about something, etc) they effectively consider him to have academic difficulty?

Or is that only evidence that an informal teacher intervention has been effective enough on it's own, if it's all going better now, and that no formal plan is needed?

apm221 has your child's teacher informally altered expectations also?

Some of the interventions the teacher has implemented would be considered accommodations, such as would be appropriate to a 504 (reduced work load, alternate avenues for demonstrating content acquisition), and others might be modifications, depending on the context (drawing a picture instead of writing a sentence is 504-type accommodation only if the instructional goal is demonstrating science content acquisition, but a curricular modification if the instructional goal is writing sentences).

I would consider this documentation of 504 accommodations being relevant, but not necessarily IEP-type academic delay.

The school suggested having a behavior specialist observe him (one issue is that he has trouble staying in his seat when he gets bored after he finishes his work; another issue is that he has difficulty asking for help). I looked into that today to get more information, but they require an IEP and confirm that he wouldn't be eligible without an academic delay.

His teacher last year informally altered expectations by allowing him to work on 2nd grade assignments on the computer without having to complete all of the kindergarten assignments; that was very helpful.

The relevant piece of IDEA you're looking for is the following:

"(b) Children aged three through nine experiencing developmental delays. Child with a disability for children aged three through nine (or any subset of that age range, including ages three through five), may, subject to the conditions described in Sec. 300.111(b), include a child--
(1) Who is experiencing developmental delays, as defined by the State and as measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures, in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, or adaptive development; and
(2) Who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services."

In other words any developmental delays including a physical one like a fine motor delay that can be measured (by an OT/PT) qualifies by itself.

However, the other part to think of is what services do you really want? A fine motor delay at least around here usually means a pull-out session with school OT. The thing is that the quality/frequency of the therapy and the lost class time are both trade-offs. You may find that a private OT works better for you.

Trouble staying in your seat or not asking for help are much harder to quantify although they would fall under social-emotional. The problem is that some amount of that is developmentally still appropriate and so qualifying is more subjective and probably easier to do if its reached the point where he is disrupting the class. But even assuming that you do
reach a consensus with the district on that score, do you want some kind of social/emotional intelligence pullout for these behaviors? Because an IEP most likely will not be a lever to get more challenging work to relieve boredom that leads to leaving the seat etc.

Good luck

See: http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/iep.develop.popup.resp3.htm

and

http://www.wrightslaw.com/howey/iep.functional.perf.htm

They also give this reference:
You will find the requirements for using present levels of functional performance to develop functional goals on pages 99 and 245 of Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition. - See more at: http://www.wrightslaw.com/howey/iep.functional.perf.htm#search


Not that hard to quantify the out-of-seat-- you'd just have someone take data on this child vs. peers. You can request a Functional Behavior Analysis to get the data.


We were able to use the school's educational eval process to help them see the impact of DS12's giftedness on his classroom behavior and performance. It was really important for us-- it allowed us to navigate subject acceleration and differentiation.

Delayed fine motor absolutely affects academic performance and should be at least accommodated via 504; likely also addressed through services under an IEP.

Who is telling you that he "can't" qualify? Your options are basically to go over that person's head, or get an advocate to intercede on your DS's behalf.

Over time, writing demands increase, and a child can find himself being punished for things that aren't his fault. To me, it seems critical to accommodate and start finding ways for the child to be productive at school.

Two questions I'd ask the school about this - first, is the difficulty staying in his seat when he's finished with his work any different than any other student in the classroom who has finished their work? Not many kids his age are going to want to sit at their desk and do nothing. Ask what the teacher is giving him to work on when he's finished, or if he has a signal he can give to let the teacher know he's finished and needs something to do.

Re the difficulty asking for help - not many students his are all that adept at asking for help, unless they are in pain and/or bleeding. Truly! I'd ask if this is really all that out of the ordinary for his age/grade. The other thing that you might want to just file away and keep on your radar - does he have difficulty communicating in other situations? It's really tough at his age/grade to see if writing struggles are all tied to fine motor (or visual) issues, or if there's an underlying issue with expressive language. Our ds had a really tough time communicating with his teachers when he was in early elementary, and I thought it was all just developmental - he was a young kid, he didn't know what to say if it wasn't mom or dad he was talking to etc. Ultimately for my ds, it was a sign of an expressive language disorder, but we didn't suspect it because we saw what looked like fluent communication when he did communicate.


This is an example of where we can get so confused when trying to understand students who are intellectually high ability yet might be struggling with very fundamental skill sets - it's pretty easy for any of us reading this board to look at that one sentence and leap to the conclusion that more challenging work eliminated the behavior. But in your ds' situation, I suspect there's an added layer that's really the key - the 2nd grade assignments were on the computer, and the kindergarten assignments were most likely using handwriting or fine motor tasks. If this is the case, I think you have an excellent data point here for advocating - your ds is *capable* and *able* to be working at 2nd grade level, but he's challenged with fine motor tasks, hence he is struggling with kindergarten level work.

polarbear

I appreciate all of the advice. I will print everything out and add it to my file. Thanks for all of your help.

This is the criteria they used to qualify my DS in a "physically impaired" spec. ed category. I think he qualified just under the "motor skills" portion since his academic achievement test scores were all fine. In class he was one of the last kids to get writing and work done as well as take off his coat, mittens, boots, etc. and get it in his locker, get into the classroom, etc. This is just for my state, though, and I have no idea how things differ in other states. They also required that he have a medical diagnosis, something like "cerebral palsy". They accepted his developmental coordination disorder diagnosis as evidence of a motor/physical disorder. I don't know if any of this is helpful for your specific situation, but wanted to point out that there does NOT have to be below grade level academic achievement in order to qualify for an IEP.


At least ONE of the following must be documented in the evaluation report.

Functional Skills
_____The student’s need for special education instruction and service is supported by a lack of
functional level in organizational or independent work skills as verified by a minimum of two or
more documented, systematic observations in daily routine settings, one of which is completed by
a physical and health disabilities teacher.

Motor Skills
_____The student’s need for special education instruction and service is supported by an inability to
manage or complete motoric portions of classroom tasks within time constraints as verified by a
minimum of two or more documented systematic observations in daily routine settings, one of
which is completed by a physical and health disabilities teacher.

Educational Performance
_____The student’s physical impairment interferes with educational performance as shown by an
achievement deficit of 1.0 standard deviation or more below the mean on an individually
administered, nationally normed standardized evaluation of the student’s academic achievement.

Also useful:

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/hq5269.html