They had several special ed directors at the conference who noted that in our state the "magic" percentile number for arguing that it has impaired the child academically is the 12th percentile (bright line, no exceptions). Pete Wright started asking them how they handled borderline cases, i.e. 13th percentile, when I had to leave.
knute, I share your frustration! I wonder if you've consulted an advocate? Consulting briefly with an advocate made all the difference for me when I was advocating for my ds' IEP - both in help with understanding our state and district policies and interpretation of IDEA, help in giving me support in understanding how to frame my requests/responses/etc, help in knowing how to make a game plan based on what might happen and what arguments would most likely be tossed back at us by the school, and perhaps most helpful, insight into our specific school and the staff's history of dealing with SPED/IEPs etc.
Our state also has the 12th percentile as the "magic line" below which all must fall
There are a bunch of other criteria too - a few of which can be real gotchas. In our district that 12th percentile is supposed to be on a "broad" achievement test - the type where several subtests are averaged together - to qualify as SLD. For OT/SLP services there are additional requirements that have to be met aside from standard OT/SLP tests. The flip side of it all though is that eligibility is a team decision - the school can't just say that a student doesn't qualify for services because they didn't fall below the 12th percentile on a specific test. There is room to argue that the preponderance of evidence indicates the child qualifies under SLD by taking all the testing etc into account.
polarbear
