Evemomma, many of us moms of 2e kiddos here (as well as *many* moms I know IRL of kids who aren't gifted but have challenges that cause them all sorts of trouble at school) often here the "too smart to get any help from school" comment - from teachers, from parents, from private professionals etc. I've heard it about all three of my kids, all three of whom have needed help. There are several ways to look at this, but please don't ever let the "too smart to get help from school" comment stop you from advocating for your child and seeking help (Evemomma - this isn't directed at you, but at other parents who might be discouraged by the remark). YES, it's discouraging!!! But there are still tons of things you can do to help your child.
A few thoughts:
The school *has* to test if there is a suspicion of an LD. They may ultimately say the student falls above the cutoff to be eligible for services, but if a parent turns in a written request with a reasonable suspicion of an LD (or even just an observation that their child is struggling in some way) and some evidence to back it up, the school either has to agree to providing an evaluation or has to state, in a written response, why they will not test. If the school says no to testing, the parents can then appeal.
One thing that the parents may already have a gut feeling about, and that they would find out in much more detail with testing is - is whatever that is going on something that is always going to impact the child this way and accommodations are needed but nothing further, or is this something that can benefit from individualized instruction or therapy etc.
Re testing, even though the school is legally required to test (or provide a reason why they won't test), most parents get more thorough and more complete and ultimately more helpful information through private evaluations. Medical insurance will sometimes cover an evaluation. The difficulty with school evaluations is that sometimes only the bare minimum of testing is attempted, the testing is often focused at one very specific area of suspected challenge (but many of us who's children have challenges have first strongly suspected one type of challenge only to find out through thorough testing it was something entirely different that we hadn't seen), school testing may come with a bias to try to *not* qualify a child, school staff will sometimes not inform a parent of things relevant but instead agree if the parent initiates the request.
It's really helpful to have a parent advocate to work with or ask questions of if you go through the process of attempting to get testing and services or accommodations through school.
It's easy to get focused on school, when really the challenge and what's important is *life* - not just school, but outside of school and beyond school. If the school system basically turns into nothing better than a brick wall and you're beyond frustrated and think it's hopeless to get help there - it is, believe me, worth it worth it WORTH it to pursue help outside of school. We were able to advocate for and get an IEP for our 2e ds, but the help he's had that made the largest impact on his academics and looking forward into what will be most helpful after school is said and done, all came through private professionals. It's not where we'd hoped to have to spend money when we were starting out as parents and had no clue about what challenges were to come... but it was money well invested, and honestly, if we'd left everything up to the school system, our ds would be a mess at this point.
Your niece is obviously doing very well - but there may be more going on underneath re how she's feeling or struggling or just not having life as easy as it could be if she had some help with reading. Keep advocating and helping look out for opportunities for her!
polarbear
