Another 3E kiddo here-- and recognize that my advice here is probably a little unconventional, but it is coming from a place of being pragmatic and thinking hard about what a school can actually do (as opposed to what they would "like" to do.. er, or "not do" as the case may be-- and knowing that they are very very different things)... versus what the child NEEDS.
There are times when what a child is entitled to by law isn't really feasible in a classroom setting. Oh, sure, maybe short-term. Maybe even on paper, and maybe it SOUNDS as though it's do-able, but that doesn't take into account the classroom environment and the other demands on the teacher/support staff.
KWIM?
While it's true that under the law, there isn't any "reasonableness" clause, and that students ARE entitled to have all of their FAPE needs met in a LRE for them personally...
we've had to wrestle with what to do when "necessary" just isn't "reasonable." Further-- what to do if it seems somewhat unrealistic to think that a particular package of accommodations CAN be sustained.
It means prioritizing what has to happen... and what 'should' but probably will cause the least damage if it doesn't occasionally, or even on a fairly regular basis...
which I realize is far, far from ideal. But this is reality when you get into 3e/4e situations when at least two of those exceptionalities are completely unrelated to one another. (for example-- gifted + cystic fibrosis + mental health issue... or ADD + immune deficiency + NVLD)
I don't mind conflict in advocacy if it's to a larger purpose, of course.
But we've opted NOT to send our 3E (PG + anxiety-perfectionism + medical-disability) child into a classroom environment. This was clearly the right solution, and honestly, we're sort of fortunate that it is SO clear in our case.
We did finally hit upon one solution-- virtual school. It's not perfect, and requires fairly regular tweaking, and we hate it some of the time....
but it seems to be the least-worst environment over all, and because it takes one exceptionality (medical condition) mostly out of the picture advocacy-wise, it allows us to focus on the other two needs instead.
What does your child's mental health professional have to say about this?
