Do you have any advice? What were your struggles? What should I look out for? I am in need of advice because we have literally zero help right now. None. The only accommodation she has so far is Ritalin. :-(
Please feel free to look back at my previous posts to get an idea of what we have been through.
Our oldest DD had MANY signs of ADD/ADHD when she was in 1st grade and school personnel went so far as to tell us she could have ODD or conduct disorder. We agreed she was "active" but if she was interested in something, she could work on it for hours with no issues. We weren't ready to accept their "diagnosis" so we had her tested. We found out she does NOT have ADD/ADHD, ODD, or conduct disorder - she is very bright, creative, and she was bored in school and doing her best to entertain herself (I guess this is frowned upon...lol). She now has none of the signs of ADD/ADHD that she had in class as a 1st grader, so I'm happy to say that we were right about that and school was WRONG!!! We are still not in the best place academically for her and now her younger sister has gone through testing and is in the same academic situation. (FWIW - I'm by no means saying your DD doesn't have ADHD! Only that in our experience a bored, gifted child can look very much like a child with ADHD)
We will continue to advocate for them, but we keep getting the run-around from school. Here are some of the things we've been told - 1. The class schedules don't match up, so they can't go to a higher grade for certain subjects. 2. If they do 6th grade math now then what will they do in 6th grade? 3. The "maturity level" just isn't there to grade skip and since we are a small, rural school it will be hard on them socially. 4. They seem fine placed where they are since they are getting good grades and getting along with their grade-level peers. 5. They get gifted pull-out time to do more advanced work, what more do they need?
My best advice for you would be to read/research everything you can - read your school's policies, read your state's laws, read about the gifted, read about advocacy, etc. While you are reading - take notes - jot down the things that stand out to you or the things that you would like to see the school do for your DD. By taking notes you can start to see some of the things you want to change and when the next 504 meeting comes up you can address these things. In the event the school does determine an IEP is warranted then you can offer your suggestions to the IEP team. Be specific, but flexible in what you want!
Like polarbear mentioned - you should have received some recommendations from your tester. If you choose, you should share those recommendations with your school.
Our testers (with both girls) listed gifted services as a recommendation. In order to receive those services in our school district, a student has to have an IEP. Not all schools/districts do it this way. This is why it is important to find out how things work in your school. Even with our test results in hand it is still up to the school to determine if there "is a need" for an IEP. We started with a 504 for DD10 based on her behaviors in 1st grade, then (long story to this, but keeping it short) after we presented our test results, it was determined there was a need for an IEP in order to appropriately serve her education needs. With DD8, she has such a high IQ that I don't think they could have possibly said there wasn't a need for an IEP.
Just PM me if you have any specific questions!
