Despite other flexibilities at school, this is definitely one "palm to the head" thing as I'd think an occupational therapist should be available for writing+spelling challenges despite giftedness. If he pronounced F as S, he probably would get in school therapy every week.
This is something that is a very real issue in our school district too - and it impacts children who aren't necessarily gifted. It gets really convoluted here. To qualify for speech therapy you essentially *have* to have articulation impacted (I'm sorry I am not sure what the technical term is) - but children who have physical challenges forming correct sounds can get speech therapy through the school district and they typically get identified and referred by teachers and school personnel. Children who have expressive language challenges but can articulate ok - first don't get identified, and even if they are identified, they can't very rarely can qualify due to the way the guidelines for qualifying are written. The second gotcha here is students who need OT - the way our guidelines are written, you have to *first* qualify for SLP services before you qualify for OT.
Then the key "gotcha" - that is all written out as policy - but you *can* get past the "policy" issue by successfully advocating through the eligibility process - but it takes a parent who has a ton of time, energy, and savvy to figure out how to get there.
Sorry for the rant... it is just something that frustrates me as a parent, not so much for my own child any more, but for the students who are most likely going through school without having anyone realize they need help - when just a small amount of help could probably turn their world around.
Off my soapbox now!
pbear
