Thanks polarbear, just got back from the meeting. We decided not to put in the laptop/keyboard accommodation right now since DS is resisting it. Going to see if the extra time and other accommodations help first. 50% of the time the entire classroom goes to the computer lab. Handwriting isn't really the issue. It looks like the mostly likely extra time he will get will be after the class is over for English, once a week there is a block period and a study hall period right after class. Most writing assignments are given during these block periods and he can simply stay behind for the extra allotted time. We still need to negotiate with the social studies period, but the most likely is to turn the assignment in and come back to finish it during study hall time. He is only being given 20 minutes or at most 50% more time and sending it home is unlikely in most cases.
The other major accommodation they suggested was if/when he has a major meltdown (anxiety) during homework time he is to be allowed to turn assignments in late. (Obviously we are trying to prevent this happening.) Up to a week, but he needs to negotiate with the teacher & I need to confirm it was a meltdown not just poor planning. They really want him to own this issue and be responsible for talking with the teachers when this happens. Partly because re-framing the question & getting clarification of a prompt can make a huge difference.
The best thing from the meeting was a story that happened since the last meeting of how his Spanish teacher worked with the psychologist to accommodated him when he turned in a blank page on a in class writing assignment. They reworked the prompt, gave him another chance at the assignment and he did a great job. All it took was re-framing the assignment.
