In regard to assistive technology, I think an Alphasmart or laptop would be great, except that Son still hates typing and despite our efforts in this area, he still reverts to the "hunt & peck" method. I think that until he gets that under his belt in a more second-nature fashion, it would be more of a distraction than anything else.
The only other thing I can think of AT-wise is a recorder, but again, in Son's case, I think this would serve as more of a distraction than anything else. He's never been one that "fidgeting accommodations" has worked with. He tends to want to show off to the other kids that he has something different...whether it be a pipe cleaner the teacher gave him to fidget with under the desk or a rubberband. He's just bad about that.
I like the idea of using the SPED resource room (or whatever) as a check point for his organization, but I'm a little worried about the VERY scattered SPED teacher. I swear, her ADD symptoms are worse than Son's! I don't think it would be worthwhile for him to go there for her help. I'd like to have help with his organization, but his teachers are already so overwhelmed, I feel like they'd resent one more thing this intrusive on their time, and I really want to keep them on our side.
I'm definitely filing this one away for a later date (as with the AT).
intparent: I'm wondering exactly what you mean by the problems being on a separate page?
Right now, Son's math teacher creates an entirely different, shorter version of her tests for Son and puts each question on an index card. When he finishes a problem, he takes that card to her and gets a new one. She came up with this system herself, and he got his first "B" of the year on a test last week with this new system! I was pretty impressed with her initiative.
I like the idea of no deductions for spelling, as that's HUGE with Son and I know it affects his Language Arts grade. I'm not sure what a "skills section" is or what "out or the box responses" is, but I'd like more information!
As for the IEP envy, I know how lucky we are. I absolutely LOVE his GT teachers and am SO glad we pushed to make the district keep him in the self-contained GT program, when their inclination was to push him out and into exclusively regular ed with pull-out SPED services once his special needs became apparent this year. It was a struggle to make them see that we had to address his GT issues in addition to his special needs and that we needed to give Son a chance to perform with appropriate accommodations to see if he could get his FAPE that way.
I'm so grateful for all the help I've gotten from people like all of you here, because without your input, I'd never even have known that accommodations and IEPs and dysgraphia existed. I've learned so much and I feel like there's finally a lifeboat in sight after years of being adrift in an ocean of worry with Son.
