Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy DD's Staffing Meeting Today

So we had the staffing meeting for DD5 today. Here in Florida, an "IEP" is for special ed; gifted students get an "EP." So here's how the conversation went:

STAFFING SPECIALIST: What is DD's area of academic giftedness?

ME: Math, science, reading, and language arts.

STAFFING SPECIALIST: You can only pick one.

ME: But what if she's advanced in more than one area?

STAFFING SPECIALIST: The form only has room for one area of giftedness. Only an IEP has room for more writing.

ME: So I have to get her a learning disability, and then we can write out a more complete educational plan.

STAFFING SPECIALIST: No, since she's not disabled, she would have a section 504 form added to her EP.

ME: Well, should I get PG DS7 a diagnosis of ADHD so we can get a real IEP which has room for a complete educational plan?

STAFFING SPECIALIST: No, then we would have to have to provide ESE services to him.

ME: So I can only have an educational plan for one academic subject.

STAFFING SPECIALIST: right.

Please, someone, just kill me now.

LoL. That's so silly. "The form only has room for one.." Um, go get more forms?!?

Oh MAN, I wish I'd thought of that!

I only ever think of these responses for other people, of course!

Could the one area be "global giftedness"?

Alas, the "form" is on the computer, and the choices were from a drop-down menu. I'm still in shock.

At least you know what you are getting into. I would try to contact someone 'higher up' again and again. It's possible that whoever programmed the form wasn't creating that barrier on purpose and that the people at a high enough level to matter have no idea that this barrier is there.

This is a pretty good example of why, with all of the disadvantages of grade skipping, I prefer it to 'enrichment.' Human behavior is very prone to 'trotting down the same old path' even when conditions are quite unique.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

That's absurd. We are in FL too, Palm Beach County, I just pulled out DS7 EP and it does not have any one subject listed. It must be the EP either the particular school uses or the county uses. His is actually pretty general no specifics of any kind. We are under observation for 504 accomodations for ADHD.
I would definitely call the someone from the county's ESE dept to ask more about the EP.
Good Luck.
Whattodo

Thanks, whattodo. Must be a Miami-Dade thing, and as Grinity pointed out, perhaps the form was designed by someone who didn't consider the possibility that a child might need services for more than one field of interest.

I'm not as worried about DD5 -- although her IQ is 148, she's not one of those kids who needs constant intensity and always needing to be learning something new and in-depth. Her EP that we came up with today should serve her just fine for the next two years, until it expires.

DS7 on the other hand, IQ just a few points higher, is miserable in 1st grade. He is due for a new EP before next school year, and I'm going to try to get it done sooner. He truly needs acceleration in math/science/reading.

While we were waiting for photocopies, I asked the advice of the staffing specialist (it's not her fault the program is what it is). She suggested getting someone from Advanced Academics (from the school district office) to attend DS's EP meeting. DS7 will want to be there himself, which is fine.

I've been in touch with the Advanced Academics people recently, and am waiting for the woman to call me (she's on maternity leave so I can't call her at the office). I had lots of questions for her before this meeting, and even more now.

Oh, and here's something: One of the options for the EP form's "Specially designed instruction and curriculum modifications" section is "Curriculum Compacting." Who here can explain to me how they plan on achieving curriculum compacting when the teachers are required to follow the non-gifted pacing guides?

You can't make this stuff up. Almost makes me want to homeschool.

Yes the curriculum compacting is a joke. I am at the point where I want to take over the math instruction. DS7 skipped 1st and in second the class works out of the 3rd grade reading book, science and social studies are 2nd grade. He is doing 3rd grade math from the old book, not GO Math, but even though the teacher is supposed to be compacting, it consists mostly doing the even or odd number questions only instead of every question. I don't really like the book either, the instructions are confusing and he is challenged by the instruction and not the material. I really would like to just take over with Singpore Math and have him do homework at school during math time. Still thinking through how to approach this.