cc6, I haven't looked through the LAUSD link, but fwiw, the way IEEs are *usually* used is that a child first either goes through school district eligibility evaluation and is denied IEP services, or the school district refuses to evaluate for eligibility - the IEE is the parents' way of appealing through an independent evaluator. In your case, I would suspect that you need to request, in writing, that acheivement and ability testing be included in your ds' triennual review and allow the district to test first. This may *really* be all you need to get a good understanding of where your ds falls re ability for your district's gifted programs... even though the reason to do the triennual is to support services for autism.
If your ds was denied services that you feel he needs, or denied eligibility all together, you would then request/pursue an IEE.
There are a few "gotchas" with IEEs - I have friends who have been through the process and although it's an "independent" evaluation, you do have to work with a psych who the school district will accept results from, which means you don't have full reign to choose anyone under the sun that you want to. The other gotcha is they come with a deadline (I think), and sometimes there can be long waiting lists to get in with neuropsychs who specialize.
It's jmo too, but when things get to the point of needing an IEE, I really think it's best to have some type of advice from either an advocate or a lawyer.
Re what tests you need, you want two things: 1) a widely recognized and nationally normed ability and achievement test (this is usually either WISC-IV or WJ-III Test of Cognitive Abilities for children 6 and older... at least that's what I've usually seen referenced re school evals), and either WJ-III or WIAT for the achievement portion of the testing. If you have concerns about other specific skills such as written language or speech etc there are additional tests that would be important to include - but for your info re level of giftedness, those two are very standard tests that are usually included in IEP eligibility testing and as part of triennual reviews. Re what tests you can ask for in an IEE, there are most likely a specific set of guidelines from your school district re what will or won't be accepted.
Re how gifted + 2e works re IEPs... it's going to very based on where you live, but fwiw in our district my ds has an IEP for the challenge part of his 2e (IEP is for SLD/written expression and includes goals for organization as well as written expression). He has *another* document which is essentially a "gifted iep" which outlines the services provided for him by the district's gifted department.
polarbear
Last edited by polarbear; 11/04/12 04:07 PM.
