Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Who should be on the IEP team?

So we have our first IEP team meeting on Friday.
DS's evaluation scores are consisted with him being 2E. He is diagnosed as high functioning Aspergers (barely on the scale) and ADD.
At our last meeting at the school we went over the results as a team. School Psychologist told us they the administer a different test for test for giftedness, I assume is the WISC. DS had the Woodcock Johnston III, both the Cognitive and achievement. DH and I expressed a interest in getting DS evaluated either through the school or privately.
The school pycholosist insisted that this would not be necessary, DS scores from the Woodcock Johnson clearly puts DS in the the 2e category. In our district there are only 2 kids on GIEPs. Both of these kids came into the district on GIEPs there are no GEIP initiated or created by the district.
This was fine with us as so long as this is addressed by his IEP. We got the consent forms for the IEP team meeting today, and the team consists of us, the principal, DS's teacher, the OT and the Austism specialist teacher. Disappointingly does not currently include the gifted/enrichment teacher. We just want to be sure that we are address DS's whole picture, and playing to his strengths. Should we ask the school to include her? looking for opinions!

What kind of relationship do you have with the gifted/enrichment teacher? Would she support your desire to focus on his strengths as well as his weaknesses? If yes, then I would ask to have her included. If you don't know, I would try to get a better feel for her opinions before pressing for her to be included.

You can bring whoever you want. Pete Wright has even suggested bringing your clergy person because it tends to bring out people's best behavior.

Hi,
Sorry I don't know much about IEPs. I agree with knute though that you might think you would want the gifted teacher there, but if she's an OGT (oppositional gifted teacher ) maybe not. It is odd though that they aren't including her. Did you get any clues from what the school psychologist or anyone else has said about where they're planning to go with this? Also, you know the other kids/families with the GIEPs? If so, I would try to get in touch to see if they are willing to talk about it; they might have some good advice. Finally, our DD9 has a similar superficial profile to your DS (Asperger's ish) and we have heard from different professionals that she does or does not have AD/HD--apparently there is enough overlap that they can look similar (a la James Webb's Misdiagnosis book). Not necessarily important for this meeting, I guess, because they're dealing with how your kid operates in a classroom, but something to keep in mind I think. Good luck!

It seems weird that the gifted teacher would NOT be included.

I don't live in a state with GIEPs. The gifted teacher was not present for the IEP meeting, but she was present in earlier meetings.

Depending on the goals of the IEP, we've found it effective to include the child's abilities in the Student Profile and in the Present Levels of Performance. This has enabled us to write more appropriate goals as well as to include certain non-standard accommodations.

You can request whoever you want to be there. YOU are just as much in charge of this meeting as the school is. Pretty much nothing can be done without your approval (there are technically ways for them to do things without your approval, but it's difficult for them and very rare - basically meant to circumvent neglectful parents.)

I would start by just asking the administration if they can ask the gifted teacher to attend.

Thanks for all the feedback! We have a good relationship with the school and the gifted teacher in particular. She had some great suggestions for recommendations/accommodations for DS at our last meeting. Also she really seem to get ALL of DS, which is why we would want her there.
He displays some negative behaviors in the regular classroom that seem to disappear during his time in the GT room. Given it is shorter period of time, and he is highly motivated to be there. We just feel like to she would be useful in identifying things to help DS cope in the regular classroom also. For example she allows DS to walk around the room or get a drink of water to help him refocus. She has also reported that she is successfully able to use nonverbal cues to redirect DS. With DS's Aspergers DX that is a big deal for us.
We are very fortunate that he has a great 3rd grade teacher. 1st and 2nd were a complete nightmare. DS is finally turning the corner and starting to like school again, and I attribute this mostly to his regular classroom teacher.
I think I will reach out to the principle and include the reasons we would like her to be apart of the team. Thanks!

At our IEP meeting we had the principal, classroom teacher, LA teacher, district psychologist, school psychology intern, speech language pathologist, and counselor who was also the gifted coordinator. (Oh, and me ) It was a full table.

I don't have much to add, except that our school district required an impartial school district representative from a different school to attend all IEP meetings... no doubt due to the school district having past history of not following the principals of IDEA... perhaps...

Anyway, in your case - if you hear back from the principal that the gifted teacher can't attend, remember that you can still make a list of the strategies she's found to be successful when working with your son and *you* can bring them up at your meeting and request that they be added to his IEP. If the school tries to counter, you can always say "We're stopping this meeting right now, and will continue it when we can reconvene with ____ present".

Good luck with your meeting!

polarbear