Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Advice for GT school appeal letter

I'm hoping that I can get some advice as I craft the appeal letter to the GT magnet school which denied my son entrance. This is the first round of appeal (apparently there is another after this as well but I don't know what that entails yet).

Background on my DS is here, here, and here if interested.

They are only asking for a letter that describes NEW information that may impact the decision (information you didn't have when you applied). For us, it is the visual processing/sensory-motor diagnoses that were made since then.

I am tempted to cut/paste what I wrote but decided that might be the best idea so I will summarize what I did. Basically I described my son's visual processing and sensory-motor diagnosis (with enough detail but not excruciating) and then explained how these disorders affect him in the classroom. I don't know why he was rejected so I am making some assumptions here without saying it outright. I also sort of did a quick analysis of his private test scores to show the slow processing speed and explain that his vision likely impacted them. I wanted to make the point that his score would have probably been even higher if his eyes were working correctly and that he has been able to compensate for this deficiency very well (in terms of academics, not so much in the classroom). I can't say for sure about the OLSAT and NNAT that the district had him take - not sure if he would have done better on those or not. I do know from doing a few practice questions that it's possible he missed a couple where he had a more "creative" answer that was correct but not the one they wanted. I did not mention this in the letter.

I also mentioned that DS will be doing OT and VT over the next several months. I didn't say anything about having to accommodate for him at school.

So does this sound like a good outline? I was also thinking of attaching one of the papers we got from the optometrist showing his diagnosis as well as a brochure from PAVE describing visual processing difficulties and how the symptoms manifest in kids at school (is that too much or will it be helpful?)

I want to get the information out and the tone correct without sounding like I am begging LOL I feel like he is at a disadvantage as he is not currently in the public system so they don't know him.

Any suggestions, ideas, comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

That sounds reasonable, but I'd have a couple questions for you. I went back and looked at your prior threads.

1) Do you have any idea what the kids who they did accept look like? In other words, will this GT school be a good fit for a child like your ds, who is potentially HG and 2e, or are they mostly accepting, and thus best serving, compliant high achievers?
2) If they had something like 125 spots to fill, have they filled them all or is there room to take an extra kid or two on appeal?
3) What is the rate of appeal and what is the rate of acceptance post-appeal?
4) What does the alternative school placement look like? Will he be much more unhappy and poorly served in the alternative placement than he would be in this placement? If so, is there any way to get a psych or someone who did some of his private testing to write a letter to that effect to include with your appeal?

1. No, I don't have any idea. That is why this is difficult. I know they asked on the form if your kid has an IEP so I assume they can accommodate but I don't have any specifics. I guess I am hoping that once he gets through therapy, then he won't really need any extra services at the school. Maybe I am crazy to think that! It's entirely possible they look for the high achievers (I'm sure they would never admit that...)
2. It sounds like there are always some kids who end up moving or parents change their mind so I think there are a few spots in play each year. They do have a waiting list (which DS didn't even get on). I think the appeals move pretty quickly because they need to have the roster set by August.
3. No clue. They don't share this info. I did ask something similar and I was told that appeals are on a case by case basis. Sometimes they go through and sometimes they don't. Not really helpful!
4. Alternative at this point is up in the air. He likely would have to stay in the same Montessori as the ps we are zoned for is completely out of the question. We were trying to move to the district where this school is but that hasn't been working out (contracts falling though, short sale purchase fell through). If we do end up moving by August, the other option is the gifted cluster in the ps. The private tester was a grad student at a uni so she is probably not even there now. It's too late to get a letter anyway, I'm afraid. The vision stuff was unknown at the time and they were trying to tell me that he might have ADHD. I don't think that is the case.

He may end up improving in Montessori if the vision therapy works, I really don't know. I wish I had a crystal ball. We just want options right now. I think that his giftedness is probably causing more distress than the vision but it's probably all related somehow.

Things are really crazy right now and I just hope whatever happens is the right thing for him. Some days I think I should just quit my job and homeschool him but that would be a major sacrifice financially. I make more than my DH (but he would never want to be the lead on homeschool because he knows that I would want to do it my way anyway LOL)

One thing I would do is simply not panic - I'm guessing chances are good he may not get in this year, but you still have next year to reapply (at least I'm guessing you do). In the meantime, I'd focus on his vision therapy and getting him as much enrichment as you can at his current school for this year - and plan to have him test for the school again next year, when hopefully the vision issues are hopefully resolved, or at least better In the meantime, if you think he needs accommodations in testing for his vision issues, work toward that at school - you aren't going to ultimately get accommodations for an ability test (that doesn't make sense), but if you do have accommodations in place with a specific plan, you should be able to get those same accommodations for achievement testing for the gifted program next time he's tested. Another thing you might consider after his VT program is over is having him tested privately again, but this time choose a tester who can write a supportive letter for helping him get into the program if the tester feels it would be beneficial. You can't really ask them up front to write that letter - they will need to test them first and then have a sense of what they think he needs, but you can ask them up front if their evaluation will include recommendations for schooling, and once he's tested, if he meets the testing bar, you can ask that they address the specific school situation in their report or request that they write a separate letter.

Re your appeal - I think the first thing I'd do in making the appeal is look at the percentiles they use on cutoffs for the ability tests that they do use - is it 95th? 98th? 99th? Then compare that to your WISC GAI - how close it is? If it's close or above, mention that in your appeal letter.

I am also not sure if the WJ-III you mentioned in your previous post was ability or achievement testing (there are versions of both for the WJ-III). If it's achievement testing, compare the percentile to achievement test scores required (if they use any type of achievement tests).

I'd definitely use what you have from the VT eval and any type of explanatory letter from the VT dr as the reason for your appeal (it's definitely "new" information).

I'd also dig (google) for info on specifics of how vision might impact the tests that he was given through the school that are used to apply for the program. Mention those specifics in your appeal letter.

You've also mentioned in previous posts that you suspect he did not get a strong referral from his primary teacher this year. Is there any other teacher (past school teacher, preschool teacher, piano teacher, anyone) who might write up a referral for him?

That's all I can think of at the moment. Definitely be diplomatic in your letter, but also try to put out of your mind any thoughts such as the program is most likely already full anyway so why bother. Give it your best try, and then if the program is full, it's full for this year and it's out of your hands. OTOH, if you've sent in a diplomatic letter - you'll be in a good place to apply again next year when your ds has had his VT and you have more date.

Good luck!

polarbear

polarbear - Our house situation is what is really throwing the monkey wrench in this. I honestly don't know where we are going to be living 3 months from now so we don't know where the kids will end up in school. My DD is starting K but she does great at Montessori (she is MG I would guess). This is mainly the panic I feel LOL There are financial considerations too. We can't afford a new house in that area AND pay for both of them to stay in private school. So preferably DS will go to ps either in the gifted cluster or the gifted magnet.

You are right, he can reapply next year but there are probably only a handful of openings (due to kids moving, etc.) which is why I was hoping to get in this year when they are filling a whole grade.

They don't use a cut off number (so they say) because they have multiple items in the application that they consider. The lowest my son has scored in all 4 tests he has taken (overall numbers) is 97.3 percentile (and that was on the WISC-IV using the GAI which the tester said wasn't meaningful anyway because of the scatter). Otherwise they were 99.9, 98 and 98. The W-J III I was talking about is the achievement test.

I do plan to retest after therapy - if only for my curiosity to see if anything is different. Since he is currently in private, there won't be any official accommodations like an IEP but I would hope that the eye doctor could write up something if he needs accommodations for a test.

I plan to be diplomatic because I know they keep everything! I've also been reading From Emotions to Advocacy to help me with the public school processes and lingo.

Thanks for the advice - lots to think about!

I'm typing on my phone so I'll be brief, but I did want to offer a longer term perspective (my girls are 14 & 12 now). When dd14 was younger, I so desperately wanted a gifted magnet or something similar for her b/c, like your ds, her needs were so much not being met in ps even with a GT pull out or other options they had like subject acceleration.

Over time, like HowlerKarma mentioned in my thread on group ability tests vs IQ tests, I've come to realize that she is far enough from mean of the kids even in gifted schools (which would have required a 45 min commute and sometimes tuition anyway), that they really wouldn't have been the trick to making things work for her.

I was hoping that we could just get her into a school like that and be done with the annual advocacy, finding the right teachers, etc. Unfortunately, it never was that simple. When I toured some of these schools, had dd do extracurriculars or social things with the kids who went there, etc., it still wasn't a fit. The only right fit we've ever had for her is for her to be much younger and among HG people. Her best friends right now are all between 17-18 and heading into their senior year of hs or off to college while she'll be a junior in the fall. The kids in her grade are about 18 months older than she and she does pretty well with them too in terms of not feeling hugely out of step especially with the more HG ones, but she really needs more than programming and social stuff aimed at HG kids who are her chronological age; she needs programming and social options that are aimed at gifted kids who are years older than she.

I guess that I mention this with the suggestion that you think outside of the box as well. If this school doesn't work out as it may not, what else can you try? Will the Montessori place him in an older classroom or could you take a second look at the public schools that don't have the programs he needs and see if they would be more willing to try grade or subject acceleration or something else? We wound up trying three elementary schools, every GT option each had, a grade skip, further subject acceleration, and are driving dds to schools that are "choice" for them rather than the assigned schools.

Eta: not brief after all!

Cricket - you may be right in the long run. I just worry about shuffling him around so much to try different things so I want it to be "right" the first time (my personality LOL)

Unless we are able to move, the ps is not an option at all. The one we are zoned for is in the bottom 10 in the whole state If we do move, then we would consider the gifted cluster in the ps and try again next year after therapy and new tests.

Montessori already differentiates for him by giving him mostly 3rd grade lessons. The problem has been that he is so S L O W and it's a struggle to get him to complete enough of his lessons. He also can get very negative about school and mouthy with the teacher "this is too hard" "I don't want to do that right now" "that is going to take too long", etc. etc. Getting him to do homework at home has been a nightmare some days - like bringing me to tears awful. He says things like he will never be able to finish and he will have to stay in first grade forever. Or he hates himself (yes, that freaked the $&*! out of me). He is not that way all the time though and completes his own projects at home with no problem.

The Montessori did mention awhile back before we had the diagnoses that they would consider skipping 3rd grade and going to the upper el room (the rooms are 1st-3rd and 4th-6th) or letting him go to the upper el room for certain subjects, like math. So skipping 2nd for next year won't make much difference because he is in the same room. If the GT magnet doesn't work out and we don't move, I will definitely request a meeting this summer to hash out a better plan for him at the Montessori, now that we know more.

If we ever get into a position where homeschooling might work, that is what I would prefer for sure.

Update: My appeal letter earned my kid a spot on the waiting list...but I can still appeal further. I am going be the squeaky wheel

That's great news. i hope you hear even more great news soon...

Awesome!