Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADD/EF: where would you put your money?

I asked and the principal said that there is no way that they can do any type of evaluation or diagnosis. They will not pay for or do anything except implement suggestions that we bring to them from outside evals. I know, having fought this fight before, that getting anything evaluated by the school for a student who is performing above grade level is nearly impossible. I did manage to get the WIAT (achievement) administered for dd14, who is hugely above grade level and grade accelerated, b/c it was simple. However, things like OT evals, IQ, anything involving LDs for kids who aren't below grade level, ADD evals, etc. flat out don't happen. I spent a couple months on this and worked all the way to the state dept of ed with dd14. We got nowhere other than getting the WIAT done for her. Everything else we had to do privately and pay for ourselves.

That's a shame. But indicative of how a lot of schools in the US leave the brightest to fend for themselves.

That's why, unless you suspect something that is way out there in terms of remediation (and it sounds like you don't, given that you're looking to non-medication methods of coping/management), I'd try doing this as just individual learning needs first.

We've had individual teachers, lesson teachers, coaches, etc. be VERY cooperative with specific approaches that help integrate with the overall scaffold-- we just had to ask. We never couched any of this as "EF deficit" or anything-- just mentioned that "It helps {DD} when you remind her to write her practice schedule in her notebook."

(Previously the piano teacher even did if FOR her for a while-- then she asked if she wanted her to, and now she only very occasionally reminds.)

It's not that far out there to specifically teach EF to kids as adolescents. Most adults who work with kids this age are ready, willing, and able. Suggestions mostly will be well-received, we've found. This can be oral cues, timed reminders for larger projects, and similar things. Or asking about specific components of assignments, if that is problematic. Just touching a daydreaming/inattentive child on the shoulder gently in passing to redirect. That kind of thing.

You just have to figure out WHAT to suggest, and that is unique and based on the particular mosaic of skills in the child in question.

Cricket2, I'm on my phone this morning so I don't have the patience or typing skills to write a detailed response but fwiw, my gut feeling is its time for another private eval. You'll need to have one anyway soon if you'll be applying for college board accommodations... and I think that it would be useful in getting advice on dealing with dyslexic issues if they exist as well as helping you understand the source of your dd's EF struggles. It's possible that what you're seeing isn't ADHD.

Re building EF skills, I agree with HK. We've made good progress with our ds EF challenges by supporting him in building them basically one at a time in the manner HK suggests. We've had mixed success with his teachers - but the challenge there was simply a lack of recognition on the part of ds teachers that ds challenge was in any way more of a challenge than what a typical teen faces re organization, hence the teacher method was sink or swim without support.

I also would add that I think the potential reading issues and appropriate accommodations may be every bit as important to try to get a handle on now. We have quite a bit of suspected dyslexia in the adults in my dh family and some diagnosed dyslexia as well as other dys- syndromes among our children's generation. One of my ds cousins is I suspect both HG+ as well as undiagnosed dyslexic, and she compensated by putting in extra work reading for years but her compensating met its match on post-grad exams and work that were really important to her, and at that point as a young adult she had a very tough time getting accommodations for exams and she couldn't afford to fund an eval on her own. She didn't even realize herself that it might be dyslexia until her younger cousins were being id'd and diagnosed.

polarbear

Well, I'm not certain that you actually need much EF to get through school, so I doubt they see it as "fending for themselves".

The issue we would run into with another eval is that budget is very tight. If we put the $ toward an eval, we have nothing left for treatment. I do know that we'd need a more recent eval for accommodations on tests, but I'm more interested at this point in figuring out what type of support or accommodations she needs than having recent test scores for College Board applications, for instance.

The last eval was over $1000 and didn't give us any better of an idea what to do to deal with the problems - only what the problems may be. The EF tutor lady can do some eval as part of the process, just not IQ, etc again.

Hi Cricket2,

That's... lame. I can tell you that our DS is considerably above grade level across the board, and he has needed and received extensive evaluation and remediation. (Admittedly: we had to argue hard at the start, AND he had disruptive behavior, which meant that everyone was eager to help. Much harder for a well-behaved child.)

The law mandates that if you request an evaluation in any area of suspected disability, they are required to evaluate or say why they won't; at which point you can challenge that decision in a variety of ways. They are being negligent by leaving your DD with a suspected LD unevaluated. They have a "child find" obligation to *seek out* and support students with disabilities.

IDEA also covers "academic and functional skills"-- which means if your child is not failing but lacks the ability to function in ways that impede normal schooling (i.e. can't find papers or remember to turn them in or whatever to an extreme degree) that is covered as a special educational need under the law. (If you type "functional" into the search box at wrightslaw.com, you will get information on this.)

When you asked, did you ask *in writing*? Because it is often the (evil, illegal) practice to tell people "no" who ask verbally. If you ask in writing, they have legal obligations to you; it is all outlined on wrightslaw.

In short-- I believe the school owes you an eval, though I totally understand that local practice may be so against you that it's beating your head against the wall. A letter from an advocate who drops the appropriate legalese to the director of special ed in your district might help. Or might not. Sometimes there has been enough water under the bridge, or lawsuits by other parents, or what have you, to change the game, and it becomes worth trying again.

My feeling would be to pursue the eval with a neuropsych, because without it you would be flying blind. You can be specific-- you may not really need new IQ numbers, but achievement numbers and tests that measure reading skills, memory, and the various kinds of attention would give you data to decide what to do next. You could then take this data back to the school to negotiate further based on evidence that there's need.

That's probably how I'd approach it...

DeeDee

This info and reminder is helpful for us all. Thank you, Deedee.

I requested evals both in writing and over the phone for dd14. They pretty much did not respond to my written requests at all. Essentially what I got then and I am getting now is that they don't have the training as diagnosticians to evaluate the types of concerns we have & it is beyond their scope of service. For dd14 it was OT stuff that they said no one in the district had training to evaluate. For dd12, I suspect that part of the problem is that they would argue that her issues aren't functional limitations since all pre-teens forget to turn things in, do poorly on some stuff, etc. They don't see a problem essentially.

RtI (response to intervention) is supposed to be operating for everyone. It means that if something doesn't seem to be working, they try something else, before going through a formal special ed process about it.

In practice, sometimes it works great, sometimes it's an excuse for a district to drag its feet on implementing services.

I don't think anyone is going to implement an individualized special education program of teaching EF to a 5-year-old if that's the only issue; especially in boys it's assumed they can't get their act together for some years yet. If there are other concerns in addition, or if it's diagnosable ADHD, you are more likely to be able to get something into place. If those skills aren't coming into place and the gap between a child and peers gets really obvious, it's more clear to school that something should be done.

It is true that schools do work on EF with all students as a matter of course; but it is also true that some kids need extra teaching and reinforcement on these issues. I also think that it's not that common for a school to have someone on staff who is skilled in addressing these challenges.

DeeDee