His WISC IV PSI is four plus standard deviations below his VCI, but low average.
My ds' discrepancy in scores on the WISC is very similar, and he's had both an IEP and a 504. We had to advocate like crazy for his initial IEP; once he had the IEP getting the appropriate accommodations for him in the classroom and on testing was "easy" (relatively speaking lol!), and the 504 process was really "easy". The difficult part of the whole thing was being able to get the school staff to understand that ds really *does* have a disability, and also showing the impact on academics of his disability.
The counselor looked at his scores and told us because he's so high in other areas, and because it's not low but only low average, and because his grades are good even after skipping a grade, a 504 would be denied for him
I actually agree with a tiny piece of this - I don't think that if you're only looking at the discrepancy in subtest scores that you have proof that your ds needs a 504. (Please note - I'm not saying your ds doesn't need a 504.. just explaining where the interpretation of the school counselor might be coming from).
504s are given to students who have a disability and need accommodations for that disability in able to fully participate in their academics at school. So to get the 504 plan, you'll need to be able to show how your ds' discrepancy in processing speed relates to an inability to fully participate in his FAPE.
In this case at least one issue is showing his full knowledge on timed tests. This is an issue for my ds also, and he has accommodations for extended time on classroom and standardized tests, and when he was in elementary school he had an accommodation allowing oral response on fluency tests (math facts tests that the school insisted be timed). He's also had and has accommodations such as extended time on writing assignments. When we advocated for those accommodations we used a combination of evidence that he needed the accommodations - some of these might be useful for you in advocating (some of them might be irrelevant, depending on the reason for the relatively low score in processing speed).
1) Discrepancies in WJ-III Achievement test scores and in comparing WJ-III Achievement scores to ds' WISC GAI. When we graphed the achievement subtest scores by response type (oral/untimed vs written/untimed vs written/timed), there was a very obvious pattern that jumped out (in what had previously looked like scores that bounced all over the place): the scores for untimed oral response subtests were approximately in the same range as ds' GAI. The scores for untimed handwritten response were significantly lower, and the scores for handwritten/timed subtests were *really* low compared to ds' GAI.
2) We had statistics on ds' handwriting speed (letters per minute). We were able to get some stats from his school, but we also did some of our own tests at home and I brought those results with me to meetings. Although our school staff tended to always be very confrontational about any type of "assessment" done by parents, they never argued these... because they knew he'd test just as slow if they did the same tests. Anyway, sorry I diverged from the topic for a minute there.
3) DS has a professional diagnosis of a disability. I can't remember if your ds has a diagnosis or not, but this was very useful for us in advocating because our school staff was fond of saying things like "all kids will get better scores if they have extended time" or "all kids get writer's block at one time or another" etc. We would shut those arguments down straight out by remaining calm and simply stating "But we're not here to talk about other kids, and ds has a documented disability." If they questioned the diagnosis as a way of putting us off, we'd reply calmly and simply "Are you questioning the diagnosis of a respected credentialed private professional?"
4) We always brought a brief write-up explaining what our ds' disability was and how it impacted him. We found the explanation of the disability online, but made sure it was taken from a credible source.
5) We had a professional diagnosis. It's extremely powerful to have a few sentences in a professional report that state things such as "The largest obstacle to ds' success is his inability to show his full knowledge when using handwriting" and "DS should use keyboarding or scribing for all written assignments" etc.
even though he has a difficult time with timed tests and tasks. He also won't move on if he doesn't solve an answer and he won't guess.
I'll add something to your to-do list (if you don't already have this info). It's important to get him accommodations for testing, but it's also important to understand as much as you can about what's impacting your ds in both of these ways. It's possible that there might be something you can do beyond accommodating that would be beneficial for your ds.
She's a counselor not a school psychologist but she looked at his WISC scores and told us she saw absolutely no learning disability.
We've heard some really ridiculous comments during team meetings and with the counselors/psychologists/etc that have participated in them. My gut feeling is that the counselor is used to seeing much lower WISC scores. When advocating for our 2e ds both at school and when we worked with private professionals for remediation, we were often told they had never seen ability scores so high. Our neuropsych asked at one point if she could have the name of one of ds' therapists so that she could refer other patients like our ds to her, and the therapist said sure, but with the caveat to me of "you do realize I'm never going to see another kid with scores like this again?"... so anyway, just a thought. The counselor isn't seeing a need or disability because she hasn't seen another kid like your ds. That doesn't mean she's ignorant or can't be convinced, just means she needs more info.
So...that's that, I guess.
So do you mean "that's that" as in you're giving up pursuing accommodations? I'd urge you not to give up!
Hang in there!
polarbear
