Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional how patient am I supposed to be?

I punch the little green card with my two-hole punch and put in into the file with a copy of the original letter.

Otherwise the little green card will get lost or mingled with all of the other little green cards.

You can also scan the little green card and put it into the electronic file with a scanned copy of the original letter.

Or take a picture of the little green card and email it to yourself. I do this with everything now. Gmail is forever.

On my mind:

1--I need the NP report so I know what is going on and what to do about it.

2--I want to engage with advocacy agency but feel like NP report is important piece of that.

3--I would not "lawyer up" on the 504 issues because I don't think they were intentional. If the principal is unwilling to discuss a grade appeal in the art class, I think I will escalate to district admin--and that's where I might be willing to consult attorney. In this case, it is really the principle of the thing--that man actually, emotionally abused and damaged my son, retaliated against him (me?), and exercised "power over" in a truly disgusting way. At the very least, I want acknowledgement from the administration. I have mountains of documentation and none of it reflects well on the teacher. I would even consider suing the teacher for malpractice--I can't tell you how outside of my personal comfort zone that is but I want something about this situation to be just. I can't let an adult in a professional role abuse my son, get away with it, and just pretend it didn't happen. When I described the situation to my therapist, she said it was sadistic.

4--I would like to begin working on a(nother) letter requesting special ed eval but I need the NP report.

5--I don't think we can get private speech/language services in my city. I think he needs his pragmatic language ability evaluated. My spec ed friend said that "pragmatics are the hot new trend" and that if he is evaluated via school they will "take a look at that." After his bizarre OT observation, I have no confidence in the school's approach--I want a referral and will travel where I need to but we need HELP (i.e. NP report).

Yep.


You can start on this now, by describing who he is and what has been happening to him. The NP information will inform this but you also have a lot of reasons why you need advocacy.


Yes. I would keep this on a tight timeline--if Principal doesn't respond to the paper letter, I'd be in contact with district, evidence in hand. If they decline to act, then advocate. Then lawyer. If it gets that far you should also be actively shopping for alternatives.


Nope. Get out From Emotions to Advocacy. You do not need a dx to support this. Instead of naming a dx, you need to name all the different things he struggles with, you can cite horrid things the teachers have said, and ask for the eval. Start the clock on this ASAP!

You can mention that you are pursuing private diagostic information that may inform their process. But start the clock.


Much depends on the capabilities of the school SLP who evaluates. We have seen good and bad.


I would ask a lot of questions of the NP in that meeting-- what therapies are likely to be maximally useful to DS? Who locally has the expertise to provide them? Is there help paying for them? Does NP know an advocate who can help? In short, pick their brain not only about exactly what diagnostic results mean, but also about recommended next steps.

The NP's report should also include next steps framed (preferably: insisted upon) in a way that the school can use them. If it doesn't when you see it, ask for them to be included because they are your best tool for getting the IEP in place properly.

Okay, thanks for helping me organize thoughts.

I had a DOH moment just now and remembered the university has a Speech/Language/Hearing master's program. I called and he can be evaluated very inexpensively and they said they will definitely look at social communication and expression, sounded knowledgeable.

I guess I should begin to work on the letter, and call the advocacy agency.

eco, I'll second all of DeeDee's wise advise. Also mention that you don't need to be patient in the sense that you sit and wait, but otoh a different type of patience is often needed when supporting a child with challenges such as you're facing - patience in understanding that it's not an easy road to follow and that there are going to be many times when it feels like you're going nowhere because of one particular situation, yet there's a lot of progress being made and you are actually getting somewhere, just not in the exact direction you'd mapped out. I hope that makes sense!

One thing that our advocate advised was important to always do when using written communication - request a response by a specific date (10 business days out usually is a fair timeframe). At the stage you're at with the principal communications, I'd also cc whoever is in charge of SPED/504 in your school district on the next communication.

Most importantly, I'd contact the advocate *now*. They should be able to advise you on all of this, and may have local knowledge that will be helpful that those of us on this forum wouldn't have.

Hang in there!

polarbear

ps - we've had some extremely difficult dealings with our schools, but never had to resort to sending a certified letter - we simply used email for written communications with the note to respond by a certain date. You can make the "response" request very specific also - say "We would like to have a ____ (date, decision, answer yes/no, whatever) by June 15" for example - tell them what type of response you are specifically looking for.

pps - re the neurospych - does she have an office and an office admin person? Secretary, person who answers the phone, person who runs the front desk etc? If she does, go through them with the request for the report and appointment, rather than leaving a message for the np.

Can I state what I believe he needs in the letter? I want functional behavior analysis. Am I allowed to say that?

Things are happening around here.

--Called, did phone intake, am receiving papers in mail to schedule language eval.

--email MPACT advocate. She called me within minutes to say she will read my email and then set a time to talk. She said she'd also email me an "action plan" to discuss. It was just a 60 second phone call and all about logistics so why am I crying? Maybe because somebody IRL may be able to help?

This whole thing has pretty much unraveled me. Thank you all for coaching.

Pretty much. I had a similar reaction the first time one of my DD's therapists sent an email to "team DD." I completely lost it at the idea that she actually had a team, on her side.

Best of luck to you - I hope it's all up from here.

Here I go again, this made me cry, too! I can't/won't/don't understand why it's so hard for people to see children as needing help instead of being a huge bother (I guess I'm glad of that). This business is not for wimps.

Thank you for the good wishes.