Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Just plain confused and mad vent

I just wanted to say that the homeschoolbuyers co-op has accessed the K-12 PLATO learning programs from Kentucky Vitual Campus for this coming year and has extremely reasonably priced seats for the entire curriculum. Maybe that would help him move at his pace? They are packaged in K-7 and 6-12 grade bundles. The only downside is that the middle school science is packaged either seperately for an additional charge or in the 6-12 grade bundle, not in the K-7 grade bundle. It might also be a good money saver as well. I am trying to save up enough to buy seats in each level.

I wish there were more answers, options, support groups, etc. for twice exceptional kids like ours. My son really wanted to find other kids his age who were like him and he could only find them online in another country.

We went to the neuropsychologist looking for answers for my son and I was asked questions about homeschooling like "What do you do when you are not feeling well and can't homeschool?" I told her that he learned well on his own and in fact seemed to learn more when he was learning on his own so I didn't think it was a problem. "Are you part of a homeschool support group? No, because it was more of a homeschool clique and we were shunned after I talked openly about wishing the public school would allow part time school for my son. "Why don't you put him back in school now, it will only get harder the longer you wait." Because even the superintendent told me we needed to homeschool or put him in private school. They are not required by to provide an appropriate education for twice exceptional kids. "Why don't you put him in private school?" Can't afford it. "Some private schools offer scholarships." There are none in the small town we live in. We would have to drive at least 30 miles to the closest private school. "But he needs to be with other children" I would worry about this if he were not in musical theater with other kids--I didn't tell her he was taking a break this summer. We are trying to make sure he gets help for his motor issues so he can stay in musical theater and keep up with the dancing and the physical requirements of Boy Scouts. We want to confirm the motor dyspraxia diagnosis but we also want to know if it is normal for him to have pain and sore muscles after walking shorter distances than his much older parents can walk. She told us what we described sounded like it could possibly be mild hypotonic CP because there isn't usually pain involved in motor dyspraxia and she said his difficult birth could have caused his issues but we need to see a neurologist. We told her it took 4 1/2 months to get in to see her and we were told the other doctors had even longer waiting lists and that is when I vented--at the doctor's office. I described all the difficulty we had in getting help for him and how the doctors didn't screen for dyspraxia and sensory issues and we had to find answers on the internet from people on message boards and then go back and try to get referrals and wait for months to see specialists and then when we did insurance only paid for 6 sessions of OT because it was something the school should pay for but he was homeschooled and the school doesn't provide these services to homeschoolers even though it was the school superintendent who told us to homeschool in the first place. I described how I felt when adults were not nice to my son when he had trouble with physical things because of his disability and how they didn't believe me when I told them about the disability. I had held it back for so long and it just came out. That is what happens to me if I try to keep it in, so it is good to vent in a safe place.

So far all I have gotten is more questions, no real answers yet, but we have to go back to get the test results on Monday for more pieces of the puzzle. My son, is a little worried about what they might say, but I told him we had to do this so he could get the accommodations he needs if he ever goes back to public school, or Boy Scouts, or whatever he wants to do.

I have often wondered about the long term psychosocial effects of being highly sensitive and gifted and living with a mild disability that other people don't understand and have trouble believing because they look so normal and sound so smart.

I'm glad you are going to meet with the principal. That is a great place to start. I hope they are helpful. From your description, cyberschooling isn't an option I'd put very high on the list. If he's really social he needs to be with other kids IRL not just on the computer.

If it looks like school isn't going to pan out for first grade, the one thing I would suggest is to try to organize some homeschooling activities where you might attract some more academic kids. Advertise them widely and see if you can pull in some other kids. I would suggest picking areas your son is interested in that tend to attract geekier/smarter kids. One idea: http://www.flrobotics.org/ A science fair is another idea. You could teach the co-op or lead the activity or find another instructor. Also, you might look outside of homeschooling to activities with other kids too. We've had luck with mixed age groups with programs at the library, science center, etc.

Thanks guys - you are always SO awesome - I made numerous calls today to some local charter and magnet school programs in our area and got a chance to speak to several principals at the schools - 3 out of the 6 left me with somewhat interesting options/feelings. They stated they would either be willing (after in house assessments along with our test information we had done) to move him up a whole grade or allow for acceleration up for both reading and math right from the get go....they also had the typical one day a week pull out gifted program that is available and he would still be able to get his IEP needs met with speech/OT because they are public charter/magnet programs. The other schools were a little wishy washy...so I will be going to take a look at the 3.

We have looked into the robotics teams - the issue is that he is only 6 and he does not qualify for the main robotics teams - he is eligible to do the First Lego League though and there are none near us so my husband has volunteered to be a coach if we homeschool due to not finding what we like. My little guy also started his very own Family Nature Group (after we read Last Child in the Woods) and he picks one new state park each month and we put notices out to the public and families come out and meet us for monthly hiking/nature get togethers just to explore the outdoors and he is the "tour guide" and tells others about a lot of the information we have learned about local flora and fauna :-) We will just keep our fingers crossed that maybe one of these 3 will fit him???!!! :-)

Hey, three options is a lot

It does sound attractive to be able to address the speech and OT at school.

Belle, I just sent you a PM about the private school.

Val

He sounds like such a neat kid!

Good news on the school possibilities. I hope something works. If not you've got great homeschool options in the works too.

All I can say is a HUGE thanks to everyone who has put up with my ups and downs on this board over the year :-) You always have great suggestions and ideas! We are going to keep our fingers crossed that maybe one of the 3 will be a good fit. We attempted a public charter school this past year and it was a complete mess...they said they catered to small class sizes and would have no issues working with a 2e child and it was a nightmare that ended with the teacher asking ME to bring in harder work from home to help keep him challenged....so we are a little wary of looking at Charter/Magnet schools but they are the only option for public school that offers any kind of smaller class sizes or a chance for acceleration or grade skips. I know that one bad apple doesn't always spoil the bunch so I am hoping that we hit a fluke with the charter school last year.
Having his IEP and being able to keep up with his Speech and OT would be huge. His speech teacher said that he honestly does not need Speech anymore and most of his errors are developmental but she didn't want to drop Speech off his IEP because then he would lose OT (makes NO sense...you have to be staffed into speech in order to obtain OT on and IEP). She knows how badly he needs OT so she said that as long as she has a say so in it, she would do everything in her power to keep his IEP>

oh Belle....that makes no sense to me all....

shaking head.....

Dazey (and very much confuzed by this)

I'm glad to hear that you have found some options to look into. For us it is a relief to have my DD's speech handled by the school, even with the drive to pick her up to homeschool her after. Hoping something works out for you little boy.

I don't understand why they need to be qualified in one to get the other but I think someone else has said something about that in the past?

Best wishes and hoping you find a good match.