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Hello everyone. I have, I believe, a 2e six year old who has just started first grade. Unfortunately for him, his gifts are not in the traditional academic realm. He is highly creative, visual spacial, and a big concept thinker. He is able to take complex information and form pretty amazing questions or conclusions for his age. Unfortunately, his nice small private school only sees his deficits. He can't read yet, is unable to sequence effectively, and has a terrible time with inattention and following oral directions. He spends a lot of time in his head, contemplating his latest passion, and we often have to work hard to get his attention so that we can get him to minimally attend to things like getting dressed, or eating. He is quite social and loving, but has issues with anxiety, and frustration. How do we advocate for him with the school, when they do not see his "gifts", but only his weaknesses?

Hi Rosapina

Our son was exactly the same. He is now almost 11 years old.
We have had quite a struggle, as many here will know.
All I can say is that you must cherish and nurture your little'un's interests outside of the school environment. The fact is the school system is not geared up - and maybe isn't meant to handle- special kids. Of course it goes without saying that you will support him(her?) as much as you can at home.

The first EP who assessed our boy simply said - and he was employed by the local education authority - that it would be tough in 'primary' school for him, but in High School things would get a lot better. At the time it seemed devastating as he was then a long way from High School. As he approaches that milestone we look forward to him getting the support we know he should have had since he really was a 'little'un'.

So, we stretched him outside school. We fought the teachers and the schools when they were letting him down big style.

Would we have done anything different? I don't know - but you will find lots of help here along the path.

Good luck and best wishes - you're not alone.

Are you able to get him evaluted? I've heard here about a psychologist coming to school to make reccomendations. Best of Luck.

It is so frustrating when the school does not recognize your child's gifts, cannot reach/ teach him and ultimately begins the "blame game". I was in a similar situation, when ds was in kindergarten, he struggled with all table top activities and pre-reading skills. Finally we had he evaluated by the school and found out that he was indeed very bright, but he also had a constellation of deficits that caused him academic trouble. In 1st grade he began receiving reading a support services. It was a bit rocky, but he did begin to succeed more frequently. Fortunalty, he has always lucked out with outstanding, understanding teachers that "get" that he is bright and are willing to take the time to support his differences.

Based on your description, it sounds like your child should be evaluated. Even children enrolled in private schools MUST be evaluated by their home school district if the parents make a referral (this is covered by the child find provision in IDEA, Federal Special Ed law). An evaluation will help you to sort out his strengths and to begin to understand where he may have some struggles. Note, I say begin, because the process of understanding never ends as the child grows and develops and the demands change.

How do you do this? WRITE a letter to your district - the special ed director or director of student services if you can find the name, superintendent if you can't. State that you are concerned with your child's academic development and would like to have him tested in the follow areas:
Psychological
Educational
Speech and Language
(and maybe OT if he has fine motor/ handwriting difficulties)

The district MUST test within about 60 days (less in some states depending upon your laws). This site has a good example as well as other important info. If you are not in Massachusetts, just ignore the references to MA state law - everything else applies. http://www.concordspedpac.org/

You can find the sample letter on the left. Go to the section on testing/evaluations and it is halfway down.

Once your child is tested, the school will give you an evaluation report that includes test scores, analysis and recommendations. If the recommendations contain special services such as reading or writing instruction, you are entitled to this EVEN IF YOUR CHILD is in the private school. Sometimes scheduling can be difficult, but if you can make it work, it could be the way to go. The recommendations might also include accommodations. Things like preferential seating, check in's to determine if the student understands the directions, visual model of the task, check lists, more time, motor breaks - whatever is needed for the child to take advantage of instruction. If your school takes even one cent of federal money - THEY MUST IMPLEMENT accommodations under section 504 of ADA. The website I gave has info on 504 plans.

Don't delay. Information is power. Once you get the data and recommendations, you can begin insuring that your child has the supports and instructions needed to unleash his talents.

Best to luck - it can be worrisome but it can get better.

Thank you all! Yes, he is a boy, and I would love to have him tested. I even had a consult with the folks at the gifted development center, who told me that he was most likely highly gifted with sensory integration, auditory processing issues, and perhaps tacking issues as well based on his profile. They also told me that they did not recommend testing him, as he is the type who will not do things "well" unless he is actually deeply interested. Hearing and following even basic directions can be a real struggle. They didn't know anyone in our area (SF bay area) they could recommend for testing who really "gets" 2e kids, so unless we can travel to Denver, the recommendation was OT and vision screening for now. We got the OT eval, and are on the wait list to start. I am thinking of getting him tutored by a reading specialist for now. Last year K was a disaster, with him becoming so anxious and depressed from the inappropriate situation that he began seeing a therapist, which has been wonderful, as she really gets him. His older brother was similar, but not as extreme in both "directions" of the 2e. I was able to homeschool him for a few months, and really focus on his basic skills, so that when he returned to school, he was actually 2-3 years above grade level in reading, so there was not as much concern.

Thanks Mich. I will get the process started, and look at it as a starting point- I don't believe they will be able to fully capture the "giftedness" side of things because of the way the testing is done here through the school district, but at least we will have a better idea of accommodations to address the difficulties he is having.

I don't know if this will help but I like this page full of suggestions for helping visual-spatial kids to help integrate them to their day. It has suggestions like giving them multi-part instructions with something silly thrown in like- go get a blue cup from the middle cabinet, fill it up with ice water, and put a spoon on your nose and keep it there while you bring me the water. Since I read this article I've started using the multi-step instructions, but boring stuff like "put your towel in the laundry room, put your brush in the bathroom drawer, and get some undies on". He doesn't usually remember all three instructions, yet.
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/articles.htm

Unfortunately, you can't get services from the school unless you do some type of testing. From what you have described, you might want to get on the waiting list for the Eides up in Washington state. http://www.neurolearning.com/
They are neurologists who specialize in assessing twice exceptional kids. You might want to check their "Mislabeled Child" book out of the library.

Also keep in mind that public schools need only to "consider" private testing. Depending upon your district this could mean "read" the testing and nothing more to fully implementing the recommendations to anywhere in between. Additionally, they will do their own testing to determine eligibility.

For this reason, if you would like the school to implement accommodations, support or related services of any kind, it would make sense to get the school evaluation going. If you disagree with the results for any reason, you are entitled to request an IEE - independent educational evaluation from an independent professional of your choice, providing they have the needed credentials.

If, as they are testing, they find snags in his skill areas, this would be important to know so that they can address the difficulties by presenting the tasks in different ways or perhaps adding supports so that he can be more successful. Perhaps with his SI difficulties, they could help him begin to self regulate so that he could function more easily. They could also add accommodations such as motor breaks, so that he can burn off steam. If he has difficulty following directions - it is important to understand why - is the APD? Weakness in certain areas or memory? Attention? Language processing? Impulsiveness? La Texican gives a great example of a strategy the school can use to overcome these difficulties. As he matures, he should be taught strategies he can use to help himself in these areas.

An evaluation can help you understand him better and figure out how to help him. If he qualifies for special ed and an IEP, it helps insure that the school is designing a learning program that will support him in ways that lets him capitalize on his gifts. Often without this, the child becomes negatively labeled: lazy, bad, uncooperative, etc.

I also find it hard to believe there are not good private evaluators in the SF area. I would contact the major universities in your area such as Stanford to get some names of local professionals. Ideally you can find someone that you will use throughout your child's educational career. Perhaps in the future you would need him or her to join you for a meeting at the school. Finding a local resource would help you in the long run.

My 2e (gifted/Asperger's) son has some of the attention and executive function issues you describe. Kids on the spectrum spend a lot of time in their own heads, thinking about their special interest topics in detail-- it's hard to get them out of that headspace to attend to the things the school staff wants them to attend to.

This isn't always a problem with the school; sometimes it's a matter of the child learning to manage their own attention and follow directions appropriately, which is very challenging but worth learning to do. Of course, appropriate supports at school can be crucial to learning those skills for those kids to whom it doesn't come naturally.

Mich gave good advice above-- I agree with it.

DeeDee