What is working with schools. Was: Intro from Houston

[Guest guest]

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> The school cannot use his high IQ or his grades " against " him in

determining eligibility for sped services.

Hi and Roxanna. I didn't mean that they were literally pointing

out his IQ as a reason to not give services. They certainly can use

grades as a reason not to determine SPED services, as that is one

yardstick for determining whether a child is successful in the

classroom or not. This is something that differs from state to state

in how it is applied. That wrightslaw stuff doesn't work in all

states, not to mention that that website is mainly there to sell their

materials etc. It's not that simple!

That said, they decided to put him in for a 504 last week, so it looks

like all my hard work has not been for naught. He is still under

observation, so it is hard to say where this will go. I've been

working hard to get him services for 3.5 years (I am not exactly a

newbie at this). I've pointed out all that stuff about how they are

responsible for functioning problems as well as academic, how they

have to use an appropriate yardstick, etc.

For all the people who are newbies at working with public schools, in

retrospect, what really made the difference was the following:

getting an IEE (neuropsych eval from autism spectrum specialist),

networking with school administrators and school district-level SPED

people (or as far up the ladder as you need to go to get attention and

good advice), endlessly explaining my child's problems to both

teachers and school administrators, keeping school administrators in

touch with what is going on in the classroom so they can work with

teachers, making it clear that I'm not going to go away, finding out

what the laws/procedures are (and let them know in a friendly way that

you are aware) and how they are typically applied locally so I know

when to push and when to devise Plan B. I learned a lot about how to

be assertive without being confrontive. It finally got to the point

where the AP asked me to stop serving as interpreter etc. for the

teachers at home so school can work this out. That only works if they

are actually trying to work things out.

Kinda rambling here. Hope this is helpful to someone.

Ruth