quite a situation.........

http://www.nifl.gov/NSDirectory/newjersey.htm Give LDA of NJ a call or email. They may have an advocacy packet for you.

Also, look up your state department of education. They’ll probably list your parent advocacy agency. You might give them a call, too.

Basically, this school has already overstepped your rights. However, unless you put your suspicion of LD and request for evaluation in writing, you haven’t a legal leg on which to stand. You need to discover your child’s rights and learn to advocate for them.

Advocacy is complex and different from state-to-state. Find someone in your state that can get you through the first few meetings.

People on this board can help with lots of things, but best be careful about advice from well-meaning souls in states other than your own. (Sometimes even in your state—facts are easily confused.) This is a legal process and interpreted by courts, not lay people. Trained advocates are a step below lawyers, but generally have much knowledge of special ed law in your state.

Let us know how you’re doing.

Jen -

I’m sorry to hear about your situation! I thought that if you requested the school test your child IN WRITING they had to do the testing. I know how difficult this must be for you. Good luck.

Margo

I would THINK the school would sit up and take notice when you had a medical experts report in hand-kind of destroys their ‘psychotic mother’theory :)

You may have an easier go of it this round than you think

Thanks for your advice Susan and Margo. Actually, I did put my request for the school to do an evaluation in writing, also the principal and board of ed. received copies of my request. However, when I met with the Child Study Team, the first words out of their mouths were “Legally, your son is not qualified to be evaluated, and we are under obligation to protect him from you trying to have him evaluated.” Talk about a lost cause! Many people have told me that the school broke the law when they did this. Thanks for your support, though. Sometimes I feel very alone, being a single parent with this problem( the father does not want to get involved). Once I get a definite diagnosis in writing, I’ll be back at that school fighting for my son’s educational rights. I won’t back down…my son’s whole future depends on how I handle this. Thanks for letting me vent……..

Thanks,Marycas, I hope you’re right. When I called the guidance counselor back in May and told her that I had my son privately evaluated, she became very angry and said “Why did you do such a thing?”. I replied that I felt very strongly that Brett had a problem and that the school was dismissing it solely based on last year’s Terra Nova test. She demanded to see a report of the evaluation, which I gave to her and said, “Please call me and let me know what you think”. Well, I never did hear from her again, despite repeated phone calls. So I believe I will have to deal with this kind of a situation when I return with a complete diagnosis. I won’t back down,though. Thanks for your support, it’s good to know I’m not alone.

and I deeply and sincerely hope that this is reflected in the minutes of that meeting so that you have it in writing…. What a stupid thing for them to say. Of course you have the right to an evaluation and they have no business telling you otherwise.

Robin

Jen, you want to make sure you take a very thorough and well documented approach to this whole situation. First of all I would suggest that all letters you send be sent certified mail, return receipt requested. I would also start cc:ing the local school board so they are aware of the problem. Get in contact with an advocate ASAP as they will best be able to help you deal with your school.

They told me my daughter had no problems for 2 years. after a private evalution that showed severe, specific learning disabilities and significant process delays they began to take notice. I then explained to them that obviously I knew my daughter much better than the so called experts. Get in contact with an advocacy group, find our your child’s rights and don’t back down. If possible, go to some conferences that teach advocacy.

Jen, I also live in New Jersey and have had some difficculty with my CST as well. When they did test my daughter, they said noithing was wrong (going into Kindergatren) despite obvious difficulties. We then had an independant eval and a private eval, both which proved not only that she had a learning disability, but a significant one. It is still somewhat of a battle to this day, but I make every effort to work with them to get my daughter the appropriate education. My advice, I had to learn the laws and what my child’s right are and what my rights are as a parent. I recommend getting a special education law book, (Wright’s Law from emotion to Advocacy, Navigating the Special Education Maze). Attend parent supprot groups for parents of children in special education in your area, most towns around here have them. ( I am northern NJ). Many of these meetings have speakers ( special ed lawyers, advocates, ect) that speak of the IEP process and provide valuable information. PIC, the Parent Information Center is located in Teaneck, which may be a source of help. Statewide Parent advocacy Network (SPAN) phone # 1-800-654-7726. The New Jersey Protecion and Advocay, Inc phone # 1-800-922-7233. Good Luck to you, and never give up.

Leah,

Your daughter “looks” average when her measured ability isn’t considered. This is one of the concerns I have with a curriculum-based assessment model. So often, kids like your daughter are overlooked until people find out how bright they are…and see how discrepant are their achievement scores.

Susan L……Could you explain Curriculum based assessments….I too have a daughter (6 1/2) with superior intelligence. ( IQ 127) but with LD…I am just curious about this and want more information. When the school did test my daughter (the testing only took 30min) they found nothing. I then had an indep eval and private eval. I am told she is dyslexic. Expalin the curriculum based assessment model? Thanks!

Of course, there must be an acronym in education!

CBA uses teacher-designed or text-book-manufacturer-designed tests in order to measure where the child sits in achieving against the curriculum. Also, standardized annual assessment (like Terra Nova or Standford 9) would fit into the equation.

Now, kids who score say in the 35th percentile *look* average under that model because basically anything from the 34nd to the 76th percentiles are in the “average range.” This would include kids from deprived backgrounds with no experiences (vacations, field trips with family…) and kids from the wealthiest and/or most enriching families. It would also include kids with very low IQ’s and kids with very high IQ’s—and would take none of this extra background/experience/genetic/organic information into account. Just how the child measures against the curriculum.

Now, I know that some states, like Iowa, do include an IQ component—sometimes. Several years ago, as a parent advocate, I was concerned that the brighter kids would be totally lost in this model and never understand why they struggle so much. These are the kids teachers (and sometimes even well meaning parents) think are lazy. They seem so smart—why do they not achieve? I just felt that parents have to fight too much for testing to leave this many loopholes.

Even though I no longer believe in IQ measurement as a *static* (stays the same) measurement of ability, I still like to look at the patterns of strengths and weaknesses presented. In my opinion, IQ test results don’t tell even half of the picture…Though they can point us in directions for other testing. Others may even feel that we should be able to understand those testing needs without IQ tests. It has been a debate gaining intensity.

At this point tell them CALMLY (I know this is difficult, but it’s important to at least look professional) that you are looking into other educational options including private school and homeschooling, and you will let them know when you have found an effective placement for him. Then STOP and refuse to discuss this any further.

Either they will back way off and start to at least look at your needs because they want your money (tax funds - lots of money per kid and even more for special ed); or they will tell you fine, get out.
If they keep you because they want your money, then you have leverage, and by letting them know that you know it you gain a bargaining position.
If they don’t want your kid, and they have *already* lied to you and broken the law (see advice from special ed experts above), you don’t want your kid in there. Do look seriously at other educational options. You can move over the town border into another school area, you can sometimes get a within-district transfer by going to your school board, you can look at private religious schools at moderate prices, and you can see if you can afford other private schools, and you can look seriously at homeschooling.
This school thinks they can push you around, and you have been falling for it. Be reasonable, be as calm as possible, but be firm.

Thanks for your advice, Victoria. I don’t think the school would care if I threatened to pull Brett out. It’s a big school…4 classes per grade, one kid less wouldn’t faze them at all. I’ve been thinking about my situation, and I really think that I expected everyone at the school to help my son and be cooperative, and when the opposite happened, I was so shocked that I didn’t know how to react. Over the summer I have been reading up all I can on the legal aspect of this and how schools operate, so I think that once I get a definite diagnosis in writing from the neurological team at the children’s hospital, I’m going to be much better prepared to handle these people, as I’ll be more knowledgable than any of them, not that it takes much to accomplish that! I don’t want to pull my son out of the school if at all possible, since he already had his heart broken once when he was retained and had to make all new friends. Luckily, he’s an extremely outgoing boy and adjusted well. I will keep everyone posted on this case, it should get really interesting. Thanks, everyone, for your support!

You might be surprised. I was tutoring two boys at first part-time, and then full-time when their mother finally did pull them out of school for three months. This was a very large system with a total of several thousand students, and over a thousand in the high school where the older boy would be going if/when he went back. They were both special ed so the district got oodles of extra funding for them. After she pulled them out, the special ed director called her at home and was very friendly and asked what she wanted and needed, and even came over to my place where I was tutoring them (gave a real passive-aggressive put-down to the older boy who was working at readiness math since they had never taught him anything menaingful, but you can’t have everything) and was even polite to me, although I know that the district warned people off tutoring (they were the experts who knew the “right” way to do everything — sound familiar?). Anyway the district suddenly discovered much better placement for both boys — the eight/nine year old who had been warehoused in a TMR group with an untrained aide and “integrated” (sat in the back of the room) in a Grade 1, 30 minutes a day, suddenly would be in Grade 3 in an LD class in a different school; and the twelve/thirteen year old who had been in an Emotionally Disturbed class would be in various practical vocational classes and resource room (supposedly) in the junior high. Money is money. You don’t have to actually take any action, just let the administrators know that you know your rights, all of them, and are calling their bluff. They are usually bullies and usually back down like crazy.
And, if they still persist in breaking the law, lying to you about the law, and putting your child in a hopeless situation, well, moving is no fun but is this a situation you want to live with for the next ten years? Think about your child’s entire school career and both of your lives, and try the old “pro” and “con” lists and think what you *really* want.