My son is smart - why is he less deserving?

Hello Lil:

Most children who have the difficulties like your son actually need a lot of one-on-one instruction. Even if you get an IEP you’ll find that it is not a panacea. School systems are set up to teach groups of children and not one-on-one instruction. As you have found one-on-one instruction has been very beneficial for your son. I highly recommend you continue your one-on-one support. This type of dedication pays off better than a lot of statements written on an IEP. Most special education teachers have their hearts of the right place. They really care about their students! But they have so many students to look after that it is difficult for them to give each child the real attention that they need.

I outlined some of the spots at my web site, Effective Parenting for Education. www.geocities.com/jnuttallphd

Jim — Michigan
www.geocities.com/jnuttallphd

Was there a significant difference between verbal and performance IQ? If yes, the full scale IQ may not fully reflect his abilities. In some children who gifted and have LDs, they are able to use their gifts to compensate for their weaknesses. As a result, they look “on-level” in testing but in reality they are not learning as they should be. A child like this can often go for years looking dead average but growing more and more discouraged and learning less and less. These are kids who thrive on challenge but hardly ever get offered it because it looks like they are just average. These are kids who grow disillusioned and drop out because they don’t get what they need. A few enlightened places recognize gt/ld as its own entity and offer special ed for it, but most don’t. Keep doing what you are doing and make sure you continue to emphasize your child’s gifts while helping him to find ways to work around his LD.

Hi, Lil,

It really boils down to a numbers issue at the present time. If his IQ is at 108, then the test scores must be at 93 (or lower) to have a one standard deviation discrepancy. That is the requirement in my state, but some states even require 1 1/2 or 2 standard deviations! I think the law will be changing to allow more flexibility in placement, but a child who is performing close to average may not receive services even then. So we’ll have to see how that turns out.

But the bottom line is, I think special ed. services in most schools is worthless, even though as Jim said, there are some very sweet, well meaning teachers. But let’s face it, they are not trained in PG, LMB, OG, IM, PACE, FFW, and the other therapies that really remediate. The main reason to have an IEP, in my opinion, is to get accommodations where needed…especially extended time on tests, for example. But get your therapy on the outside like you’ve been doing. It sounds liek you’ve made some great decisions to me!

Janis

Lil,

My son was classified at age 3 due to speech and has received sp. ed services every year until this year (we moved him to a private school). We had a horrid school situation in first and second grade and so started doing things privately. In third grade, a wonderful teacher who knew LIPS and PG was hired. I was so happy. But you know what. It never made a huge difference.

My son, also with a slew of diagnoses, requires much more intense help than he ever got in school. FL is particularly bad—my friend in NE was horrified by our ratios. So we continued with private therapy and tutoring.

This year he is in a parochial school and not on an IEP. He does get some accomodations and for him now that makes a huge difference. For example, he is able to xerox his vocabulary page to make cards rather than copy definitions.

I honestly don’t think you have missed very much and really would not expend the energy being aggravated about it. We considered due process in second grade when there were major issues at the school. I decided to spend my money and energy on private remediation. I don’t regret it.

Beth

Hello Beth from Florida:

You’re absolutely right!! I often tell parents don’t fight to school spend your time and energy with your child. In the long run it is difficult to get out of school more than they can often give. Resources are limited and teachers are stretched thin. Most students need one-on-one attention. Better to figure out how to get one-on-one attention and hiring a lawyer that in the long run won’t make a difference.

Jim — Michigan

Thanks all for the responses. :-) I’m not agonizing over this - it’s just one of those things that seems so obvious, I don’t understand why the school system doesn’t get it. I’ve been curious for over two years - and thought maybe there was a “good” reason. :-)

I think Janis and Beth and I are all on the same page re: getting adequate help from the school system (at least mine). And, yes, we are continuing therapies and remediation on our own. My son is really starting to blossom (with some pre-adolescent angst along the way - but I’d worry about him if he didn’t do that! <g>).

BTW, Janis - the revered “regression formula” in our county (not mandated by the state) works out to a little over 1 1/2 standard deviations. The kids here are really far behind before anyone even notices!

As for IQ testing, he was diagnosed with APD (bottom 1%) two weeks after the WISC-III. He also has fine and gross motor delays, and a visual processing disorder. Is there any IQ test out there that would give a true picture of his innate ability? :-)

Lil

Lil,
Your letter could have been the exact letter I would write. I have decided to go over the school district’s head and to the state level. Look on the website for your state department of education, and there should be information for you about due process and mediation. I have asked for a mediation first, and then will begin the due process hearing if no action is taken. The fight is going to be long and hard, but it must be done. This is discrimination against our children for having a high IQ. I have only been able to get a 504 plan for my son for testing accommodations. I wish you luck with your fight.
Latracy

One of the biggest reasons school personnel don’t “get it” is because many of them genuinely don’t recognize that potential and intelligence and all those abstract things are a whole lot more complex than the current model running loose in their brains. There are still an awful lot of people who pretty much think you’re smart or not, and if you’re not, if you try harder, hyou’ll do better.
There are also an awful lot of them who simply accept that theyh’ll reach X percent of students — and if you’re in 100-X percent, it is *not* expedient or wise to invest undue resources in you (I’m not talking what’s right or legal here, just what’s real) since We Can’t REach Everybody Anyway.

Latracy,

I fought the good fight with the school system for almost two years. I went over everyone’s head through the superintendent, including e-mails to various departments in the state DOE. I also researched due process decisions that are posted on the DOE website. There is overwhelming evidence that parents do not prevail in those circumstances. Plus, even if I won at due process, I have enough experience with my school system to understand they would only implement partially appropriate programs, and then only do that in a halfway fashion.

I decided after much thought and research that providing therapy and remediation for my son is far less costly both emotionally and financially, and far more expedient for my son and his needs - than going to due process.

I was just wondering if any teacher types could give me some insight about the attitude toward my son that I see in the public school system. :-)

Lil

Lil,

IQ tests sort of give a reflection of how the child is functioning at the time. If a child has visual and auditory processing problems, then that is likely to effect verbal and performance. You could go for a non-verbal IQ, but the one that was given to Anna was little black and white line drawings which required some real visual discrimination, as far as I could tell. So I’m not sure that would really do you any good.

But since you have an IEP already, you can have accommodations in all classes, so that is a good thing. Really, resource pull-out is risky business if you intend for a child to graduate. Much better for the child to stay in the regular class and at least have a chance at learning the regular curriculum and remediate privately on-on-one.

Janis

Thanks Janis,

I’ve been reading NASP list for about 18 months looking for information on IQ tests. The UNIT seems to be the one that would best reflect my son’s abilities - but I can’t determine if that one is untimed. His visual REASONING is good - if he has enough time to figure it out.

www.hoagiesgifted.org/tests.htm

I really don’t know but it seems like a better bet than the WISC. What I’d really like is for him to take both tests. His highest score on the WISC was on the similarities portion - which I understand is the part that deals most with reasoning.

Bah - just thoughts - looks like more independent testing - or an IEE. :-) Wish I could find a good neuropsych in our area. The closest one I’ve found so far is 3 hours away.

And the only reason I’m looking at testing is because the school system has already tried to spit him out of his IEP once - and his triennial is this fall (over my dead body she says under her breath since he starts middle school in the fall).

Thanks again,
Lil

Lil — after many years I have come to the conclusion that a lot (not all, but a lot) of people in schools are prejudiced against smart people. A lot (again not all!) of teachers are themselves fairly middle-of-the-road students, often very weak in math; present society tracks good math students into computers and technology, and verbal/social people into teaching. Many teachers are afraid of their own weaknesses being shown up and are either frightened or jealous of scholarly people. Kids who are very bright are often put down in classes in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Advanced work is refused because it would be “unfair” to the others, so kids have to sit and be bored and frustrated for years in the name of fairness. The LD just makes an easy excuse, but it happens to almost all gifted kids sooner or later.

Lil, my district uses the UNIT. Anna was given the TONI, but I don’t think that one is admissible in place of the WISC. I have not observed the UNIT, so I don’t know much about it. But I do think it would be worth trying, especially if you do it provately. Then you can choose whether to share the results or not!

Janis

You’ve gotten many good answers to your good question. I’d say it comes down to drawing the line somewhere and that’s what they did and put your son on the other side of the line.

As another poster said, school is set up to be a group process. Yet the law says for some children, more should be done. Oddly the law does not offer greater services to children who simply have low IQs. The law offers the possibility of greater services at school to those children of higher IQ who have gaps in what they can do.

The law does NOT say what tests must be used to determine if there are gaps and the tests they use on your son don’t show gaps even though you know he has them.

Sometimes parents have their children tested privately with a different battery of tests and then try to move the school to do something based on the results of the other tests. You might consider doing that but certainly ask around and find other parents whose children have been identified for extra help in your school and find out from them the ‘ins and outs’ of the system.

Good luck.