My son is in 10th grade and has been diagnosed with mild non-verbal learning disabilities NOS and ADD non-attentive type. Currently his GPA is 1.89. He has just been given 504 status for ADD and asthma and is currently in a study skills class at the school.
We have an IEP meeting with the school this wednesday March 24th. The school originally refused to test him and I sought private testing which resulted in the above diagnosis. The school psychologist gave him some testing and decided that even though there was a significant discrepancy between written (9yr old level) and verbal expression (22yr old level) he was not recommending status for IEP. He feels his needs can be covered under an 504.
My question is how can I ensure that my sons needs are best met even if we stay with the 504 status. My son has breakdowns in the following areas:
1. accurately getting homework and recording it in a planner
2. bringing it home
3. doing it and to complettion
4. returning it to school and handing it in
5. self advocacy
asking clarifying questions along the way
6. ability to benchmark long term assignments
7. ability to read chapter and respond to questions
8. ability to take notes at home with homework, and during lectures
9 knowing how to study for tests and quizes
Any suggestions as to what accomodations would best help him would be greatly appreciated!
Re: help before the IEPon 24th
Actually, your best bet is probably finding the teachers who deal with being supportive about organization best — the ones who are structured, *but* understand that being structured is difficult for some students.
And the most important question is: what can your son do for himself, and what is he willing to have other people do for him, and what’s his general attitude towards school? If he’s already counting the days ‘til his sentence has been served, skateboards his elbows away and lives for today, then your strategies are going to be very different than if he’s been surviving but not thriving with the ‘academic’ crowd and spends his spare time reading.
Also, hwat’s the goal after high school? Is he thinking about college? Would you want the groundwork for college accommodations (extended time for testing)?
Where does the writing break down? While the psych is almost certainly right and the special ed opportunities for teaching him writing would be utterly inappropriate, you could ask for some differentiated instruction (tho’ I”d want to be pushing for an IEP for that) so that with a little structure and guidance he might learn what a sentence was, if that’s one of the things that breaks down. (Or, you could take the shortcut and go to the local community college, where at least here they’re not afraid to try to teach people to read and write if they don’t know it already… in Illinois, by any chance?)
I wish I would have seen your message before today. We were in a very similiar situation with my older son. Please e-mail