college bound

I would never let that happen without going to war with the school system first. Your kid sounds like my 15 year old. She is not failing and is mainstreamed in all classes. It takes her longer to work throught her homework than other kids—academics will always be a struggle for her—but she tries. To remove the label is to run the risk of them dropping her through the cracks and the resultant drop in the child’s self image.

Here is a thought if this thing gets really ugly: There is something written into the law called, “the least restrictive environment…” If the school insists on this ridiculous course of action by removing the IEP, that is probably the legal basis that they will base this decision on. You may be able to fight this based on her IQ test which probably shows a fairly large gap between her verbal IQ and her performance IQ. Until her classroom grades show her performance grade point average in academics to equal her verbal IQ, then you may be able to prevent them from doing so. Many children have such a gap. Get thoseIQ scores and check it out.

At the last IEP meeting, the staff told me that Jadea is doing better than some of her non-disabled peers. She tests poorly on multiple choice tests of any kind—until they are read to her—then she scores in the .95 percentile or better if it is a language based test. I tumbled onto this when she brought home a “C” in English and complained that it was a terribly difficult test. I picked up the paper, looked it over and thought, “I know that she knows these words”–so I read the questions and then the choices to her—she got every one of them right. At the next IEP meeting, I went round and round with the special ed department until they agreed to read multiple choice tests to her as part of her accomodations—that they had not done so is ridiculous. She is currently mainstreamed and taking no LD classes—even in math—although I have engaged a math tutor for her. Our goal is the state proficiency tests—to pass all segments of it.

When the LD staff points out that J is doing better academically than many of her non-disabled peers. I told them that those other children are not my responsibility or concern. I am interested in the best possible outcome for my daughter. LD is NOT a function of intellect—it is a label used to describe a huge range of disorders that prevent kids who don’t fit into the cookie cutter, assembly line model of education. Just because the accomodations seem to be working and letting daughter function fairly successfully in an academic environment DOES NOT mean that she is “cured.” One does not “cure” these problems—one develops coping skills. Ooo-o-o00h! I urge you not to let them get away with this.

She sounds like she is still fairly young? My daughter insists that she wants to go to college. I have no idea how this will be accomplished but we will manage, somehow.

Good luck.

Melmom,
Have you looked into text-to-speech software at school for your daughter? There are many options available, they have these programs at most colleges and they will allow her to be independent. She won’t be able to have her tests read to her at college plus that just breeds dependence.
You should request an assistive technology assessment so that they can recommend the most appropriate text-to-speech software, training and other suggestions that will beneficial for your daughter. Even Shaywitz in her book, Overcoming Dyslexia” mentions these very appropriate accommodations.
Text-to-speech is invaluable for many students with LDs! (such as TextAloud MP3, Kurzweil, WYNN, Scan and Read Pro, Read and Write Gold, etc, etc)

I child can have a 504 Plan and qualify for SAT accommodations. The students needs to have the 504 Plan list the accommodations needed for the child in the classroom testing environment.

Before the child comes off an IEP you should request that they retest in the areas of disability to see if they still qualify for an IEP

my child was in all mainstream classes her senior year, but we kept the IEP on a “monitor” basis. The special ed. teacher checked with her regular ed. teachers regularly, and she was able to go to the resource room as needed to catch up on work or get help with something specific. If your child is close to graduation, I’d go this route. Also keep in mind that colleges usually want a recent eval.— if the HS dismisses her before her next 3 year re-eval. date they won’t have to test again.

The speech /lang teacher saved my daughter from being removed from the IEP. They are going going to use a program called concept imagery by LindaMood-Bell.

I have all these figures from the testing and can not make head or tails out of them. Her IQ is falls between 83-93 range. On the EOWPVT test she scored 53 percent-average and on the ROWPVT test she scored 61 percent-average. celf-3 test-she scored below average in concepts,listening to paragraphs,and recall. This brings her to below average in receptive language. Word memory and number forward were below average.

As I type this I am getting angry with the school for even telling me that she is scoring average. How can they even suggest to release her knowing that they are setting her up for failure. She made it another three years and should be happy. I will watch them carefully and fight to keep her own at all cost.

KTJ,

I don’t know if the speech software will be able to hold her interest long enough to be effective—it might be worth a try, though—it is definitely something to look into. She has auditory issues as well—CAPD. It seems that it is the social aspect that holds her interest—despite the fact that she is terrible at recognizing and responding to social cues, she is a very people-oriented child and she needs continual redirection.

To mg,

My daughter had an IQ test administered last year and another complete workup of the multi-factored test. Here is what they told me about the IQ tests: 85- 110 is considered “average or normal.” She scored above 110 on the areas of the test that are considered to be the “verbal IQ.” (This is not surprising. My daughter can carry on a conversation with an adult as if she were another adult.) On conceptual, logical and spatial reasoning, written expression—what they roughly term the “performance IQ,” she scored very low normal. She came out as attention deficit and impaired on the multi-factored test which is not part of the IQ test at all but a separate test. The large gap between the performance and the verbal IQ is how they determined that she had a learning disability called NLD.
It was the just newly graduated, junior high school guidance counselor that caught it. She looked at my kid’s behavior history, talked to her, talked to me and administered the tests. Since February last year, I have done some reading; they consider it to be an expressive learning disability or a processing disorder. She fits the profile of the NLD child to a “T.” So if you balance both of my daughter’s low normal and high normal scores—she comes out in the mean or dead center number of average.

Just kind of curious—how does your kid do on hearing or vision tests? Has she ever seen double or get headaches? Is she prone to motion sickness?? Is she/he overly/under responsive to physical stimuli such as touch? Balance/coordination problems? Might be a processing disorder. LindaF or Victoria who post here could probably direct you to some resources that could help you.

And I do, oh so identify with your anger and frustration—hang in there.

She is a very social and lovable child. She has many friends and has sleepovers every weekend. She always has a big smile. She is starting to get very interested in boys. I like the sleepovers at my house so I can hear about the boys. They have no idea that I can hear them. She is involved in many activities and is invited to everything. I am going to tape a sign up that says I do not know the families-You can not go.
She flunks the school hearing and eye test but does well at a real doctors test. She can hear very well. She tells us when the ice-cream truck is 3 blocks away. In 1st grade she could not block out back ground noise-it took her 3 years to master that skill. She could hear every room and repeat the conversations. It was amusing to hear the stories. I would whisper to her and she would hear every word. She could not stand loud noise but has overcome that.
She loves roller coasters and loves to fly. The faster the ride-the better the thrill. She loves the tower of terror at MGM. We allow her to bring a friend to amusement parks. We can not keep up with her ability to ride all day. Her sisters do not have the capability and my husband and I rather watch.
I had her tested and they have diagnosed her as CAPD. With learned coping skills -she has come along way. The school system has been wonderful. I notice the disabilty but she finds ways to compensate for it. She will have a life long struggle with this. She needs more time to memorize. Her recall can be confusing at times. I have her repeat stories to me. She has to slow down and think about the words. We are proud of her. She advocates for herself and does not let her LD hinder her in anyway.

[quote=”mg”]My child has been on a IEP since 1st grade. They are talking about removing her from an IEP but she will still be guided in the classroom. She has come along way but still struggles. They say she is a c student and can hold her own. In order to get assistance in college will she have to be on an IEP in her Senior year? If that is the case then I will fight leaving her on the IEP.[/quote]

She can get an IEP in college without having had one in 12th grade. But I don’t like what the school is saying. They’re willing to have her be a ‘C’ student - is that ‘holding her own’? Will she be content with Cs?

If she still has learning differences, she still deserves her IEP. IEPS and the need for them have nothing to do with grades.

Good luck.

Yes, a student can receive reasonable accommodations in college by providing the required documentation even if they have never had an IEP.

I’m including a link to an informative article on laws that apply in college vs. high school. The article is “Transition: There Are No IEP’s in College”
by Amy G. Dell.

www.tcnj.edu/~technj/2004/transition.htm

John

P.S. - I’d like to second the suggestion to consider a community college. In Virginia they’re less expensive than 4-year schools and transferring to a 4-year school is relatively painless once the student earns the necessary credits.