Ok, I need some help, my son is 7 yrs old and diagnosed with ADD and depression. Dr. has encouraged me to get LD testing, to rule it in or out of his problems. The school district has been giving me the run around since last year. And now they tell me they can’t do it because of certain laws, and they don’t think he needs it because “he is doing sooo well this year academically” (oh yeah, I held him back in 1st grade this year for social and emotional reasons….so he is just repeating all the stuff he already knows from last year) I have been trying to do reasearch on laws and acts on learning disability testing, and get a ton of non-related info. I want to verify whether or not the school is telling me the truth or not. I live in Oklahoma…any ideas??? I looked on ed.gov and didn’t see much
Re: help! Trouble getting testing
I sent a written request last school year, and we switched schools in the same district, but they are telling me I didn’t sign the release last year and that they had a cut off date for testing,which no one informed me of. So I sent another letter a few weeks ago, and they are trying everything in their power to discourage me from getting him tested…
Re: help! Trouble getting testing
Check out the site called wrightslaw. Other people here may be able to help too.
Re: help! Trouble getting testing
New IDEA specifies 60 day timeline to complete an eval. Write your request for a full educational eval. Include a statement saying this is your consent to the testing. Request a response within 7 days. Give copies to teacher, principal and SPED director. Document and keep a copy. Now they have the letter in hand, with consent, the 60 day clock is running.
Hope that helps.
2bm
Re: help! Trouble getting testing
My opinion is that since he is repeating first grade, it is very unlikley that the school testing will show up an LD if there is one. Get private testing if you are really concerned about learning problems.
Janis
testing and repeating first
My son repeated first grade because he is a july baby and our school year starts in aug. They where so sure it was maturity. He did great in the first 4 weeks and then I do not know what happened. I requested the school to test because they would not except the testing done outside the school.
They tried to talk me out of it and almost successed. He got the testing in Oct. was placed in Nov but really did not get the help until Jan. Then what a difference. He got a great resource teacher. But they definitly wait out to the end of every deadline. Repeating first will only get them throught he first marking period if it is some form of LD.
At least in our case it did not fix things until he got the placement. They did not want me to label him. That is a long story but I would have them test no matter what. Best to rule it out then waste valuable time of assistance and achievement.
I wish I listened more to my gut rather than my hearts wish. I so badly wanted them to be right. My son suffered for it.
best wishes and strength for a trying time.
Anne
Other people here know the ins and outs of the law, but once you make a *written* request for testing to the schol, they have a certain fixed amount of time to take action, or else they are not in compliance with the law.