My son has had pronounced difficulty with writing since 2nd grade. I could not get any help with writing. He was finally granted an IEP for Other health impaired due to adhd.
Fast forward 5th grade, he was finally retested and it is found that he was LD Written Expression just as I have already said.
The tell me at the IEP meeting they will write into the IEP to let him ‘tape record’ answers. I called continuously last year and they never implemented it - and come to find out they never wrote it into the IEP.
So this year, his 6th grade year, I ask for a meeting. I find out there are behaviour issues (he is getting frustrated). They want to put him in ‘alternative school’ due to lots of little things (transition goofs like running and skipping).
All the teachers are complaining calling him lazy, writing him up for passive defiance (for not doing seat work), etc.
Even the special ed teacher he has does not understand it I guess. She had the nerve to complain about his handwriting when we met.
I broke down in the meeting and started crying and told them I was going to take him out of school and homeschool him and left. The head of special ed called me back and there is another meeting Monday.
Another thing they told me, they took 2 things he wrote as a ‘something out of the ordinairy’.
1. They asked him to write a Halloween Story about what he’d do if he were a bat. He wrote something that was not good enough. So they chided him and he then wrote ‘if he were a bat he’d circle the school and scare the teachers’. I found it funny - it is a halloween story after all.
2. He watched a show on the 3rd reich on the History Channel the other day, and he was doodling during seatwork, and doodled something about Natsi (how he spelling it) and the 3rd rike…without realizing the serious meaning of it - they wrote him a discipline referral for this. I explained to them where it came from, and they just kinda looked at me. I felt nervous. I explained it to him that evening, and he said he didn’t really understand what it meant or why people would be uptight about it. He was just bored because of a long written assignment that he could’nt do as usual and he was doodling. Crap
I feel like I am being barraged by a bunch of people that can’t even google for the word dysgraphia, little lone understand it.
I am in a small rural southern school district if that helps to paint a picture.
My son is really bright. He can almost beat me at chess, asked me deep questions after reading Dante’s Inferno, and is generally a bright kid. He reads well. He understands. For some reason the spacing, the letters, the spelling is horrible. He can’t even read it (his writing).
Help.
What should I do.
Re: Please help me - just found you guys - need help
I did not give enough. He has been tested for hearing, seeing, vision - all with excellent results. He has been ruled out as needing occupational therapy and has a transfer issue.
[quote:0fa0f66fd2=”auditorymom”]If he has problems with written expression has he gotten a speech evaluation? Assistive technology would be the other area to look into, but as you have already run into, make sure it is in the IEP and that your child is actually using it. Check out the teaching with technology forum on this website. You might also want to go over to Schwablearning.org as the disipline referral sounds like it might be something the school is using,so they don’t have to educate your child, and as I remember from moms on that website there were some good suggestions like writing rebutals on the report. Good luck.[/quote]
Re: Please help me - just found you guys - need help
My child has terrible writing but when she was evaluated they said her writing was fine. Her problem is that she has poor short term memmory and therefore has a hard time holding information in her head . So she has a hard time writing a sentence as she starts then forgets what she was going to write. So a look at short term memmory maybe a possibility also.
Nancy3
What you describe sounds like dysgraphia.
Join the dysgraphia list at http://groups.yahoo.com . Check out message #2981 on that group, which describes how to prepare a binder, resume and Hippa to take into meetings with you.
Also, if you have medical insurance, call your medical insurance company and ask about getting a neuro-psychological evaluation for dysgraphia. Dysgraphia is classified as a neurological disorder by the NIH, so its diagnosis is covered by medical insurance.
Nancy
Re: Please help me - just found you guys - need help
I 100% agree with Nancy. You need a private evaluation asap so you can get a diagnosis and therapy and accommodation recommendations.
Janis
Re: Please help me - just found you guys - need help
[quote:23c4e08857=”Janis”]I 100% agree with Nancy. You need a private evaluation asap so you can get a diagnosis and therapy and accommodation recommendations.
Janis[/quote]
Ok, again I have not been clear enough.
We have an independent confirmation of dysgraphia and adhd from a large clinic specializing in this sort of thing.
My problem is getting the school to stop thinking it is a ‘he’s being lazy issue’. Also read my post again about the discipline, etc.
Nancy3
Then I would recommend joining the dysgraphia group and reading Jay’s email on how to go prepared into IEP meetings. I would also start calling around to find an advocate to go to meetings with you.
Since you have a professional diagnosis from outside the school, you should also have recommendations from the diagnostician. An advocate can help you argue for implementation of those recommendations. Also, don’t you have to agree to the IEP provisions? Just don’t agree until the provisions are the ones you want. Send a letter expressing your disagreement with the terms of the IEP, if necessary. (This documents your disagreement. I believe the school has to continue to meet with you until you agree. They do not want endless meetings, so this can make them become more compliant with your wishes.)
You need to follow up on meetings to make sure the recommendations get written into the IEP the way they should be. You cannot assume a provision is made in the IEP until you see it in writing in the IEP.
Once the provisions are in the IEP in writing and the school (and you) have signed off on them, they constitute *a legal, binding contract* on the school’s part. If a teacher doesn’t follow the IEP, the school is out of compliance with the law. Point this out to them. If you do it verbally and nothing happens, start doing it in writing — to the teacher with copies to the principal, the school psychologist, and the director of special education for the school district. A few letters like this and teachers/principal are likely to become *much* more compliant.
As for the behavioral issues, you need someone on your side in those meetings who can point out how absurd the observations are. School personnel are clearly misinterpreting behaviors that can be reasonably explained. School personnel will believe they are right until someone explains in what way they are wrong. Unfortunately, you are probably too emotionally involved to do this with sufficient authority and firmness. This is where an advocate can be helpful.
The school is weaseling out of providing what your son needs. The only one who is really on his side is *you*. Arm yourself as best you can for meetings. If you can’t afford an advocate, find some man who looks intelligent and can dress in a business suit to go to meetings with you and takes notes. He doesn’t even have to say anything after introductions. Even just this type of male presence in the meeting can make a big difference in how they treat you. If you can find an attorney (introduce him as your attorney), all the better. If you can’t find a man, ask a woman who can do the same — dress well and scribble notes during the meeting (the notes don’t have to make sense).
It’s a shame to have to do all this, but it sounds as if the school is undercutting your authority by treating you as an overly emotional mother. One way to shore up your authority in meetings is to bring someone with you. It’s also a good idea to create a paper trail and keep a binder full of documentation……
Nancy
Re: Please help me - just found you guys - need help
THe bottom line is to document, document, documnet. Whenever somebody doesn’t provide what he needs, write a quick note of concern… or at least, document it in a little notebook with the date and the details, and tehn at teh end of that week, spend 90 minutes (and you’ll get quicker) with your little template of your weekly letter describing how they have faileed to meet his needs. You can include that you do fully understand how challenging their jobs are, and you appreciate tehir long hours and tireless patience… you’re simply making them aware of these issues that are of great concern to you as it seems he is not receiving a free, appropriate public education.
Has there been anything he did *well* - especially something that required work but not writing, and demonstrated a positive attitude and knowledge? ( I realize that this gets more difficult with every negative experience.) Be sure to document your appreciation of that stuff, too.
If he has problems with written expression has he gotten a speech evaluation? Assistive technology would be the other area to look into, but as you have already run into, make sure it is in the IEP and that your child is actually using it. Check out the teaching with technology forum on this website. You might also want to go over to Schwablearning.org as the disipline referral sounds like it might be something the school is using,so they don’t have to educate your child, and as I remember from moms on that website there were some good suggestions like writing rebutals on the report. Good luck.