they said my son doesn't qualify for special ed

Your son’s scores look good. If he is performing well academically, he won’t qualify for special education services. But if he requires accommodations like additional time, reduced distractions, etc. He can qualify for a 504 plan because he has a disability. You’ll have to find out from the teachers which accommodations he would most benefit from receiving. If they determine that he needs accommodations in order to be successful academically, then they can implement a 504 plan.

A 504 disability is not always an automatic alternative to a child who does not have an IDEA disability. The criteria for a 504 disability are quite different and frankly more restrictive. The child must demonstrate that there is a “substantial” limitation as to why the child may not access a major life activity, this case, learning. From the test results, I do not see a “substantial” issue that would disallow this child from accessing a major life activity.

To the parent I submit the child is able to accommodate his learning differences and if the school is providing leniency and accommodations to the extent reasonable, i would not pursue this further.

If you choose to press the issue, you may wish to pursue a central auditory processing issue with the Speech Pathologist and have this assessed thru an audiologist.

Thanks for your replies. I guess I was a bit thrown off my orignal concern which was never really his academics. I am concerned about how the demands of high school work will affect him next year but my concerns have mainly been his lack of social skills (only 2 friends who share his love of video games), his inattentiveness, and his executive functions which I don’t feel they have been addressed in his testing. The school had a copy of his psych eval that identfied deficits in pragmatic language, attention, and executive functioning prior to the evaluation they conducted yet these areas weren’t explored. So when we meet to discuss his evaluation, I’m going to ask the school for testing in these areas which weren’t even mentioned in his evaluation report.

[quote=reeinaz]Thanks for your replies. I guess I was a bit thrown off my orignal concern which was never really his academics. I am concerned about how the demands of high school work will affect him next year but my concerns have mainly been his lack of social skills (only 2 friends who share his love of video games), his inattentiveness, and his executive functions which I don’t feel they have been addressed in his testing. The school had a copy of his psych eval that identfied deficits in pragmatic language, attention, and executive functioning prior to the evaluation they conducted yet these areas weren’t explored. So when we meet to discuss his evaluation, I’m going to ask the school for testing in these areas which weren’t even mentioned in his evaluation report. [/quote]

The additional areas of assessment will not help your case. Special Education is for students with significant academic concerns related to their disability. If your concern is not academic as you indicated, then what academic area would special education address? Providing additional evidence about deficits in pragmatic language, executive functioning, etc. will not make him eligible.

I just wanted to give an update. I went to the meeting and advocated for my son. While I will agree that on the surface his scores don’t scream special ed student, I was able to show that his school perfomanece, which does not consist solely of academic performance, was being adversely affected by his disabilities. But yes, his academics were being adversely affected as well. A child doesn’t have to be failing to qualify for needed services. And just because there are children with much more severe needs doesn’t mean he should receive services he is eligible for. I’m glad that I didn’t let people talk me out of what I knew my son needed. He was approved for a 504 plan. Oh, and the school is arranging the additional testing that I requested.
[Modified by: reeinaz on December 21, 2008 11:05 AM]

[quote=reeinaz]I just wanted to give an update. I went to the meeting and advocated for my son. While I will agree that on the surface his scores don’t scream special ed student, I was able to show that his school perfomanece, which does not consist solely of academic performance, was being adversely affected by his disabilities. But yes, his academics were being adversely affected as well. A child doesn’t have to be failing to qualify for needed services. And just because there are children with much more severe needs doesn’t mean he should receive services he is eligible for. I’m glad that I didn’t let people talk me out of what I knew my son needed. He was approved for a 504 plan. Oh, and the school is arranging the additional testing that I requested.
[Modified by: reeinaz on December 21, 2008 11:05 AM]
[/quote]

I am very curious about how the definition of school performance has really expanded over the years. It seems to mean whatever people want it to mean, similar to how people define the term “adversely affected.” Sometimes I don’t understand the purpose of all the testing when people just want to ignore what the results mean.

Reeinaz, I am proud that you went to your meeting and was articulate to explain what your son needed. Parents know their children best and sometimes we need to explain the test results to the psychologists. Your hard work and dedication is paying off.

pa has a supplementary curriculum for those who need sped for needs related to asperger/autism ect

disagree with their er and request an iee. alot of folks like www.margaretkay.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEP_guide/links
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pa_comply/

[quote=reeinaz]Thanks for your replies. I guess I was a bit thrown off my orignal concern which was never really his academics. I am concerned about how the demands of high school work will affect him next year but my concerns have mainly been his lack of social skills (only 2 friends who share his love of video games), his inattentiveness, and his executive functions which I don’t feel they have been addressed in his testing. The school had a copy of his psych eval that identfied deficits in pragmatic language, attention, and executive functioning prior to the evaluation they conducted yet these areas weren’t explored. So when we meet to discuss his evaluation, I’m going to ask the school for testing in these areas which weren’t even mentioned in his evaluation report. [/quote]

http://www.wiwd.uscourts.gov/bcgi-bin/opinions/district_opinions/CV/08/08-CV-187-BBC-01-08-09.PDF

I am very curious about how the definition of school performance has really expanded over the years. It seems to mean whatever people want it to mean, similar to how people define the term “adversely affected.” Sometimes I don’t understand the purpose of all the testing when people just want to ignore what the results mean. [/quote]