Hello —
I have a 17 yo dd who has just (finally) been diagnosed with LD and ADD. She was started on Adderall late last spring after failing a class in her Jr. year, and after we were finally authorized to do the testing by our private insurance, seeing as the school had refused yet again. This year, her grades have improved somewhat, but she is still in the pattern of doing well on her daily and class work and then bombing the tests because of comprehension problems. This results in grades that make her look okay to the counselors, and as a result, we have never been able to get any accommodations. I know, however, that she is retaining very little of what she is expected to learn, and she must work 3 times as hard to pull a C as another student has to work to pull an A or a B. It’s just so hard on her, and my heart breaks. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard.
This is my problem, and I am so mad that I could just spit. Please — I need advice and I need it soon.
We are beginning the process of applying to the college she wants to go to. It is a wonderful 2 year college with excellent disabilities support programs, and they have great transfer agreements with several 4 year colleges in the area. (Dd wants to be a psychologist, and she’s smart enough to do it!) I was told today that part of what I need to provide along with her application for admission is a record of all accommodations that have been offered by the schools. When I said that there hadn’t been any, that we’d been blown off for years because she was a B/C student, there was a long silence on the other end of the line. Apparently, we are going to have a more difficult time getting accommodations from the college if she doesn’t have a history of receiving them from the public schools. Not impossible, just more difficult.
I called the school’s Special Ed counselor, and he gave me the run-around AGAIN. Says her grades just don’t make her a good candidate for the SpEd program. I said that I didn’t want her in SpEd classes, just to have accommodations in testing, etc. so that the playing field is level. He was very condescending, saying that she had a GPA over 3.0, she was doing fine. She was getting high A’s he said. In what? Multi-media, he said. That’s a goof-off class, I responded. She got 100’s for three years in basketball too! He shot back that I should deal with some of the REALLY needy kids he has to deal with. AARRGGHH!! I’m sorry for those kids — I really am, but I’m dealing with mine and trying to offer her the best opportunity to succeed that I can. I asked him if she might not be improving in her grades this year because she’s on the Adderall. Yes, that was likely. And yet, I asked, if she’s still showing the same pattern of blowing tests, does that not indicate that there is still a disability present and that it should be addressed? How is she going to survive in college — a much more rigorous environment — without assistance? He mealy-mouthed around it.
I am SO frustrated. We left it that he is going to call an ARD, but I know what’s going to happen. The teachers will all talk about what a hard worker she is, how she’s a joy to have in class, that she’s bright (all of which are true), but that she apparently has a simple case of test anxiety, and they will decline to offer anything substantial. It will be the same old story we’ve been hearing for years, and which I allowed to cow me for TOO LONG.
What can I possibly say to make them stand up and take notice? I need an education FAST. Any advice, resources, etc?
TIA,
Laura B.
Re: Newbie: Having a Problem with School
Thank you for this. It is really tempting to blow these people off completely. They have never been anything but trouble for me (I homeschool my other child — highly gifted with some interesting learning differences :-)
I do have all those things for my dd (although she hasn’t taken and doesn’t need to take the SAT for this 2 year college — she’ll take it later when she has more confidence), and the report from the testing psychologist is very definite: *It is strongly recommended that she receive additional support academically in these areas as well as possible medication to help her attend and focus more effectively.* Just doesn’t seem that it could be more definitive than that.
Why, though, would the college counselor insist on the need for HS ARD reports, and act as if it might be a problem if we didn’t have them? And the HS counselor alluded to this too in trying to discourage me, saying that some colleges required longer periods of public school accomodations in order to provide services at the undergrad level. What if my ds hadn’t been tested until she reached college age? (My dh wasn’t.) Would there be limits placed on the college’s responsibilities then? I don’t think so. Except for the fact that the college counselor was so incredibly helpful and encouraging, and I’ve heard so much wonderful stuff about this school’s program, I would think that both counselors were in a contest to see who could duck responsibility the fastest.
Part of what I’m worried about, though, is that dd isn’t going to be well prepared academically for college. She’s barely surviving HS now.
Laura B.
Re: Newbie: Having a Problem with School
Follow up the phone call with a written request for evaluation. Specify that you want to be invited to the ARD meeting. If this is the meeting where the determination is made for evaluation, then you are a member of this team. I would also request immediate implementation of a 504 Plan based on the diagnosis of LD and ADD. This will provide immediate accommodations relief. Be prepared to provide a list of accommodations desired, again in writing. You are entitled to a written explaination of each accommodation that is rejected.
At the meeting, bring along copies of any documentation you have substantiating the suspected disability, diagnosis, test results, samples of classwork/homework, etc. Be prepared to point out the discrepancies between ability and achievement. Treat this as an IEP-A meeting.
Good luck!
Re: Newbie: Having a Problem with School
>>Treat this as an IEP-A meeting.<<
Thank you for this specific advice. I’ll get right on the stick. I have put a call in also to the testing therapist for her input.
What, however, is an IEP-A meeting? And I use the term ARD because I have heard it, but I don’t know what the acronym stands for.
Laura B.
Re: Newbie: Having a Problem with School
College isn’t always a more rigourous environment but testing would be the way to get your daughter the help she needs. Rather than rely on her grades, have her tested by an educational psychologist. That testing will show her learning differences to both her high school and her college.
Re: ARD
ARD is Admission, Review, Dismissal team/meetings which equates to the people who determine eligibility for special education services.
An IEP-A meeting/team is the meeting where determination for evaluation/Evaluation takes place or in the case of ARD the Review/Admission phase.
If you have the private testing, IQ, achievement/academic and they show a substantial gap to document her LD, submit those to the college person with a note that the high school refused to evaluate her. Did she have accomodations on her SAT’s? If so, note that for the college. Also send the report of the person who diagnosed her ADHD, with the recommendations for ADHD accomodations. I wouldn’t waste time with the hs counselor.