Just curious how other parents would handle this. I have a 12 year old son that has been receiving sped services for three years. He is now due for tri-annual retesting. When recently diagnosed it was determined he had non-specific learning difficulties primarily with reading writing and spelling. A few months into special ed when he was failing to make any progress his spec teacher suggested he might be ADD primarily inattentive type. Started him on Adderall and the progress has been incredible. He was later tested for dyslexia at my insistance (why this wasn’t done at the time of the spec eval is beyond me) and now is also receiving dyslexia services. At the time of original eval he was in third grade and test results showed he was 2 to 3 years behind in reading/writing/spelling. He has made vast improvement. He was mainstreamed into a regular classroom except for dyslexia pullout in 5th grade and was a b student. His reading is at grade level and comprehension at 11th grade. He is now in 6th grade, but spelling is still attrocious. Just recently, his pediatrician became concerned that the adhd meds were causing tachycardia. As a result he has been switched off the med that was working so well for him, and we are waiting on a referral to a cardiologist. He is now on a much lower dose of a different med and having just started the school year I am not sure how well he is performing in school. Plus in texas he must pass the TAKS test in order to move on to 7th grade. If he qualifies for spec ed he can be exempted. So my question is, would you medicate your child for testing or not? If he is medicated, passes the tests and is no longer eligible, but then performs poorly in school because he no longer can take the medicine where does that leave us?? When can I demand he be retested?? Feel like I am in a quandry here. I am thrilled that he has made such progress, but scared he will not be able to keep up without accomadations as he enters jr high and high school.
Testing
In NC parents have the right to refuse testing. All service remain intact. Many parents opt for private testing. They may or may not share results with school.
I’d recommend doing whatever you can to keep him on an IEP for middle school. If that means not taking meds during the tests, then do it. There are so many changes going on during the middle school years that the academic challenges can seem like a 14,000 ft peak to climb. IEP accomodations can make a huge difference (and give you the opportunity to demand teacher changes and additional accomodations if needed.)
My son did test out of his IEP at the end of middle school, but it was only through intervention by a tutor that I hired, not because of specific remediation by the school. The spEd teacher we had did help a lot in explaining my son to the regular ed teachers, so we did try to keep a good working relationship with her and the guidance counslers. To give you an idea of the progress he made in middle school…in 6th grade he didn’t pass our state mandated tests at the proficient level (CSAP in Colorado)…however in 8th grade (we just got the results) he did…even got an advanced in science.
We’re starting high school on a 504…so far it looks like the work load will be doable, but we’re still doing lots of intervention with him (unfortunately, we will no longer have the same tutor for him). My son’s spelling is still bad, and will always be that way…he’s dyslexic and dysgraphic, but can work around it. I’d recommend getting him an electronic dictionary and make sure he knows to use it to check everything. Get accomadations for use of a computer and spell checker for all language arts assignments. And good luck!
Kay