My husband and I just came home from my dd’s triennial IEP review. She is in 6th grade going to middle school next year. Her IQ score(DAS non-verbal test) came in at 143 and her Woodcock Johnson scores were scattered from 95 to 126 (but all within the average range). They also did a CELF and she was in solid 50% for the subtests she was evaluated on(vs. 5% when she first was put on an IEP). Her strengths lie in visual spatial and reasoning. (math) Spelling(85 on subtest) is her weakest and she struggles with oral expression. She has a language disability (CAPD).
Although technically she meets the criteria of LD(discrepancy between IQ and achievement) and could still be on an IEP, we (both parents and team) felt that the services under the IEP really would not benefit her at this time. She is doing well in school, gets mainly As except for language arts. However, we do notice quite a ‘scatter’ in her school work. Lots of D’s, F’s on daily work, but then similar assignment will have an A. She ends up getting an A in the class because her teacher scores them on final results.
Question: Should we have pushed for a 504 accomodations only? I feel like we have lost our safety-net by going off the IEP. She compensates for disability well, but who knows what lies ahead with middle school and high school? She does still have a language disability.
Did we just 'sell our soul'?
You didn’t sell your soul at all. You could have a perfectly viable IEP but that transition to middle school is a different ball of wax, period. Different school, different staff, etc.
It seems to be “out of fashion” but when I taught in middle and high school, one option was an IEP that simply had a caseworker consulting with the regular ed. teachers so that they could get a handle on things. That often amounted to a weekly feedback form - so that when a kiddo floundered (as they often did), the parents could find out in a timely manner instead of when the report cards arrived.
Which begs the *real* question: does anybody have a handle on her LD issues and how they affect her learning and her assignments (which are two different things)?
How are her skills - the ones she’ll need to be able to do independently in middle school? Are those “average” scores becuase the skills really are average, or are they really pretty abysmal but she’s so bright she can guess her scores to average?
How much content is she learning?
How is she as a student, if you dont’ count grades? Does she participate in class? (That, of course, can mean just about anything depending on the class)
I don’t think so. With your dd’s history and test results, you should be able to request services at the middle school if something unexpected comes up. The test results are still there to support a new IEP.
Where I am, 504 plans are pretty rare and are used only when discrimination could be an issue. The schools write up accommodations even for non-IEP and non-504 kids and distribute them to teachers. The only difference between this and a 504 plan is that the 504 plan is legally binding on the school and the teachers.
One thing you might want to consider later on is whether she will need accommodations for the college boards. They have become quite stringent about granting these, and would require documentation that accommodations were necessary on a daily basis in high school. If your dd gets to high school and needs accommodations, you would probably want these on an IEP to better her chances of getting accommodations for the college boards. However, you have quite a few years yet before you need to consider that problem.