Last year at my son’s ARD, it was determined that he needed an assistive technology evaluation. One has not been done. I was told at the ARD that any questions concerning his IEP and related services should go through the resident school diagnostician. I’ve emailed the diagnostician at his school twice and have not received any response. I would like for the evaluation to be done as quickly as possible because I want him to begin using the technology. He has a Disorder of Written Expression and has entered seventh grade, where writing and note taking are very important for his academic success. I don’t want him falling behind. What should I do? What is my next step?
Also, he was found to have a severe discrepancy between IQ and achievement in math calculations, as well. Because he was working on level in mathematics and making all A’s and B’s, it was determined he would not receive any services for math. Since the ARD, however, he failed the state-mandated math test. I now am interested in his being assessed for AT for math, as well. How do I go about requesting this? Can I request this without an ARD to determine whether or not he is eligible for AT in math?
Finally, I think life would be a heck of a lot easier, if he was able to bring his laptop and a tape recorder from home. I am receiving opposition from the school on both of these, and I can’t figure out why. It’s no problem for them, and we do not expect for them to pay for the technology since we already own these things. Do I need to call an ARD to address these issues?
The school year has just begun, and I already am beginning to get frustrated, fearing I’m going to be fighting this school for the simplest, most obvious, of things. Ugh! HELP!
Hi Mava. We’re from Alabama and I don’t know what you mean by an ARD meeting. When my sons were in public school we just called extra IEP meetings.
I know what you are talking about with the schools not wanting to let your son bring a laptop and tape recorder from home. My son is dyslexic and dysgraphic and I bought him a laptop because a word processor was recommended by his evaluating doctor. The school did not have to buy it nor did they have to teach him to use it or to type. Yet they fought us every step of the way. We had to get a letter from the evaluating doctor that expressly stated that he needed the word processing software to present to the IEP team. We are in a county school system and I also requested that the county disabilities coordinator be in attendance at the meeting. That is what made the difference. She basically overrode the local staff and let him bring it from home. It also helped that I offered to delete all the games off the laptop so he wouldn’t be tempted to play games instead of doing his work.
I also understand that you are having a hard time getting an evaluation scheduled for your child. I cannot stress enough how important it is to take the time to type and print all correspondence with school personnel at any level and keep a copy of all correspondence between your family and the school. We eventually ended up having to file a formal complaint with our state board of education’s special education division on behalf of my son and our saving grace was that I had hard copies of everything. I would send a request for the evaluation to be done as soon as possible in writing through snail mail with a receipt that they got it. They only have a certain amount of time (can’t remember exactly how long off the top of my head) to get these evaluations done. I’m thinking it is a month or so because the school asked me to wait til the new school year one time so they wouldn’t have to do the evaluations over the summer vacation.
Good luck to you.