Should we wait until the fall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect my child has dyslexia. He is in 1st grade in FCPS. He has been making progress, but it's been slow and he HATES reading, which has me concerned. The school has him in a small group with some of the lower readers.
We met with his school team and the psychologist and special education teacher there said that they do suspect a disability is possible and that they don't want him to hate reading, but they'd like to finish up the quarter with interventions and come back together when he is in second grade. The reasons they gave are 1) he hasn't been in their interventions very long and does not have the highest level of intervention, 2) he is young for his grade ( I admit, his birthday isn't until late August when he turns 7), and finally 3, which I suspect is the real reason they pushed away from testing 3) they'd only have one month to complete the testing when they normally have two months and may not be able to do the most thorough evaluation compared to if they start next year and wait for him to be seven (something about how some tests can't be given until that age). I actually really respected the team's honesty and I felt like they probably do want my child to succeed but I am nervous that if we wait until the fall he will just keep falling behind. Right now I am thinking about finding some tutoring for the weekends as he will be in camp this summer. What would you folks do?

I would listen to your sped team. They clearly have your child’s best interest at heart, are providing interventions, and were very honest. They are professionals and know your child. The fact that parents come on this forum and tell other parents to ignore the sped teams recommendation, while clearly being confused and inexperienced and often resentful, is so disturbing.

[Anonymous]

School psych here! If we get a referral now, we are expected to complete it before the end of the school year. Referrals received after June2 go to summer team. I currently have 14 kids to finish testing, so your son would be number 15. I will assess all area of suspected disability but if I have extra time and am curious about something that I saw in the scores , I will give additional tests or do additional observations or interviews. However, it’s not really possible to do that if the referral is received so late. Testing a child in May is hard because they usually have to miss fun activities in their classroom.. Also, one of my favorite tests to assess surface dyslexia, test of orthographic competence, can’t be given until a child is 7, and intelligence isn’t considered “stable” until age 7 so scores are never as valid when I evaluate younger students. I tell parents all of this and they frequently don’t trust me and think that I am trying to gate keep their child’s right for an IEP- but sometimes they do trust me, and I always evaluate their child the following year and frankly, do a better job because the law is one thing and the actuality of what is possible during the last 23 days of schools when I have fourteen other kids to test…is another. Parents, I recommend referring your child early, and not waiting until late April/ May.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you postpone the testing until next year, it will be January before any support is in place. If you start now and he qualifies, he'll have services on day 1. The statutory timelines don't stop over the summer.

It's specifically against the law to postpone evaluations in order to do more interventions, if you are requesting them.

That’s not accurate at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you postpone the testing until next year, it will be January before any support is in place. If you start now and he qualifies, he'll have services on day 1. The statutory timelines don't stop over the summer.

It's specifically against the law to postpone evaluations in order to do more interventions, if you are requesting them.

That’s not accurate at all.

The only thing that’s against the law is to refuse to meet. Parents don’t have the right to demand evaluations, only to request that the team consider them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused about why it would take 2 months for testing, but I think (1) defer to next year could work only if the same players who know your kid will be involved but as PP said - move forward now - and (2) indeed make the most of this summer to boost reading through tutor, lab school, sienna, whatever else!

It’s the legal timeline. I’m confused why and how you think school staff have wide open calendars to complete tasks in five minutes? A request for testing isn’t planned and school teams need adequate time to test, write a report, share the report/results with parents, and schedule an eligibility meeting.

Wow someone is snippy on the special needs board - we don't do that here. Just parents helping parents and learning along the way. No one is suggesting that testing be completed in 5 minutes.

[Anonymous]

If you need to do private testing, that can be easier in summer. For our DS it was 2 days and we didn’t want him to miss any school. We were able to do over a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am reading the book “Overcoming Dyslexia” (recommend to anyone that has a kid or thinks their kids has dyslexia). In the book, the author talks about the value of time in terms of early interventions. Time is of the essence for these kids.

I would push for an assessment now, they still have time to complete one, so you come out of the gate running in second grade. If he has dyslexia. He will need specialized interventions and you will want to start as soon as possible. A formal written request will start the timeline for the school.

On a personal note, get the school to do as much as they can to help him but if you can get outside support also. Unfortunately, I have not heard off many cases in public schools where in school interventions were enough.

The school has him interventions already and the post says they can increase interventions for the rest of the school year

If in FCPS, he is most likely getting MTSS interventions in the classroom. If he has an IEP, the intervention for reading will be done by a special education teacher following a specific curriculum. With the IEP you will have goals and mandated service hours. Special education services are only guaranteed through an IEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP: I would do everything thing in my power as a parent to get an IEP before the beginning of the school year. This way, when they build the master schedule, your child will be already scheduled for pull outs.

This. Their rationale doesn't make sense to me. You can do testing in summer clinic and it's very thorough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special education FCPS teacher here. Absolutely push for the testing now. They can test him in summer clinic. They should not have said there would be more thorough testing by waiting until the fall. You could make a big stink about that, as it’s not allowed. Get it started now and make it clear you want it to be comprehensive. If you wait, it won’t get done and an IEP in place until near the end of first quarter. They will say he needs to get settled into the new school year etc before testing. You want him on caseload the minute school starts, not added onto some overworked special education teacher’s caseload for second quarter when schedules are already made. Believe me. You should also get a summer tutor.

+1000

Getting him on the schedule for special education hours before the school year is key. Through the IEP process, my son started reading interventions with a special education teacher in Q2. He was added to a group, it was not a good fit. Since it was in the middle of the year, there was nothing that could be done because of his reading level and the schedule that was the only time available for intervention.

[Anonymous]

Now.

When we did the testing in APS, it was done over the summer. Don't wait.

[Anonymous]

Get the testing ASAP.

Also, regardless of when the testing is, I'd strongly think about looking for a tutor for the summer months. Ideally someone trained in Phono-Graphix/Reading Simplified, which is clear and straightforward. Kids can make progress very quickly using this approach.

[Anonymous]

Now. Kicking the can down the road is a way to delay services and preserve the thin resources. Don't fall for it, your child deserves to get the attention and help he needs. If it's dyslexia, the sooner it's established the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am reading the book “Overcoming Dyslexia” (recommend to anyone that has a kid or thinks their kids has dyslexia). In the book, the author talks about the value of time in terms of early interventions. Time is of the essence for these kids.

I would push for an assessment now, they still have time to complete one, so you come out of the gate running in second grade. If he has dyslexia. He will need specialized interventions and you will want to start as soon as possible. A formal written request will start the timeline for the school.

On a personal note, get the school to do as much as they can to help him but if you can get outside support also. Unfortunately, I have not heard off many cases in public schools where in school interventions were enough.

The school has him interventions already and the post says they can increase interventions for the rest of the school year

If in FCPS, he is most likely getting MTSS interventions in the classroom. If he has an IEP, the intervention for reading will be done by a special education teacher following a specific curriculum. With the IEP you will have goals and mandated service hours. Special education services are only guaranteed through an IEP.

If he gets MTSS intervention that could be with a reading specialist who does OG. It could also be with a gen ed teacher who does OG. I wouldn’t assume the intervention is inferior to special education, depending on staff and programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused about why it would take 2 months for testing, but I think (1) defer to next year could work only if the same players who know your kid will be involved but as PP said - move forward now - and (2) indeed make the most of this summer to boost reading through tutor, lab school, sienna, whatever else!

It’s the legal timeline. I’m confused why and how you think school staff have wide open calendars to complete tasks in five minutes? A request for testing isn’t planned and school teams need adequate time to test, write a report, share the report/results with parents, and schedule an eligibility meeting.

Wow someone is snippy on the special needs board - we don't do that here. Just parents helping parents and learning along the way. No one is suggesting that testing be completed in 5 minutes.

I can’t be snippy, but parents can spread false information about policies, special education, and staff? And constantly write that school teams are incompetent and parents shouldn’t listen to them? Talk about 1-sided censorship that is rampant on the special needs forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused about why it would take 2 months for testing, but I think (1) defer to next year could work only if the same players who know your kid will be involved but as PP said - move forward now - and (2) indeed make the most of this summer to boost reading through tutor, lab school, sienna, whatever else!

It’s the legal timeline. I’m confused why and how you think school staff have wide open calendars to complete tasks in five minutes? A request for testing isn’t planned and school teams need adequate time to test, write a report, share the report/results with parents, and schedule an eligibility meeting.

Wow someone is snippy on the special needs board - we don't do that here. Just parents helping parents and learning along the way. No one is suggesting that testing be completed in 5 minutes.

Yes, the perspective that schools actually know what they are doing and may act in the best interest of the child is quite often shouted down on this board.
I can’t be snippy, but parents can spread false information about policies, special education, and staff? And constantly write that school teams are incompetent and parents shouldn’t listen to them? Talk about 1-sided censorship that is rampant on the special needs forum.