Advocate, Attorney or Tutor?

[Anonymous]

DC is diagnosed ASD, ADHD and GT (gifted and talented).
School decided to give 504 but not an iep.
DC is in high school with poor grades due to failure to remember homework. Parents have a difficult time navigating different online systems to track homework assignments and completion. When work is submitted, grades are As. Asking for executive functioning support from school, school has made it clear they will not help.


What is the best next step to take?

[Anonymous]

Tutor/executive function coach. He needs to really learn executive function skills in order to be successful in college, and the minimal services he'd get from an IEP won't be sufficient. Spend your money on skill building.

[Anonymous]

I came here to say executive function coach. No IEP or 504 can touch what happens after school in your home. That was never a reasonable request.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I came here to say executive function coach. No IEP or 504 can touch what happens after school in your home. That was never a reasonable request.

Knowing what the child is supposed to be working on is reasonable and I would bet it's in your 504 under school / home communication. It shouldn't be on the parents to figure it out. There are kiddos with EF Deficits who can not afford a private tutor. The law says the school will support them.

[Anonymous]

Yeah that's a literal IEP goal
If your child can't remember their homework and it's effecting their ability to learn they should have an iep.

[Anonymous]

This is an important skill and will be needed for college. AND, schools never want to go the extra mile on their own, we have experienced.

This issue was spelled out in my son's IEP.

He was provided--by the school--a homework, exam, quiz, etc. Planner for the semester.

And each day he had a one-pager planning sheet.

At the end of each class, he wrote down pertinent information on that day's Daily Planning Sheet for the class.

Then, at the end of the day, he had a resource period with other IEP students.

Students would take their Daily planning sheet and transfer that information into their Semester Planner, along with the appropriate due dates. Turning in homework assignments was reviewed.

The Resource Teacher would check the Daily sheet against the Semester planning booklet. Students would earn a point for completing this task, and then either do homework or finish up testing for which they were approved extra time.

This Resource Class was scheduled as part of my son's coursework and a benefit of the IEP. It was not mandatory (i.e., once your kid got this process down, they did not need to take a resource course in subsequent semesters).

My student's exec. function skills flourished as a result of this process and class.

I never signed into the MCPS program to review his homework submissions, test dates, etc.

To this day, he manages his own workload/deadlines in college. I am so relieved not to be eyeballs deep each day online in his academic world. I know many parents who "sign in" as their student to monitor progress.

There may be many paths to a solution that is right for your family. I am just sharing our experience.

Good luck OP!

[Anonymous]

Attorney. The school isn’t appropriately supporting your child.

[Anonymous]

The school will simply put your kid in Strategies for Success and sometimes you get a teacher who actually is helpful. You don't need an IEP to take it as an elective. The thing is they know the system is messed up. I as a parent spend a lot of time figuring out each teacher's system and helping both my kids learn it. One needs more scaffolding than the other. It's a hot mess. The schools should just require every teacher to use the same system for HM, assignments, etc, but it won't happen.

Not worth it to fight it with a lawyer. It will just push more teachers away from the field. Nobody has time for the support other than a Strategies for Success class. I might see if if there is a teacher at the school who does executive functioning support as tutoring. That person might know the teachers more and be better at figuring out the system.

[Anonymous]

We had this issue and I was able to help mine develop strategies. It was far more effective than anything that the IEP provided. IME, the IEP took the onus off my kid and put in artificial means to make him successful but never taught the necessary skills. So based on my experience I’d recommend an executive functioning coach unless your kid won’t need these skills in tue future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an important skill and will be needed for college. AND, schools never want to go the extra mile on their own, we have experienced.

This issue was spelled out in my son's IEP.

He was provided--by the school--a homework, exam, quiz, etc. Planner for the semester.

And each day he had a one-pager planning sheet.

At the end of each class, he wrote down pertinent information on that day's Daily Planning Sheet for the class.

Then, at the end of the day, he had a resource period with other IEP students.

Students would take their Daily planning sheet and transfer that information into their Semester Planner, along with the appropriate due dates. Turning in homework assignments was reviewed.

The Resource Teacher would check the Daily sheet against the Semester planning booklet. Students would earn a point for completing this task, and then either do homework or finish up testing for which they were approved extra time.

This Resource Class was scheduled as part of my son's coursework and a benefit of the IEP. It was not mandatory (i.e., once your kid got this process down, they did not need to take a resource course in subsequent semesters).

My student's exec. function skills flourished as a result of this process and class.

I never signed into the MCPS program to review his homework submissions, test dates, etc.

To this day, he manages his own workload/deadlines in college. I am so relieved not to be eyeballs deep each day online in his academic world. I know many parents who "sign in" as their student to monitor progress.

There may be many paths to a solution that is right for your family. I am just sharing our experience.

Good luck OP!

This sounds amazing and I agree with the other poster who said all schools should support things like this.

This is what college is like, if I remember correctly. A syllabus was given out I'm each class that listed the exams, projects, reading etc. It makes me wonder why school is so much more difficult for a young public school student.
I think history will scoff at the way public school is run currently. It's truly a hot mess and no one has the balls to fix it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I came here to say executive function coach. No IEP or 504 can touch what happens after school in your home. That was never a reasonable request.

???? A student with executive functioning deficit (which is partial definition of adhd) needing support to know what they're supposed to be doing at home isn't unreasonable? You've been gaslight by the schools.

[Anonymous]

Definitely executive functioning coach. But also, it's reasonable to ask for some of the following accommodations on the 504 Plan if you don't already have them:
1. Student should have regular (daily? weekly?) brief sessions with school counselor to help with organization. Sessions will include grade checks, review of upcoming assignments, making checklists to help with assignment completion, and talking through plans for completing long term assignments.
2. Teachers will remind student to turn in completed assignments.
3. Allow student to use phone to take pictures of posted assignments.

[Anonymous]

"Public School " will bleed you dry by forcing you to hire private tutors and advocates for your SN child while expecting you to foot the bill for kids who recieve all types of services and free hand outs. Catholic school is a great place for kids with executive functioning issues because they reinforce structured learning and accountability for all students. Public school will let your kid fail and kick them in the teeth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is diagnosed ASD, ADHD and GT (gifted and talented).
School decided to give 504 but not an iep.
DC is in high school with poor grades due to failure to remember homework. Parents have a difficult time navigating different online systems to track homework assignments and completion. When work is submitted, grades are As. Asking for executive functioning support from school, school has made it clear they will not help.
What is the best next step to take?

You are describing my child and my life.
My child is now in college. Throughout high school I battled the school for what they were supposed to do and all it did was cause my to lose sleep.
Knowing what I know now .....

Remove the checking in with getting assignments in and outsource it to an executive functioning (homework tutor)
I wish I could go back and change the conversations from - did you hand in your homework - where are you on this assignment TO how are you doing? Do you want to watch that movie you were talking about

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is diagnosed ASD, ADHD and GT (gifted and talented).
School decided to give 504 but not an iep.
DC is in high school with poor grades due to failure to remember homework. Parents have a difficult time navigating different online systems to track homework assignments and completion. When work is submitted, grades are As. Asking for executive functioning support from school, school has made it clear they will not help.
What is the best next step to take?

You are describing my child and my life.
My child is now in college. Throughout high school I battled the school for what they were supposed to do and all it did was cause my to lose sleep.
Knowing what I know now .....

Remove the checking in with getting assignments in and outsource it to an executive functioning (homework tutor)
I wish I could go back and change the conversations from - did you hand in your homework - where are you on this assignment TO how are you doing? Do you want to watch that movie you were talking about

You sound regretful. You should be proud. You fought back against systemic bias and apathy and your child is in college. You did a great job and you can build a different relationship going forward now that your job is mostly done and done well.