Missed Level IV Appeal, not sure what to do now - 2E rising 3rd grader, can anyone advise?

[Anonymous]

We have a weird situation and I'm not really sure how to proceed. First, I have a middle schooler who is full time AAP so I understand the process and how so many parents think their kid belongs in it even when they don't and so on and so forth.

My younger child has the strangest intellectual profile I have ever seen. Anyone who meets him briefly thinks he's a genius. He knows so much about so many things, and has the vocabulary of a very intelligent adult. He is a voracious reader. So much intellectual curiosity. I have thought since he was about 2-3 yrs old that he is much smarter than my older child (I hate to put it that way but just being honest).

We were surprised when school started that he has not performed well on standardized tests. Just figured ultimately that he was not a great test taker or maybe we had misunderstood the situation. He was not in pool for AAP and we did parent refer, but he was not accepted and we were totally fine with that, and did not appeal. Some of his scores were so extremely low that we actually started to think maybe he had a learning disability of some sort and actually went to get him evaluated. He was already diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety, but through the pediatrician.

At the evaluation, by a very well known group in the area, he fooled the psychologist into thinking he had some kind of disability that he did not have. Mid-way through the testing she told me what was happening and said the only reason she was asking me was because there was no mention of this particular disability in all of the parent and teacher materials. He later admitted to her that he was doing it on purpose. She explained that never in her career had she ever seen anything like this before, and that the amount of effort he must have put into pretending what he pretended - and actually being consistent about it for hours - was quite amazing. She then diagnosed him with level 1 autism and PDA. She believed that the weird standardized test scores were a reflection of him just not wanting to take the test rather than actually being in the 13th percentile or whatever some of the scores said.

After this, he ended up with a 98% on his math iready despite scoring poorly earlier in the year. I started to think, hmm, maybe in the fall and winter he just didn't want to do it and was randomly answering questions the way he had with the psychologist?

We went to get an IEP because of the autism diagnosis, and some very high test scores came back from FCPS testing that shows me he is quite obviously highly gifted, at least in certain areas, which matches up with what I've thought his whole life. But I think his approach - with the fake answers, etc - is probably throwing a lot of people off.

At this point I genuinely am stumped and not sure what to do. He hates school and I think he would do better in a Level IV classroom. Had I known all of this 2 months ago I would for sure have appealed, but it's too late. What do I do now?

[Anonymous]

You can apply next year. Our DS was not selected & it turned out he had undiagnosed dyslexia. Smart but slow reader. I had no idea. He was in AAP 2 years later and wanted to be there with friends (so more motivated to try on testing). If this process helps get to a correct diagnosis, then it has value.

[Anonymous]

I have 3 kids, all of whom were admitted to AAP and are pretty smart in varying ways. I am trying to imagine the level of maturity and intelligence it would take to plan to fool a psychologist into thinking you have a disability at age 8. One of my kids is rising 4th, so I have recent experience. That is genius smart.

That said, I think there's some truth to the idea that while FCPS pays a lot of lip service to 2E kids being in AAP, they don't necessarily mean it. They want the kids who are easy to accelerate in math in full time AAP. So while I'd definitely apply again if I were you, I'd also work with your kid before 3rd grade on correctly answering questions and being an easy-to-teach student where possible. Yeah I know if he hates school that will be tough. But it will help make the case for you for a strong packet from school.

[Anonymous]

I know one other person with an autism diagnosis who used to fake a disability to the point of tricking all those around/professionals etc.

[Anonymous]

I assume you got a wisc w/ the neuropsych exam that diagnosed autism? Did that show gifted scores?

There’s really nothing you can do until next application cycle for the following yr., unless you’re at a school that offers principal placement. In that case, maybe you can pitch the case to the principal. You can try to get DC to push in for math next yr, if that’s an area of strength. I’d plan to prepare your packet for next yr.

[Anonymous]

I have two kids who are 2E, one with PDA. They both baffled schoolteachers for years. They are/were both in AAP although the PDA DC only got in on appeal. Tbh, I'm not sure that it was a better environment for him than gen ed school. He enjoys the off-topic discussions with classmates but did very little classwork. (Also, I disagree about the "2E lip service only" or "being a good student" as it relates to FCPS and AAP. That has not been the experience for either of my children.)

In your situation, I would ask the principal about principal placement and also, since you have already requested/received an IEP, ask about a summer appeal for your special circumstances. While there's no process for an appeal outside of the normal process, some kids really don't fit in the normal process. They will probably say no, but you will never get it if you don't ask.

[Anonymous]

We would not be able to do it because we both need to have outside jobs to pay the bills, but for a 2e kid often homeschooling does work best.

Maybe try that for a year - if your family situation allows. Find solid academic materials that meet him where he is intellectually. If one does this, then one really needs to find some way for DC to socialize with other kids.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of two 2E kids, I would recommend you reach out to the teacher as early as possible in the year so they understand your situation, although you need to tread carefully. Some teachers are receptive, some are not. At the classroom level there is tremendous variability in support for 2E students, regardless of any 504 or IEP. Advocate (diplomatically, reasonably) for your child's needs so they can demonstrate their advanced academic behaviors this year with appropriate support. Include work samples generated at school in the AAP application packet and appeal if they don't get in the first cycle. Which standardized test scores were low and which were high? Explaining exceptionalities will be key, as will arguments the full-time AAP classroom will meet their needs.

[Anonymous]

Have them check the test. A friend’s son did a zig zag pattern on his CogAt. They maybe able to see a pattern. I would think that would have rendered the test invalid for him and make him eligible for reassessment.

[Anonymous]

If they are at a LL4, it would be easier to principal place until you can apply again.

[Anonymous]

You have to wait for next cycle. You can retake the cog at if he didn’t score well. My son got in on appeal with 99% nnat 96% cogay and 99% math i ready . Make sure the work samples are good. The AAP program is for advanced academics not all gifted kids are a good fit. It’s not a gifted program. He really has to show above grade level performance. I’d apply again next year.

[Anonymous]

You have an older child in AAP, you know the rules. You have to wait until next year.

[Anonymous]

What disability was he faking?

[Anonymous]

Wait a year and re-apply. In meantime, trust the teachers and if he is advanced in math/reading, they will teach him to that level. If you are not seeing that, meet with teachers.

[Anonymous]

OP here:

Thanks for all the input. We didn’t actually get scores from the private testing (to the pp who asked how they were). Once it became clear what was happening, the psychologist stopped the testing and said it was invalid.

He was actually faking two different kinds of disabilities and I don’t know enough to know what they would be called. One was mixing up numbers. He told her “sometimes I mix up 3s and 6s” and then every time he had to do something involving a 3 he incorporated a 6 and versa. That was the one that she said must have been hard to pull off. So he would write 2+ 3 =8 for example. 18/3=3. He had two sets of numbers that he did this with.

The other one was giving inaccurate definitions of words that were the opposite of the actual definition. One for example was an island and he said land surrounded by more land.

It was the numbers one that she was very confused about because he pulled it off so perfectly and called to her very earnestly - like the “sometimes I mix up..” line. It was so believable that even in the waiting room I started thinking to myself, how the hell did I miss this and felt like a horrible mom. They don’t have math homework, so I started doing down a rabbit hole in my head about how I really must have missed it because we don’t do any math enrichment with him and this poor kid how did nobody notice.. 🙄