I write this putting aside my ineffectiveness with my own kids… If I am reading correctly, he was diagnosed with ADHD after they denied an IEP? I would immediately ask for him to be evaluated (yup, again) for an IEP. I think his new diagnosis (definitely share this with them in writing) would be reason they could reevaluate, even if you were still within the time frame to ask for an IEE. So ask, and if they say no, immediately request the IEE in writing. No need to elaborate why, just make the request in writing. If they agree to evaluate for an IEP again, this is your opportunity to rebut/provide everything in an eligibility meeting. Due to timing, this would be next school year:(. I am not well-versed in 504 meetings, but I would attend. You can agree to anything they offer that would be helpful while also clearing stating (when you agree to the meeting, at the meeting, and in a follow-up email) that you believe your son needs an IEP, that you asked for them to evaluate/or for an IEE, and that pending those results, you want his 504 to be as robust as possible because You Believe He Needs an IEP! Lastly, get every piece of evidence you can that shows your kiddo’s struggle. My kiddo tests at the 87% (this is just in average) in written expression one round, then I show up with his actual work, any writing I can get my hands on, because standardized scores are not everything (not always). Another example: written expression score is “average” on one standardized test, but Below Average on a different one. Look at the subtests carefully. Teachers ratings cannot always be trusted and should not be a “tiebreaker”. My kids rarely mark anything that comes up elevated, and I have years of teachers ratings vs my ratings that are very different at times. Fortunately and unfortunately, time has shown that my ratings are accurate, and teachers much less so. Do not let them say that one or two teachers ratings determine anything. Just show them all the proof of what the teachers were not seeing. (If this sounds nutso, think of this situation: I pick up my then 7 year old at school, he is pale with wide eyes and falls into my arms burning up. He has pneumonia. Teacher never noticed all day the many sign that I saw immediately: moms see differently than teachers. These are our kids and teachers have to notice what is happening with many, so nuances of one can be missed). I am also going through the end of school panic:(. I don’t think there is much you can do to change the beginning of middle school…. But I could be wrong, so see what others say here. In addition to asking for the IEP eval or IEE, I would also try to get as much information about his 6th grade schedule and see what you can do to just get him prepared over the summer, and be very communicative with the middle school right away, and document as much as you can (always) but every day of middle school. Things went very haywire very fast for one of my kiddos at this point….not to scare you, but to let you know that this is when previously small things get pushed front and center. For us, social skills. Lastly, do not let them show you As and Bs and use them to mean anything. Get every piece of your kiddos work, make copies, and keep it! I can only see my kiddos assessments one time per quarter (now in 9th), and have found where they are not making wrong answers (in math!). It is really disheartening, but it begins to feel like their objective is hiding or twisting data to make everything good, while parents are forced to have extensive evidence to prove otherwise. Please keep us posted!

400 hours is over 16 days (24 hour days). There is no way she is getting that much instruction in a week. Most schools are only open to 35 hours a week and they won't take away lunch to provide instruction. I think you need to get the IEP corrected if it really says 400 hours per week. Could it be 400 minutes per week? Not sure how she could have missed 1000 instructional hours. If school meets for 180 days that are 6 hours long, that's 1080 hours in total. Again, this isn't realistic for any IEP unless your child is going to school every day. Could it be 1000 minutes? I think asking the IEP team to document the IEP minutes your child gets daily is not unreasonable. And asking them to make up missed time isn't unreasonable either. I do think you need to get the amount of time in the IEP straight before your write to the school. If you know how to put 400 hours into a week that typically lasts 168 hours (24 X 7 = 168), please let me know. I'm behind on some paperwork and could use that extra time to catch up.

The school doesn't have data on how much help he gets at home. Start writing down what you're doing and how long it takes for you to to this. Send this to the school and ask for it to be added to his 504 file so they have a record of what happens at home. Or you put a time limit on help. I know it's not easy to watch your child fail and end up with poor self esteem but the way the system works, this is what needs to happen. If the student scrapes by with outside help, the school doesn't have to offer an IEP. This is why the 504 appears to be working. (They can't read minds. They don't know if you or a tutor are helping him so they attribute his progress to what they are doing.) Did they assess social skills and pragmatics as "areas of need"? These are the 2 areas that kids will tend to qualify for an IEP with. The social skills assessment my school uses is the SSIS -The Social Skills Improvement System . Also, with smart kids, they will mask. My child looked average on the TOPL - Test Of Pragmatic Language. I was told if they had done the optional extended assessment, the issues would have come to light.

Best practice is SMART goals. From Google: SMART goals are a structured framework for setting objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. When the school comes up with a crap goal, ask them to make it into a SMART goal. You should be able to teach yourself what a SMART goal looks like so you can critique the school's goals. https://adayinourshoes.com/smart-goals/ and: https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-goal-bank/ This should help you climb the learning curve. When I copied from Google, it changed my font color. Not sure why that happens.

It appears that you are documenting the missed instructional minutes, which is GOOD. Ask for an IEP meeting to discuss how the minutes will be made up. (To answer your question, no, they are not allowed to cut down her minutes due to testing unless it specifically states that in her IEP.) You don't have to insist on a minute-for-minute replacement (and that may not even be required - depends on your state). But you can ask for a plan as to how your child will be compensated for this missed instruction. It could be done by adding on extra time to her pullout sessions moving forward or it could be done by sessions given during the summer, after school, or before school. Be flexible in what you will accept and hopefully this will not create any tension. They should know these hours need to be made up somehow.

In my child's newest IEP it says she is to spend 400 hours weekly in the resource classroom for reading, writing, and math. The school has been doing standardized testing for the past month, and during that time it looks like she's been getting maybe 25 minutes for just math, and not even everyday. I think they use the classroom for testing for some of the kids. Are they allowed to cut down her hours like that for testing? She's missed out on at least 1000 hours of instruction time due to this. I need suggestions on how to approach this. I'm pretty sure they are already mad at me because I pushed back before the IEP (politely, but firmly which they are not used to from me) because they gave us the exact same goals and an almost copy and past of her current levels from last year.