Parents Request Modification, School Says Unnecessary

[Brittney M]

Looking for input / experiences navigating IEP placement & curriculum modification:

Right now it feels like we’re not speaking the same language as our school team.

 

A bit about our sweet student:

• FSIQ: 66

• Multiple diagnoses impacting cognitive and adaptive functioning (FASD, ASD L2, IDD)

• Two full educational evaluations completed (school + outside evaluator)
  → Results are nearly identical, indicating validity

• Reading comprehension: ~2nd grade equivalent

• Receptive & expressive vocabulary: both under the 1st percentile

• Numerical operations & computation: under the 1st percentile

• Already retained one grade (our decision, due to her disabilities)

 

Current concerns:

• I first raised concerns about curriculum modification in September

• We now have a full semester of data showing:

• Even with an extensive list of accommodations, the gap between the grade-level curriculum and her actual understanding is astronomical

• Oh, I also homeschooled her for 5 years so I'm pretty intimately aware of her academic abilities.

• • Lack of meaningful progress
  • No transfer of skills ("Can do it" at school but has never been able to demonstrate a glimmer of understanding at home)
  • No testing that demonstrates she can contextualize or apply grade-level material
  • Relative strength in working memory (42nd percentile) Meaning she can immediately echo and imitate in the moment, but nothing is transferring to true understanding.

   

What we’re hearing from the team:

• “I know what this (30-page evaluation) says, but that’s not the student we see in the classroom.”

• “This is absolutely not a kiddo who can’t get a standard diploma.”

• “She socializes with peers, a different placement would be devastating to her.”

 

Our perspective:
Her post–high school goal is to live independently someday. That’s the end target we are working toward.

Right now, she is in 6th grade and:

• Misspells her middle name, doesn't know her birthday

• Does not know her address

• Cannot reliably read a clock

• Has ~1st grade number sense

• Struggles significantly with functional understanding

We strongly feel that keeping her on curriculum that is far beyond her cognitive ability is not providing FAPE, specifically, appropriate education.

 

Real-world examples we’ve used to explain this gap:

• She can read a box of mac and cheese, but doesn’t understand what any of the words mean

• If she’s on a public bus and needs stop 13, seeing stop 12 gives her no understanding of whether she’s one stop away or fifty

• If she needs to leave at 6:10 and the clock says 6:11, she will continue waiting until it shows 6:10

• 
  We fear the team is comfortable “helping her pass along,” and we’ll end up with a high schooler who still has 1st-grade daily living skills, unprepared to meet her own stated goals.

We meet again in a few weeks.

 

Thank you so much for reading and sharing your experiences.