Stephanie Gauthier

He is currently getting reading and writing supports under “Developmental Delay” and is on stay put for OT. It’s actually only been just under 2 years since his last round of testing but since he can only have “Developmental Delay” until age 9, they are retesting, and we also requested an evaluation in the area of math and I am pretty confident that he’ll qualify. They are currently doing all the testing and the meeting is scheduled at the end of November. I am mentally preparing myself for him to qualify under “Intellectual Disability” as he scored only one point above very low on his last round of IQ testing and was recently diagnosed with a genetic condition that causes ID. 1. I did already have them change to wording from “can take a break as needed” to “conduct regular teacher check ins to see if (student) needs a break (swapping to an alternative task)if fatigued. I’m not fully confident that this is happening however. While he doesn’t show signs of dysregulation at school, it’s pretty obvious to anyone paying attention when he is getting fatigued and needs a break but again, I’m not confident that this is happening in the classroom setting. 2. What would a self advocacy goal look like? I plan to put emphasis on this in our parent concern statement. I did have to fill out a few questionnaires from the School Psychologist. 3. I know he will still be getting academic services, I just feel like that’s the only thing the school will give him though, and academics aren’t the full picture. 4. We’re not at that level yet but I’ll definitely do this if needed. 5. I agree. They have to understand that working really hard and still not understanding and getting many questions wrong will eventually impact mental health! He has always loved school and I’m so nervous that that is going to end soon if everything keeps being so hard for him. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it.

My 8.5 year old son is very proficient at masking at school. He is a hard worker with a great attitude and no behavior issues. Because of this, I’m constantly told that he’s doing fine but because I’m his safe person, he shares things with me or melts down as soon as he is home. He is now realizing that he works really hard and tries his best but that school work is very hard for him and get gets a lot of answers wrong which rightfully, upsets him very much. We put no emphasis on grades at home and tell him that as long as he works hard and tries his best, that’s what’s important and what his dad and I care about. He is also struggling socially and with self advocacy but because these things aren’t tied into unwanted behaviors at school, they are being ignored completely. When I shared these concerns with the school counselor and told her how he had a meltdown at home about kids being unkind to him, she suggested private counseling. We have a 3 year re-eval meeting coming up in a few weeks and I would love some advice on how to get the school to acknowledge that just because he doesn’t express these feelings to them at school, it doesn’t mean that he’s not experiencing them. I also feel that he needs a concrete self-advocacy goal because he will never ask for a break, or tell a teacher if something has happened, or speak up if he doesn’t understand something.