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Showing results for tags 'Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder'.
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For background: Our 6th has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (and, therefore..) Autism L2 & a Mild Intellectual Disability (FSIQ = 66). Testing results (which have been consistent across 3 evaluations): Receptive vocabulary = 0.8th percentile, expressive vocabulary = 2nd percentile, adaptive behaviors = 1st percentile, reading comprehension = 3rd percentile, numerical operations = 0.7th percentile, math problem solving = 0.6th percentile. When she began middle school this year, we could see immediately that she was (literally) years behind in understanding or even conceptualizing the standard 6th grade curriculum. I brought my concerns to the team in Sept. and I mentioned modifying. They looked at me like I had 2 heads and said "she is not a student that would need that". One of the tricky things about FASD is that she can present quite typical and mask her significant deficits. I fully believe that's what's happening here. I've been very active in her IEP and she has dozens of thoughtful accommodations. Even so, she is consistently getting 8%, 20%, 40% on assignments across all classes. Though grades are subjective, they do accurate represent that she does not understand any of whats being taught to her. When she gets a higher grade, it is because she guessed more luckily. In math, for example, they are "supporting her in learning" in finding the area of a parallelogram. My sweet daughter cannot tell time, read a calendar, or do any basic math (+, -, x) without being told step by step how to put it into her calculator. She only memorized her birthday this year but cannot tell you what month is before or after it. When she is guided to a right answer, she cannot conceptualize in any way what it means. I have expressed that our goals for her are functional and life-related, rather than standard 6th grade curriculum. I now have an outside educational assessment that supports the need to modify her educational path, hopefully to a Mild Intellectual Disability classroom. Her current, local middle school does not have this program so it will require her to change schools and be bussed out of her zoned district. Despite all of the above, I know I will meet resistance with her IEP team in getting this change of placement. Though they seem satisfied to pass her through without her actually learning anything (and therefore, not "needing" modification), we are not satisfied with that plan. She can't learn 6th grade curriculum but she can learn something. Leaving her in Gen. Ed. wastes time that she could be working toward functional, life skills that came easily to her classmates years ago. Finally, my question. Is there anything in this scenario I'm not seeing? With the most beautiful accommodations in the world, she cannot access this material by miles. We see no other way forward but to let go of a high school diploma and change her path to a certificate / special education diploma. Thank you.
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- Autism
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
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