Hello,
The district I am in forcibly retained my child in kindergarten for social/emotional/maturity. There was no testing of any kind, no IEP tests and no discussion an entire year. The decision was made 2 days before a school started, they forced him to repeat Kindergarten. I requested a special education evaulation. They did an IEP and found no disabilities, I requested an IEE and they recommend parameters for the classroom. The district denied the IEP. My son was just evaluated by a psychologist she diagnosed him with ADHD. He does not have social/emotional issues, but ADHD. He is very smart but has slower processing speeds. The psychologist recommends that with his IQ test that he be placed in his proper grade before the retention occurred and that he get an OHI IEP. I thought once I received a doctors recommendation that the school would have to follow. I am findkng out that is not the case. I am in Wisconsin. I emailed the school for a special education meeting to re-evaluate for and IEP. My son is bored being in a lower grade level and will act out more and concentration is much harder. At every meeting g with them during the school year I have stressed that he is bored, that he works on harder curriculum at home. My son has been a grade level ahead of school with his work at home. The psychologist agreed that he will be able to learn better techniques once he is in the proper grade because he would be less bored. The school sees my child as "dumber" than he actually is, if that makes sense. They have had him at an "I" reading level the whole year and last year I had him tested at an "L" with a private test. They said he doesn't "understand " the math. But the issue is it takes him longer to process. He Will come up with the correct answer but if it is easy he doesn't want to do it no matter what. The stuff they give him he did last year, so he gets mad and he doesn't want to do the easy stuff. Concentration itself is difficult and if you add something boring, it will take forever to complete. I typically have him wear headphones and play music. With music and being able to stand and move, he will conceteate better. He is not good with a lot of stimuli.
I have also had my son with a private tutor all summer working with him. She agrees with the OHI IEP. She has her master's degree in teaching. This school district is not a fan of me. I have been pushing since they retained him. Searching for answers on how they can retain a child without prior testing or evaluations. Since they wouldn't do anything, I have paid privately to find answers. Now that I have them, how do I get an IEP for my child? I know it will be a battle. They do not want him to have an IEP or advance to the next grade. Both the tutor and psychologist plan on being at the meeting. I am also getting a state Cesa advocate to join the meeting. What do I need to have prepared? Has anyone had a district deny and IEP suggested by a psychologist? I plan on having a list of my sons strengths, meausurable goals and tools. This district is very backwards, one teacher said my son needed the gift of time, that is why he needed to be retained. Another said that he would go from a follower to a leader by being held back. The principal wrote in her letter social-emotional-maturity. But in fact my son has ADHD and no social/emotional issues. Please help, my son needs resources and I feel like the district has made their decision before we even have the meeting. How do i argue the importance of the dignosis and the support he needs?
