IEP/CRCT

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone! I have an IEP tomorrow for my 10 yo high functioning

autistic son who is in a self-contained class (supposedly 4th

grade). He is also severly dyslexic. I am having trouble with the

head of the local autism program who will not let him out of CRCT

testing (even though I had a letter from his therapist stating that

he thought it was too stressful). She said that he could just start

the test and stop whenever he wanted (he does have all kinds of

accomadations built in). My question is: can I insist that he not

take it next year (when he would have to pass it or go to summer

school) and instead of wasting time being " taught for the test "

spend more of his time working on reading? He has a reading

specialist 30-40 minutes per day. His therapist says he needs more

like 2-3 hours a day but I have been told there is no way I am going

to get this. I frankly do not care if they teach him math, science

and social studies - Nicolas is smart (tested with average IQ even

while being uncoperative with the test) and I have a Masters in

secondary ed. - I can work with those subjects to catch him up

later. I want him to maximize his time on reading, social

interactions, and art (they use art class to motivate him). The para-

pro that he worked with before and had a great bond with him is

mostly working with other children outside the class and I would

love to request that she work with him on the reading when he is not

with the specialist but I doubt that they would agree to devoting so

much of her time to one child. Next year will be his last year in

elementary and I feel like our last chance to make real progress.

The middle school program seems to be a joke from the reports I have

heard.

So do I have the right to insist that he not take the CRCT and that

he be offered a different curriculum than the others in the class?

What is a reasonable amount of time to request for the reading

specialist (She travels between different school but ours is her

home school)? Is it reasonable to ask for the parapro to be assigned

to him only for a portion of the day? And, I take it, I should sign

nothing at the meeting until it is all rewritten to reflect what we

agree on.

Any help or insight is appreciated. We have usually gotten close to

what we wanted but this has been a fairly disasterous year and I am

beginning to panic with the thought of middle school around the

corner.

Stacey

[Guest guest]

I can certainly understand your concern over the stress involved in standardized testing. However, please consider all aspects of the situation. Now I did not teach in Ga, but it is my understanding that if a child does not take the standardized tests outlined in the state curriculum, that child will not receive a diploma, but rather a certificate of graduation. As with all children, your son may very well attend college, etc, and would not be able to do so without the diploma. Perhaps looking at the standardized testing that he takes now as a learning task for him will help to reduce his stress level. He is learning about testing environments, etc. And, with the accomodations of untimed testing and teacher assistance in the IEP, he should be able to do fine. My HFA child loves them, because I make them out to be "puzzles" for him to solve. And, he loves puzzles. Unfortunately, the teaching to the

test mentality is prevalent everywhere. Honestly, it is one of the reasons that I retired 4 years ago at 36. Hope that helps with some of your stress about this.

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[Guest guest]

Thanks for your reply. While I do deplore the concept of teaching to

the test, I understand the need for some standardized testing. I

just feel that if my son is in a " special needs " class, then we

should be addressing his special needs - one of which is the need to

read! And when I say that he is dyslexic, I don't mean that he

reverses a few letters and has " trouble " reading - I mean he can not

read at the level of my 5 year old. He may be able to memorize " The

cat sat. " on the computer but if you print it out he does not

recognize it. Change the font - he does not recognize. Wait a few

days and he does not recognize it. Yet a story I read to him 4 years

ago he can remember in detail and he can install and figure out how

to play all of his computer games!

Nicolas' stress levels are huge do to various causes and sitting

still for tests unfortunately is very stressful (that's why we are

so sure that his true IQ scores are higher). Somehow he managed to

squeak by on the 3rd grade CRCT but I don't hold out much hope for

this year and I don't want to be put into the postition next year

where if he doesn't pass he has to go to summer school in 1. a

different school, with a 2. new teacher, and 3. new students. This

would be completely overwhelming to him, especially as he would then

be going into the same thing with Middle School. And, again, I want

class time devoted to reading. As for stress-reduction techniques, I

have tried your excellent suggestion for turning tests into puzzels,

but when it gets to the long standardized ones, it just doesn't work

(He gets tired and answers C to everything). I worked for several

years in college as a tutor for LD and special needs college and

high school kids (I never knew what good training it would be!!) and

I learned a lot of good techniques, but the combination of autism

and dyslexia, plus it being my own kid, can make things pretty tough!

As for college, there is nothing more in this world I would love for

him, but at this time I want him to be functionally literate so that

I know he can at least navigate in this big scary world when he has

to. After that we will start planning for higher education!

Stacey

>

> I can certainly understand your concern over the stress involved

in standardized testing. However, please consider all aspects of

the situation.

> Now I did not teach in Ga, but it is my understanding that if a

child does not take the standardized tests outlined in the state

curriculum, that child will not receive a diploma, but rather a

certificate of graduation. As with all children, your son may very

well attend college, etc, and would not be able to do so without the

diploma.

> Perhaps looking at the standardized testing that he takes now as

a learning task for him will help to reduce his stress level. He is

learning about testing environments, etc. And, with the

accomodations of untimed testing and teacher assistance in the IEP,

he should be able to do fine. My HFA child loves them, because I

make them out to be " puzzles " for him to solve. And, he loves

puzzles.

> Unfortunately, the teaching to the test mentality is prevalent

everywhere. Honestly, it is one of the reasons that I retired 4

years ago at 36.

> Hope that helps with some of your stress about this.

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Travel

> Find great deals to the top 10 hottest destinations!

>

[Guest guest]

We just exempted our son from the IBTS and the CRCT, but he's only in the first grade. His teacher actually recommended this and he will take the GAA, Georgia Alternative Assessment, this year. Because our son doesn't test well in any setting, his IQ on his psychological was below a certain cut off, which enabled us to make this exemption. I don't know if this can be done for a child of your age or not, but it might be worth asking. We had to do a quick amendment to his IEP last week since our school system is doing the ITBS this week.

From: "nicosmom66" <stacey-herrera@...>Reply- autism autism Subject: Re: IEP/CRCTDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 13:54:36 -0000>Thanks for your reply. While I do deplore the concept of teaching to>the test, I understand the need for some standardized testing. I>just feel that if my son is in a "special needs" class, then we>should be addressing his special needs - one of which is the need to>read! And when I say that he is dyslexic, I don't mean that he>reverses a few letters and has "trouble" reading - I mean he can not>read at the level of my 5 year old. He may be able to memorize "The>cat sat." on the computer but if you print it out he does not>recognize it. Change the font - he does not recognize. Wait a few>days and he does not recognize it. Yet a story I read to him 4 years>ago he can remember in detail and he can install and figure out how>to play all of his computer games!>>Nicolas' stress levels are huge do to various causes and sitting>still for tests unfortunately is very stressful (that's why we are>so sure that his true IQ scores are higher). Somehow he managed to>squeak by on the 3rd grade CRCT but I don't hold out much hope for>this year and I don't want to be put into the postition next year>where if he doesn't pass he has to go to summer school in 1. a>different school, with a 2. new teacher, and 3. new students. This>would be completely overwhelming to him, especially as he would then>be going into the same thing with Middle School. And, again, I want>class time devoted to reading. As for stress-reduction techniques, I>have tried your excellent suggestion for turning tests into puzzels,>but when it gets to the long standardized ones, it just doesn't work>(He gets tired and answers C to everything). I worked for several>years in college as a tutor for LD and special needs college and>high school kids (I never knew what good training it would be!!) and>I learned a lot of good techniques, but the combination of autism>and dyslexia, plus it being my own kid, can make things pretty tough!>>As for college, there is nothing more in this world I would love for>him, but at this time I want him to be functionally literate so that>I know he can at least navigate in this big scary world when he has>to. After that we will start planning for higher education!>>Stacey>>>> >> > I can certainly understand your concern over the stress involved>in standardized testing. However, please consider all aspects of>the situation.> > Now I did not teach in Ga, but it is my understanding that if a>child does not take the standardized tests outlined in the state>curriculum, that child will not receive a diploma, but rather a>certificate of graduation. As with all children, your son may very>well attend college, etc, and would not be able to do so without the>diploma.> > Perhaps looking at the standardized testing that he takes now as>a learning task for him will help to reduce his stress level. He is>learning about testing environments, etc. And, with the>accomodations of untimed testing and teacher assistance in the IEP,>he should be able to do fine. My HFA child loves them, because I>make them out to be "puzzles" for him to solve. And, he loves>puzzles.> > Unfortunately, the teaching to the test mentality is prevalent>everywhere. Honestly, it is one of the reasons that I retired 4>years ago at 36.> > Hope that helps with some of your stress about this.> >> >> > ---------------------------------> > Travel> > Find great deals to the top 10 hottest destinations!> >>>>>>>>>

[Guest guest]

Hey Stacey, I am not sure how your IEP is stated for standardized testing. But, my older son is LD with a high IQ. He has problems with transference, etc... On his IEP, not only did I have the modifications for the testing environment. But, it was also stated in writing that standardized test results could not be used as a sole determiner for summer school or educational placement. If you have this in the IEP, then he will not have to attend summer school ever, as you can "provide" remediation at home, etc.... Hopefully you have this in his IEP, but if not, please call a review and have that placed in there. It completely took the burden off my oldest and even me... And, he ended up meeting all the criteria anyway. I just wanted to make sure that he was NEVER penalized because of the standardized tests that are not true indicators of a child's success....Hmmm....and I am a teacher

and can say that based on all my research that I have done (don't get me started on testing...) And, just a side note...and this is soooo far off..but there is a fantastic college in the new england area for dyslexic people...and they also work great with autistic kids. One of my former students attended there. Just a happy thought for the day! Let me know if you have any questions about the statements we had added to the IEP. You can email me off list at galady3744@...

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