Fiona: As parents we wrote to school asking for further formal testing on Nov 3, 2015 after testing at our expense revealed moderate dyslexia for our 10yo who was struggling at school. We have heard nothing, and its now Jan 3 2016. Both older 2 kids have dx processing disorders and one also has ADD. He had to fail completely before we got help offered in form of 504. We are basically being told the same thing for our youngest. If we write and request testing doesn’t the school(district) have to test?We are being told that the 504 is ONLY for the teacher to make classroom accomm which state in the 504, that accommodations happen only at the discretion of the teacher,not consistently.Does the school have further time avail to them? Am I off base?
In the 504 mtg I was told that all state testing now provides all children with time and a half so our child with newly dx moderate dyslexia will not qualifty for extra time….a 504 accomodation that is being inconsistently provided currently. What are our options if any?
Even if your ultimate goal is a 504 plan, I suggest you request an IEP for your younger child. Districts tend to be more careful about timelines for the IEP process. And you have recourse to your state’s special ed oversight office starting from the day you deliver your request for an evaluation for an IEP. Your district will then get in trouble if it doesn’t respect the legal timeline. (Assuming you assert yourself and contact that oversight office to ask some serious questions about what’s going on.)
In the short term, here is a trick I learned from a special ed lawyer: write once more requesting the evaluation, and this time, say you would like your request attended to immediately. Mention the specific dates so they can see them in black and white. That will hopefully wake them up to the fact that if those dates came out in a formal complaint, the district would not fare well.