Thankfully Jessica had a very understanding 4th grade teacher who took my very assertive request straight to the Principal. I don’t remember how long it took for the evaluation to be completed, but it was. Jessica was 9 years old at the time and like I had mentioned before, her overall academics were not behind and she was not a behavior problem in class, there were just those developmental, attentional issues and the idea that the previous teacher stated she had a reading comprehension problem….and that medication was the answer…oh and we should hold her back from 4th grade! (Grrrr) I should note that at the time I was interning in a private practice setting and my clinical supervisor was a Psychologist. So, I used my resources and had him evaluate Jessica prior to the school evaluation. The results of this was that Jessica had a working memory deficit and a visual processing disorder. (diagnosis #1) The school of course, would not accept this evaluation and proceeded to conduct their own, which was more comprehensive. When it was complete, we all gathered to review the results. This evaluation was interesting, but not remarkable. Guess what? She had a working memory deficit and a visual processing disorder! Neither of which was significant enough for the school’s purpose, because Jessica did not have a big enough academic deficit to qualify for special education. She did qualify for a 504 plan, which in reality, is just a formalized list of the accommodations they were already providing (and a few we decided to add). So far, I am not feeling too great about this process and I know, as her parent, that there is something more going on, but I am not a seasoned enough parent or therapist to figure it out yet, so I go along with the 504 plan and we continued to struggle with the same issues.
The Difference Between IEPs and 504 Plans:
Being Jessica's Mom: Growing up on the Autistic Spectrum 