Put your request in writing and send it to the Director of Special Services. Request testing and don't back down. Once it is in writing the district has to test your child. You want a full battery of testing including a psychological one from the school psychologist. If you don't get any satisfaction write to your state dept of ed and report the non-compliance of the district you are in. You may also want to get a special ed advocate, not just anyone but one recommended by contacts listed for special education. My daughter is at this present moment going through this. The second grade teacher dropped the ball not being familiar with my grandchild's 1 st grade progress.

Go to the guidance counselor and get a copy of everything in your child's folder. They have to give it to you. Then get someone who is familiar with what the testing, anecdotal remarks, etc.

From my experience your child can only get a 504 if after testing fby special ed, he doesn't appear to qualify for special ed services, then the district uses 504. Now my personal educational experience with 504 is that it is a joke. Regular ed teachers are overwhelmed with all the modifications that they have to make in the classroom. Un-less your child is the only one in the classroom, and I doubt it if he is, then having a 504 results in less than satisfactory .

Remember that you are after the special education personnel to test your son. Put it in writing and copy to the school principal as well.

You will have to do your homework on all the issues concerning your son. And, get an advocate who will meet with you and attend the PPT. Then the school will know that you mean business. The regular ed teacher can only go so far against special ed. Sorry state but's common.

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Request a psychological test in writing. Copy in Principle, teacher, if needed school district superintendent. Note in your letter NCLB (No Child Left Behind Law) §§ 300.000 et. seq. so they know you know it is the law that they do psychological testing for your child within a 30-60 day period. This is a federal law not state. You have recourse if they refuse. Usually if you reference the law, you would be surprised how fast they comply. As for getting a 504 or an IEP, read up on both. 504 is “if they want and have the time to maintain the accommodations/modifications for your child”; and IEP is to be followed by law (in other words: for whatever is in the IEP, there are no maybes, but they have to follow by law). For instance: on my son’s IEP, he attends resource room for 1 class period daily for assistance, refocus, tutoring where needed, complete homework, etc. Or, that the resource teacher sends out 5-week reports (midreport card reporting periods) to let me know where my son stands in regard to what is on the IEP. Get familiar with the NCLB (§§300.000 to 300.end), IDEA, FAPE laws, and how they work, what sections of these laws are important for your child and what some of the accommodations are that they need to follow. Look up ADHD, NCLB, IDEA, FAPE, ADHD accommodations (there are many out there); find ways to answer back when they tell you they feel they don’t need to do whatever for your child. He has trouble w/homework @ home, break into smaller pieces; he has trouble focusing in school—a tap on the desk to refocus would be appropriate; socialization is a big item for many ADHD kids; help w/reading books-resource rooms; language therapy; behavior therapy (not that your child is ‘bad’ this just helps them w/their focusing, handling situations, etc.). These are just some of the items available. There are soooo many accommodations/modifications and they do not have to cost much at all. Just a little extra time/attention for your child in a good way and not scolding all the time. Stay strong, it is hard and draining.

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As the other two comments indicated, you need to put your request in writing to have an evaluation completed. You can't just request to have a 504 plan. This has happened to both my children, i.e. school recommended retention. I've been dealing with these types of problems for quite some time and have learned a lot about how to deal with the schools, however, it's never ending and you need to be on top of things before it either overwhelms you and further impacts your child. Educate yourself as much as possible. Retention is a tricky one, because you don't want your son to become overwhelmed if he advances, however, you need to weigh the pro's and con's. From my research, most experts do not recommend retention. I would recommend that you google "grade retention".

In the meantime, I would ask the school to put in writing why they are recommending retention, (i.e. identify specific deficits), what they have done to help him overcome those deficits, and what they will do differently if he repeats the grade. Massachusetts has a wonderful document that identifies what teachers/schools should do if a child is having difficulty. You can download a copy at: www.doe.mass.edu/sped/2001/elig_drft01.doc It is written with the "Response to Intervention" theory, i.e. what the teacher/school should do to assist a child whether they on a special education plan or not. If I had read this document, I would have been able to be proactive in addressing my children's problems before they got out of hand.

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Thanks to everyone who has responded with great advice! I appreciate it so much.

In May, I took my son to see a pediatric neurologist and he prescribed Vyvanse, which seems to be working wonderfully. My son is talking more and seems more engaged than ever before. The only downfall is that it lasts for 12 hours and sometimes we experience a meltdown. We're working on that, too.

The school did recommend that he be retained to first grade. His teacher and reading interventionist filled out a Lighthouse Retention questionnaire (this was recommended to me by the special ed director for the district I work in). While they didn't have the scale, I did and he falls well within the retention scale (just under "excellent candidate for retention). The principal said that he (my son) is the third student in almost five years as principal that he has recommended retaining. That made me feel somewhat better about it.

The school is using the Response to Intervention (RtI) method (Illinois requires this to be implemented this coming school year) and rates him as a Tier II student.

My special ed contact also recommended having my son tested using TAPS - Test of Auditory Processing Skills. She believes that based on the reading interventionist growth charts, he shows the ability to learn but trouble with comprehension is an indicator of a learning disability.

He has been in summer school and has a wonderful teacher for reading and math. I met with her two weeks ago and we discussed how my son is doing. At the beginning of summer school, I gave her all Logan's info (speech 504 & Tier II RtI along with recommendations by his teacher). She said she found he is on task and is focused and is a delight to have in her class. Summer school is in preparation for second grade and this teacher is a second grade teacher. I discussed with her my concerns over retaining and promoting and asked her opinion, based on the little she knew him, but largely based on the expectations of a second grade teacher. She said that he would be at the lower end of second grade and it would be hard for her to say how he would do, but it would be challenging. She said the biggest challenge would be writing because his handwriting is... (and smiled) - I know it's bad, so I was okay with this. Like I said, she is really great. She emails me almost daily and provides with lots of links to help with decoding, comprehension and writing. She also explained a new way of teaching him to add/subtract and work with money. He enjoys her classes a lot and is very talkative about what he learns each day.

I should add that we moved out of state in May (I lost my job in 2007, held on to the house for as long as possible before selling it, moved in with folks from May 2008 - May 2009), but felt it was important for him to finish the school year at the same school (rather than transfer him to a new school so close to the end of the school year) and drove him to school each day. He attends summer school through that district and we drive him there. There have been a lot of changes for him. He knows that he will be going to a new school this coming school year.

I contacted the new school and they seemed really nice, as well. I explained the situation and we are working on getting things in place for him for when school starts.

Thanks again for all the info and support and I will be sure to keep you updated. :D

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