IEP and private schools and ADA 2 Replies

Dear Momofadyslexic,

I have a dyslexic child who is 12 and attends private school in the Bay Area. I am also an attorney, though not practicing in the area of special education law. My basic understanding is that the private school must use Federal funds to be bound by the current laws. This is why most Colleges and Universities (private) are required to accommodate, they all receive Federal grant money. Most private schools in elementary and secondary education do not. However, if they used bonds or stimulus money to finance any part of their program or facility they may fall under the guidelines. The use of tax free bonds to help build school facilities is increasing. You may want to check, quietly, how the school has financed its capitol improvements.

Do not dispair, however, many/most private middle and high schools do provide some accommodation. Some do it better than others. When applying for schools for my daughter, I explored the school’s reputation for accommodation. And even in the best of school’s there will be a teacher or two who disagree with an accommodation.

Sometimes they are correct sometimes they are not. My child’s math teacher would not let her use a calculator, this made math longer and more frustrating for a whole year. In the end, my daughter learned more math at a deeper and more automatic level than she ever thought she could.

Sometimes the teacher is incorrect, such as not allowing spell check or a computer in the classroom. For a child who has trouble spelling, spell check if properly used, can TEACH the child the correct spelling because the child has to see the incorrect word and find the correct one on a list.

My way of dealing with these inflexible teachers is to educate them and the administration of the school on the usefulness of the tools, how the tools are available in the workplace and at major universities. I direct them to Stanford University’s web page on student accommodations and allow them to see for themselves how the best of schools will accept and teach children who use adaptive technologies.

This is usually an eye opener. The teacher is usually worried that the child will not learn the content of the course, will not be able to function in society, or that they are getting an unfair advantage.

Educating the teacher and the administration can be time consuming and frustrating, but the rewards are worth it.

Listen to the objections of the teacher and offer reasoned arguments, politely, to counter the teacher’s objections. If this does not work, go to the administration. If this does not work and your child is harmed by the lack of accommodations you can either find out if they have used Federal funds or if they have sold tax exempt bonds and try to fight them. Or perhaps better, you can always find another school that will accommodate your child.

Best of Luck.

another mom of a dyslexic.

Hello mom of a dyslexic that i do not know,

i am said child with dyslexia. If your kid is having trobule with teachers, and them helping said kid, you should really talk to the teachers about that. you could tell them about what dyslexia is. i am sure you know that but the teacher might not (make sure to say "and no, dyslexia is not a life threatening disease").  What it is like to have dyslexia you ask? well let me answer that qusetion with a question. What is it like not having dyslexia?

P.S. all below is my signature

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Olly

NOBODY wins in a dog fight