dyslexia...public school frustration

To Help4kids: Kids who are diagnosed within the private system, psychologists and not medical doctors are the people who are assessing these kids. The educational psychologists found within the public education system, must adhere to the same conventions as private psychologists. This includes testing, and following a specific format.
It is an old trick, that schools uses by saying it is medical and not a learning problem. It is used to delay assessment by schools and also to block access to special education services.
An educational diagnosis, is a school term that implies that the psycho-educational assessment is different from the private psychologist'. There is no difference, in either one. Both are determining the learning problems, that will interfere with learning inside the classroom. If a school does an assessment, the educational psychologist will have recommendations for learning as well as targeted help for weaknesses.
At this stage, where help for a child goes astray. It all depends on where the child falls along the line of mild to moderate to severe and if he or she is passing in core subjects. The cut-off point is at 50 % for core subjects.
The mild to moderate LD kids, are often the kids who do not received the targeted help, the wrong accommodations, and are often found inside the regular classroom. They did not received what they needed, because they did not meet the criteria of failing grades in core subjects. Even if a child was failing in all core subjects, the school will opt in favour of repeating a grade, instead of addressing the core weaknesses. Repeating a grade does nothing, if the weaknesses are not addressed. The weaknesses in language will still be there at the end of the year.
You stated a DSM-IV is used and this is a catch-all term for all kinds of assessments and tests. A DSM-IV is used by psychiatrists to determined mental disorders and a host of other disorders including learning disorders. However, the psychologists used the same standard tests as a psychiatrists to determined a learning disability. Below is a link, that will tell you what a full psycho-educational assessment consists of.
tinyurl.com/koo3ka
The link above will also tell you, why assessments are so important at the post-secondary level.
Federal law, does dictate the use of the same tests under the DSM-IV, but the quality is as good as the experience and qualifications of the school staff. Another link below, that shows the differences. It would be nice, for all LD children to have assessments done by the health professionals as opposed to school staff. The major difference, is the detail and pinpointing the learning weaknesses of a child.

tinyurl.com/qgyjrc

As for specific learning disability, this is where most of the mild to moderate dyslexics fall into, where they have one to three core weaknesses, where as a result do not often received the targeted help needed to overcome their problems. In my case, the school has stated that my child is not dyslexic nor has a specific learning disability. Yet she has a diagnosed mild to moderate learning disability done by the school. Private concern, says the opposite mild to moderate dyslexic, that will impact all learning. Her weaknesses have not been address effectively in reading, writing and automatic recall at the school level. Tattle's son is probably in the same position as my child. More than likely, the tests administered by the private concern, is more or less the same tests that would have been administered by the school. The IDEA laws state that a school must accept a private assessment. Why isn't the school administering their own assessment, if they disagree with it?
By the way Tattles, find out what a psycho-educational assessment consists of in your area and state. Boned up on assessments, and check for qualifications. Be prepare to do battle with the school, because parents who educate themselves on these matters, are not received well at the school or board level.

Your post raises a few questions: First, you stated "at our son's IEP mtg". I assume that this was an initial IEP. Did the school find your son eligible for special education services? I'm assuming they didn't. Schools are required to take into consideration outside evaluations in determining eligibility for special education services. Often times, an outside agency will say that a child has such-and-such diagnosis (such as dyslexia), but this is a medical diagnosis and is not the same as an educational diagnosis (i.e. specific learning disability). Outside agencies use the DSM-IV to determine diagnoses while the schools must use the Federal Law to determine eligibility for special education services. I often have had parents say, I've had my child tested at so-and-so place and they say s/he has dyslexia so they should get special education services. However, the school must evaluate according to what the Federal Law says. Sometimes a child will have dyslexia (according to the outside evaluation) but doesn't meet the Federal and/or state law requirements to receive special education services. As a parent, this is very frustrating, but the school is obligated to following what the law says. The place to go is to get Congress to change the eligibility requirements for special education.

Although, I am a Canadian - a lot of Canadians are faced with the same circumstances. Dyslexia is a 4-letter word in some spots across North America. Take advantage of the IDEA laws and what other posters have advised. I just wish Canada would have laws like it. From where I am sitting, the school your son is attending, may be just doing the minimum when addressing LD kids. Find out if other parents are having trouble addressing any special need at the school. Find out, if any parent has taken issues further up the line. Check on state requirements, and try to get an over-all picture. There is a good possibility, that your son may not get help until he is much older. Every year without help, it takes much longer for it to be effective.
Meanwhile, if concerns on reading is important to you, TeacherParent has suggested to get books at home that is 2 grades below instructional level. I have been doing this for my own child, since grade 2. It does help with fluency, and helps build confidence for the child. However, if the reading concerns are not addressed effectively, there will be writing issues in the very near future.
I would use a two-pronged approach, apply the law and seek out private resources, to confirm the learning problems and what should be done. Every state, has resources or help that is free. It can be easily check, by just goggling it. Meanwhile, at home besides the book suggestions, find other activities that your son excels in. It could be anything, from sports to video games to a hobby to a special interest in ancient history. It really does not matter, as long as your son is keen about it. But, remember the fact when children want to quit, make sure that they are not quitting because of a difficulty. My child always wanted to quit, as soon as a difficulty faced her. I either help her, or encourage her to keep on trying. Practice makes perfect, is common around my house. By learning this at home, it help my child at school to cope, and more importantly set the stage where she is now a teen, when she begins the journey of receiving corrective help for reading and writing, (that should have been given to her back in the early grades), she will have the right attitude about it.
So, don't wait around for the school to be helpful. Avail yourself of the laws, help and resources that are around you. Of course, your own ability and experience. I know it can be overwhelming, but take it one day at a time.

Dyslexia (including related disorders such as dysgraphis, dyscalcula, and more) and ADHD do require different accomodations, and each child has different accomodations needed to learn depending on many variables.

The school/district may not be able to "medically diagnose" a disability that affects learning (most do not have the credentials or authority to do so), BUT they CAN and are MANDATED under federal law (which supercedes district and state regulations in most cases) to identify the characteristics of learning disabilities through evaluation, and they can NOT refuse to evaluate or provide services because they don't have a "medical diagnosis". If they do this it's time to file complaints.

If they simply have an issue with wording in your eval request than reword it with more generic terms (like use for ADHD "difficulty staying on task" or "completing work OR for Dysgraphia say "problem with written expression"). Send your eval request in via certified mail addressed to the school principal cc the district spec ed dept, and request PWN on your request for eval within 10 calendar days of reciept of the letter.

Grades and teacher observations are NOT sufficient to gage progress, they are too subjective and open to interpretation. You need objective measurement of IEP goals and progress, such as standardized test, standard curriculum comparison, etc..