Dyslexia and High School entry-->middle school child with serious goals

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curiousmom

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I am the mother of a motivated 7th grader with dyslexia who wants nothing more than to go to USMA. Great kid, athletic, service orientated, all A's, and has not once taken extra time for tests and does not get any accomodations for her school work. In middle school, they are continuing to provide support to push her reading skills as her IQ is still way beyond her reading and writing skills (which are now above average), so she continues to meet the diagnostic criteria for dyslexia. (We know that we are lucky to have as much attention given to her in a public school given that she is in the top 5-10% of her class)

As she is approaching 8th grade, and realizing the impact of her diagnosis on her personal goal to go to West Point, we are trying to figure out how to approach her next PPT. As I said, they provide no academic accomodations; simply are pushing her further to meet her true capacity. We fully expect that high school would be no different; she's taking a full cohort of classes, including foriegn language, and honors math/science without difficulty.

Option 1: Pull her out of any special education for high school 100%, which they are hinting is a fair option for her as she is excelling without any academic supports. However, she is still making huge gains with the extra drilling of language skills, and could be an even stronger student with the extra push.

Option 2: Have a 504 in place to provide supports if needed, and maintain her diagnosis of dyslexia in her record in case she needs services in the future.

Option 3: Knowing she is making amazing gains with the dyslexia instruction, keep her in for early high school, and then pull her at the end of sophomore year to allow her to advance even further, and then prove that she doesnt need accomondations for the year or two before applying to USMA.

Would appreciate any guidance. Hard to be a mother trying to balance my child's goals of miltary school and her maximizing her academic potential.
 
curiousmom said:
I am the mother of a motivated 7th grader with dyslexia who wants nothing more than to go to USMA. Great kid, athletic, service orientated, all A's, and has not once taken extra time for tests and does not get any accomodations for her school work. In middle school, they are continuing to provide support to push her reading skills as her IQ is still way beyond her reading and writing skills (which are now above average), so she continues to meet the diagnostic criteria for dyslexia. (We know that we are lucky to have as much attention given to her in a public school given that she is in the top 5-10% of her class)

As she is approaching 8th grade, and realizing the impact of her diagnosis on her personal goal to go to West Point, we are trying to figure out how to approach her next PPT. As I said, they provide no academic accomodations; simply are pushing her further to meet her true capacity. We fully expect that high school would be no different; she's taking a full cohort of classes, including foriegn language, and honors math/science without difficulty.

Option 1: Pull her out of any special education for high school 100%, which they are hinting is a fair option for her as she is excelling without any academic supports. However, she is still making huge gains with the extra drilling of language skills, and could be an even stronger student with the extra push.

Option 2: Have a 504 in place to provide supports if needed, and maintain her diagnosis of dyslexia in her record in case she needs services in the future.

Option 3: Knowing she is making amazing gains with the dyslexia instruction, keep her in for early high school, and then pull her at the end of sophomore year to allow her to advance even further, and then prove that she doesnt need accomondations for the year or two before applying to USMA.

Would appreciate any guidance. Hard to be a mother trying to balance my child's goals of miltary school and her maximizing her academic potential.
Click to expand...

Many years ago I was DQ from AROTC for a learning disability. My medical evaluation of new testing they requested said I could not read or write. I was an A student in Nursing School and required no accommodations. Our Brigade nurse applied for a wavier and I had to get 3 letters from my instructors saying I was able to read and write without accommodations. I was grated a wavier. I wish I would have not checked the box. It cost me a semester of tuition. I graduated top of my class. Good luck. Goal would be to prove no accommodations are needed.
 
The modern diagnosis of dyslexia is a dual edge sword. Patton had it. One of my brothers, a USNA graduate, had it. His wasn't diagnosed until he graduated, but he still had a very successful Naval career.
Good luck.
 
I have it. By the time you get to college many can compensate for it. Now I read for fun and work. I read slow, but i ride the train to work so I have plenty of time on my hands.
 
I would have her IEP removed before she graduates from 8th grade. This will document that she has overcome her learning challenges and made so much progress that she no longer meets the eligibility requirements for a learning disability.

I suggest this because a learning disability after 14 is going to require additional documentation in DODMERB and perhaps a Waiver. Of course that's how it appears to work now. It may change by the time your daughter is ready to apply.

If you search on this forum, you'll likely find threads on this topic. There's also additional guidance if you Google dyslexia and military, service academy, West Point, etc.
 
Even if you remove all in-school supports so it does not appear in the record going forward, there's no reason you couldn't engage a private tutor to continue with some of the language drills. It's no different than skill building for math or standardized testing.
 
Itpmom said:
I would have her IEP removed before she graduates from 8th grade. This will document that she has overcome her learning challenges and made so much progress that she no longer meets the eligibility requirements for a learning disability.

I suggest this because a learning disability after 14 is going to require additional documentation in DODMERB and perhaps a Waiver. Of course that's how it appears to work now. It may change by the time your daughter is ready to apply.

If you search on this forum, you'll likely find threads on this topic. There's also additional guidance if you Google dyslexia and military, service academy, West Point, etc.
Click to expand...

Or google Mest doint
 
I think it is good to think ahead for West Point. You might want to consider the impact on plan B options. How well does your child do on standardized tests? The academies do not accept ACT and SAT scores with additional time accommodations but several other Plan B schools do. If you remove the additional time accommodations from an IEP, it will be more difficult to get that reinstated. With the IEP she can take standardized tests with or without accommodations. My friend's child is classified as gifted along with dyslexia and scored a 33 on her first ACT with additional time. This opened a lot of opportunities for her.
 
Thanks...you’ve confirmed my suspicions that we need to take this transition seriously! Private tutoring would always be an option for her if needed, and might make this process far cleaner.
 
Mama-B said:
I think it is good to think ahead for West Point. You might want to consider the impact on plan B options. How well does your child do on standardized tests? The academies do not accept ACT and SAT scores with additional time accommodations but several other Plan B schools do. If you remove the additional time accommodations from an IEP, it will be more difficult to get that reinstated. With the IEP she can take standardized tests with or without accommodations. My friend's child is classified as gifted along with dyslexia and scored a 33 on her first ACT with additional time. This opened a lot of opportunities for her.
Click to expand...
Fortunately a great test taker (tests are puzzles for her to solve!) and when they have looked to see if extra time helped the impact is so minimal we’ve never needed it.
 
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