<p>Hi BigAppleDad,</p>
<p>OK, this may be utterly paranoid here, but I wouldn't go into the school meeting until a psycholgist/learning specialist has looked at your raw data and test report and made a clear list of recommended accommodations with concrete support as to why each one is needed! The last thing you want is for the school to craft its own plan and then for a psychologist, who has only the needs of your son and not the convenience or biases of the institution (which exist even in the most committed and LD-friendly school) to come onto the scene afterwards with different suggestions. In my experience, you need to be open, firm, and collaborative with the school, knowing exactly what you want, and with clear data that you are willing to explain to them in detail supporting your every request. </p>
<p>I am already concerned that your testing report doesn't talk about what your son needs (accommodations; approaches to learning; etc.), and that your testing didn't include a follow-up session to benefit both you and your son, particularly with the siginifcance of the findings in terms of fashioning a school program for your son next year. </p>
<p>I want to recommend that you find a top person who is NOT at this moment on vacation asap and get that person your test report, which should include the raw data, followed by a meeting with that person, your son, and your family, so that you can have back-up when you go to the school. What the school agrees to do in this initial session is critical in terms of your son's potential success there. You need to go into that meeting knowing exactly what you want (at least what you want to try first), fully understanding that test report, and knowing which scores support what you're requesting. (Particularly if the school is going to have its psychologist there, you might want to bring yours too. A psychologist who is already familiar with the school would be a big plus, although not necessary.) This is not to say that the person you used didn't do a great job with the actual testing -- but he isn't here when you need him, and he didn't provide you with the information you need to have a fruitful negotiation with the school. </p>
<p>If you need a referral for a highly competent NYC psychologist/learning specialist you can see quickly, please put out the word (Are you listening, TransitionSuccess? Actually, you might want to PM her for NYC referrals.) and a number of parents who have, believe me, been in a position similar to yours before will try to find you some in the next couple of days. </p>
<p>In my experience, the testing psychologist has to also be willing to function as an advocate, not only with the school at the initial meeting, but if issues arise later, and with the Educational Testing Service, and perhaps even with the LD support services at S's college. You want someone in there who is in your son's corner, whom you trust and with whom you can consult on an ongoing basis, right from the start.</p>
<p>The fact that the new school has seen the report, knows your son, and wants to work with your son in a non-traditional way is wonderful. We were in a more traditional school, but it was very LD-friendly, and I can't even tell you what a relief it will be to have the school on your side. But even with all that, you are at the beginning of several years of having to educate yourself to be an excellent, firm advocate for your son and what he needs. And to do that, you need an expert right now who will explain the significance of the test report to you in detail as in applies to what your son needs in school; you need the list of needed accommodations in writing with support for each item; and you need to know what it is you're going to be asking/fighting (in the nicest possible way) for. </p>
<p>Please, please do not go into the school meeting knowing only what you know now. You need someone terrific to decipher the raw data and test report for you, and then to take the vital next step of connecting this data to what your son needs in school, and the step after that of writing this up in such a way that it will be absolutely clear to the school, and the step after that of being willing to talk with the relevant people at the school, and to advocate for your son if the school wants to go with something you think will be less helpful.</p>
<p>Sorry for the militancy, but in my experience, unless you stay proactive and absolutely on top of it with a gifted LD kid, your kid can get steam-rollered.</p>