Twice-exceptional kid entering Berkeley High
Our 13 y.o. daughter recently received a UC Berkeley's neuropsych evaluation indicating that she is gifted but also has specific learning disorders in reading, writing, and arithmetic, along with long-diagnosed ADHD. She has been receiving informal accommodations at her private middle school, which has been OK, and has gotten writing tutoring since 2nd grade. We can no longer afford private school, so she is entering Berkeley High this fall. We have been turned down for an IEP at BHS, and we have been told that the types of services the neuropsych folks want for her are not really available there. We understand that a 504 (assuming we can get one) would not generally be in place for several weeks after school starts. We worry that letting our shy, diminutive, grudge-holding daughter flounder unsupported in a huge school could seriously backfire.
We are hoping folks in the BPN network can give us perspectives and advice on how to proceed, particularly around getting at least some accommodations in place from the first day of school, and providing our kid the support she needs beyond what a 504 will deliver. Thanks!
Parent Replies
Dear Kate,
My experience fighting for accommodations for my brilliant daughter was indeed challenging, frustrating and difficult. It wasn’t until she was hospitalized for major depressive disorder at the end of her sophomore year that the school district psychologist finally completed their own neuropsych! Then she was finally given an IEP for her junior & senior years at El Cerrito HS. BPN just posted that Albany HS is taking transfers and you may encounter a friendlier experience there than BHS. Otherwise you’re going to have to firmly persist that BUSD complete a neuropsych on your daughter for accommodations. BHS is overwhelmed with special ed students and understaffed with case managers. I taught at BHS for a few years and was daunted by how many special ed students I had. While they do have wonderful and caring counselors there, just not enough of them and the gate keepers do what they can to deny accommodations. Do your best to educate yourself about the legal details of IEP’s and 504’s so you’re prepared for battle. I recently learned of someone arming themselves with an attorney to get another school district’s attention for their special needs student. Good luck Kate!
I can only give you my experience with Berkeley High when my stepson was there. He had a 504 plan that was utterly ignored, and even when there were accommodations in place, there was zero oversight, and teachers with grudges against other teachers or departments would basically do whatever they wanted and by the time any of us (four!) parents got involved and wended our way through the byzantine route from principal and security-dude to the actual teacher, it was months after the fact and the kid had already just given up on whatever it was that had happened in the first place. He nearly flunked out and was injured in an attack by another student directly related to his issues.
His mom managed to get him switched over to El Cerrito High, where he had a counselor dedicated to his issues, another counselor dedicated to another set of issues, and teachers who were responsive and helpful. He immediately began getting straight As and was happy and made friends and discovered a love for theater that we didn't even know about before that.
This soured me on Berkeley High. I get that lots of people enjoy their time there, but for a kid with issues, I would do something like their independent study program and come up with some other option. I'm just moving out of the district before my younger kids get to high-school age. Sorry! Don't mean to be Debbie Downer, but I cannot allow any more kids like mine to be hurt by Berkeley High. It's not what it used to be.
My son is a senior at Berkeley High and is also bright and has some learning differences. He struggled his first and second year (more in stress than grades). He had been evaluated by a neuropsychologist and and we requested and were given a 504. There was no problem getting the 504. We then found that some of his teachers did not respect the 504. We encouraged him to push back, which worked for almost all the teachers. The exceptions were teachers who called exams "quizzes" and refused to give him extra time, and the teachers that did group quizzes that sometimes refused the extra time. This was frustrating and affected his GPA (A's became B's). By his senior year he had figured out how to work within the system to get what he needs. He is an excellent student, but the year of transition cost his GPA a little. In the end he is going to be attending the college of his choice, he has developed great self-advocacy skills, and he learned a lot about what learning environment is best for him. If I had it to do over again I would have pushed harder early on to make sure the 504 was respected. The lack of extra time of quizzes made a difference for him and was aggravating.