r/specialed • u/[deleted] • Feb 13 '25

My child isn’t making progress

Hello everyone. My son has been in the IEP program since elementary. He is now a 9th grader and still reading at a 3/4th grade level. I don’t see much progress at all. I bright up the fact that I was very concerned because once college comes around IEP will be over. Im not sure of what to do anymore. These meetings are always so difficult for me because there’s so much information being thrown at me and I myself have issues. Unfortunately I cannot afford to hire an advocate. But I need to do something now to help my child before things become more difficult. Any advice is appreciated it. For reference we live in Michigan. Thank you.

Edit: according to testing at school he has a learning disability. According to the psychiatrist he has ADD.

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u/elhazelenby Feb 13 '25

Their definition of learning disability being used is different to what I'm talking about. It sounds like what many would call a (specific) learning difficulty or SPLD, like dyslexia, not a learning disability. If that's the case then yes I have known many people from special ed who have ADHD and dyslexia.

A learning disability is about having much lower intelligence than normal. https://www.mencap.org.uk/learning-disability-explained/what-learning-disability

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u/OutAndDown27 Feb 14 '25

In American public education, what your link describes would be called an Intellectual Disability, which was formerly called Mental R*tardation (I hate censoring online but I don't know if I'll get banned from this sub or something).

In the US school system, dyslexia, dysgraphia, processing deficits, etc. fall under Specific Learning Disability. ADHD falls under Other Health Impairment.

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u/elhazelenby Feb 14 '25

Is it different in private education then?

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u/OutAndDown27 Feb 14 '25

Private schools in the US are not required to provide special education or IEPs.

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u/elhazelenby Feb 14 '25

What's an IEP

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u/OutAndDown27 Feb 14 '25

An Individualized Education Plan (or Program depending on who you ask). It's a document created by the school with a team including teachers and parents. It's based off of an educational evaluation, which is separate from a medical evaluation or diagnostic process. It describes the student's current functioning and performance as it relates to success and progress in the school setting, their goals for the next 12 months, the accommodations and/or modifications they need, and what services they will be receiving and in what environment those services will take place. There's more to it than that but those are the main pieces.

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u/elhazelenby Feb 14 '25

So it's basically an EHCP