Jim in the Sixth Grade, continued

At the IEP meeting, Jim and his parents and his teachers all readily agreed that written work was becoming an increasing problem for him. They also agreed that shortening assignments was not a good idea. Jim expected to go to college and law school and, even at his young age, he understood the importance of composition to a lawyer–something he had learned early watching his mother and grandfather at work in the family firm.

Although everyone agreed about the concerns, each had differing views on the best way to address them. When Jim’s English teacher brought up the possibility that Jim might be more comfortable in a less demanding program, there were strong negative reactions from Jim and his parents. Jim was concerned that he would miss his friends, who had been classmates for years, and his parents were concerned that he would not be sufficiently challenged, since he was very successful in his current program. The administrator who was chairing the IEP meeting brought up an important point. To remove Jim from his current program for which he was clearly qualified and successful because of his disability would be a clear violation of his rights under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (See Section 504 (b)(1)(B)).

At this point, the occupational therapist said that perhaps the team should take a look at Assistive Technology that could help Jim write more efficiently be more robust than the pencil grips that. This idea was enthusiastically received by the teachers. The English teacher immediately suggested a laptop computer. The administrator was concerned about this because he believed that “if Jeff got a computer, then everyone would want one”. He felt that is was a precedent that the school could not afford and was not desirable. (The writer feels that it probably would be a fine idea for all students: though fiscally impractical.) Jeff was concerned, too, because he had not want to “stand out” and he thought a laptop was just “too geeky”, although he did mention that he and his friends could play video games on it at lunch and that would be “sweet”! Others had their opinions, but all believed that, clearly, they needed additional information to make a good decision.