First of all, hugs, because it's a hard journey to be on.
Secondly, don't write off the school system just yet. Homeschooling can be wonderful for a lot of kids with learning differences. So if that is what you want to do, that's great. But it's too early to start thinking that homeschooling is your only option.
It sounds like your DS needs an IEP rather than a 504 plan (Kids get oneor the other, not both). Basically, a 504 Plan is when a child needs special accommodations in order to access the regular curriculum. An IEP is for kids who need accommodations and need services that provide them with a modified curriculum. Since your son has significant learning differences, he needs a modified curriculum. This would include different ways of approaching the material, such as the techniques currently being used in the Davis Dyspexia program. (By the way - that sounds like a really cool program!)
If may not be possible for your DS to receive this modified curriculum in the regular classroom. He may need instruction from a teacher with more specialized training. Many schools do this type of instruction as a pull-out in the Resource Room. A student like your DS might be in the resource room for a certain amoount of time, a couple of times a week or every day to get this specialized instruction. Lots of kids with learnign differences get time in the resource room and for most of them this is a very successful approach.
This is a good time to get to know your rights and your son's rights regarding special education. You should be able to get a publication from your school staff or from the school district's website or the state's dept of education website.
Wrightslaw is an excellent source of information about special education rules, policies, and practices. I highly recommend 2 of their books:
From Emotions to Advocacy explains how special education works and gives detailed information how to advocate for your child. It includes thigs like how to write letters, how to organizer your child's information, how to understand the school/district culture, how to interpret test results, etc. It has a ton of useful information.
All About IEPs is a short, easy to read book wrtten in a question and answer format. It's like the FAQ of IEPs. The questions are grouped by topic, so you can focus on the sections that are most relevant to you. It shows some of the common issues that come up when writing IEPs.
You can order the books directly from Wrightslaw ro from Amazon - Amazon often has a better price. There are Kindle versions available too, I would assume nook versions as well.
Last edited by Gena; 02-06-2012 at 10:37 AM.
Reason: I can't spell
Gena
DS, age 11 and always amazing
“Autistics are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It's that you're destroying the peg." - Paul Collins, Not Even Wrong