“RTI cannot be used to delay or deny an evaluation.” The Office of Special Education Programs clearly states this…Unfortunately schools are still using the RTI process to delay evaluating students.
Note, some schools are now using MTSS or multi-tiered system of supports instead of RTI. Both refer to the same process.
The RTI Trap refers to the Response to Intervention Process taking so long that a student does not receive special education services for a long time.
As school starts, schools will often push off a request for an evaluation.
The challenge is that even with an aggressive effort, your child may not get the required plan in place until next spring and maybe later. Therefore, we recommend parents consider a two step plan:
1- If your child has an attention, anxiety or similar challenge, consider asking for a 504 Plan, as an interim step, to provide the necessary accommodations. Here is an excellent article from Understood.org on how to get a 504 Plan. A medical diagnosis with a note suggesting a 504 Plan is needed to trigger the process.
2- Put the request in writing for a special education evaluation– we would recommend doing this ASAP – here is a draft letter you can modify for your purposes and the letter from OSEP
» Download draft letter to request evaluation
Mary called and said — “My child is caught in the RTI Trap. The school told me that they will not assess my child until after they have completed the RTI or Response to Intervention Process. My friend told me you helped her with a letter that says that RTI Cannot be Used to Delay or Deny an Evaluation, and then you helped her in many other ways. Can you help me?”
The good news is that RTI or Response to Intervention cannot be used to delay or deny an evaluation, if you have the right information and the right help. The process we use to help parents has helped in every case over the last 8 years.
Proactive parents with the right support
1- Response to Intervention or RTI is a proactive process that was designed to get students back to grade level, and to only have the 5 percent of the students who need Special Education services qualify for an IEP or Individualized Education Program, where necessary.
2- Schools are often collaborative — but most parents are not told that …
3- RTI cannot be used to delay or deny an evaluation – and Dr. Melody Musgrove, the former OSEP Director, Office of Special Education Services, issued a very clear message — RTI Cannot be Used to Delay or Deny an Evaluation – this is still in effect as of September, 2018.
4- If you want to expedite an evaluation for your child – put the request in writing — we would recommend doing this ASAP. Below is a draft letter you can modify for your purposes and the letter from OSEP.
5- We have had hundreds of parents share this letter that very clearly states that RTI cannot be used to deny or delay an evaluation and no school challenges this.
6- You want to both share the OSEP letter and a letter you sign that provides your informed consent.
How RTI may work for your child
Tier 1 – When the regular teacher notices a problem with reading, writing or math, or even behavior, they will try some interventions. Data is collected to track progress. If progress is made and your child gets back on track, the process stops. If the rate of progress is not sufficient, your child will be referred to…
Tier 2 – Another teacher will come into the classroom and try more intensive interventions. Again, data is collected and tracked. If this process gets your child back on track, the process stops. If the rate of progress is not sufficient, your child will be referred to…
Tier 3 – Again, a teacher may pull your child out, or the teacher might come into the classroom for even more intensive intervention. A different program or approach from tier 2 is supposed to be tried and results documented. If this works and gets your child back on track, the process stops. If the rate of progress is not sufficient, your child will be referred to a Child Study Team for a Comprehensive Evaluation and/or consideration for Special Education Services.
Third grade retention and other grade retention notices often come out in May and June. In other cases, the parents are just made aware that their child has low test scores. In our experience, reading comprehension is often the key issue.
Accepting third grade retention, other grade retention or low test scores is not the best option. We strongly recommend seizing the opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade by improving your child’s reading comprehension.
3D Learner helps students beat third grade retention, other grade retention and low test scores with strength-based training to improve reading comprehension.
Improving Reading Comprehension — The Best Way to Beat Third Grade Retention, Other Grade Retention and Low Test Scores
While test anxiety can be a factor, low reading comprehension levels has been the key problem in virtually every case where third grade retention, grade retention and/or low test scores are present.
To Get It Right, we recommend the following:
- Reject grade retention or low test scores. Commit to significantly improving your child’s reading comprehension
- Identify several key factors:
- What is your child’s present level of reading comprehension? It is very helpful to both identify what their reading comprehension level is and for both parents to be on the same page.
- Is your child a bright right brain neurodivergent learner, who learns best when he or she sees and experiences information? Click here for our no cost “Is my child a bright right brain neurodivergent learner screening tool?” For more detail, go to our blog post on Is my child a right brain neurodivergent learner.
- Determine if there are other complicating factors that might include dyslexia, executive function, auditory or visual processing, anxiety, and other challenges.
- Seek help to both identify your child’s present level of reading comprehension, whether they are a right brain neurodivergent learner and what other issues are holding your child back.
One of our goals is to help every parent whose child may be facing third grade retention, grade retention, or low test scores. We also want to help parents to both assess for reading comprehension level and to identify the best possible way to help your child to improve his or her reading comprehension and test scores.
To have a no cost conversation, call us at 561-361-7495 or click here to schedule a time for a “How to Beat Third Grade Retention, Grade Retention or Low-Test Score by Improving Reading Comprehension Conversation”
We have helped thousands of bright right brain neurodivergent learners over the last 27 years. While they often came with labels, what is often missed are their strengths. Our students are often:
- Right brain learners who learn best when they see and experience information
- Neurodivergent learners as compared to their neurotypical peers, who are logical, sequential and auditory learners. The neurodivergent learner often solves problems in unique ways and cannot always explain how they got there.
- Kids who learn from whole to part, but they are often taught part to whole
- Hard to understand. They are often much smarter than present results would indicate, but they learn differently and may have dyslexia, executive function challenges, visual processing issues and/or anxiety challenges.
Many smart struggling students learn differently and have a combination of dyslexia,
executive function, and/or auditory and visual processing challenges
- Capable of making significant gains in months, with the right help
- Dependent on their parents to find the solution that will help them succeed
Parents often share that their child has been diagnosed with dyslexia, a learning disability, ADHD, or Executive Function and/or anxiety challenges. Or they might say your child is just lazy and unmotivated. Even worse, too often parents are told their child has limited potential.
How We Learned Our Child Was a Right Brain Neurodivergent Learner
In our case, they told us at a transition meeting in 8th grade, “Your daughter is not college material because her reading comprehension is 3 years below grade level. We recommend putting her on a vocational track for high school, so she can get a job when she graduates”
This was after years of several dyslexia treatments, intensive reading programs and many hours of at home help, with me. I had my Masters in Education, years of experience, but I was at a loss”, said Mira Halpert, her frustrated mother. Mark, her father, asked Julie what she wanted to be when she grew up and Julie answered, “The teacher I never had”. It was at this moment I became “A Mom on a Mission”.
“Then I discovered that while her prior diagnosis was technically correct, they missed that she was a bright right brain neurodivergent learner, who could do far better with a hands-on experiential program that leveraged her strengths. With the 3D Learner Program I developed, our daughter improved her reading comprehension 4.2 grade levels in 7 months, went on to earn her college degree and Master’s in Education from the University of Florida and she is completing her 20th year as “The Teacher She Never Had””.
Note, after helping thousands of bright right brain neurodivergent learners, I realize that parents can make the difference if they:
- Screen to see if their child is a right brain neurodivergent learner. If your child is a right brain neurodivergent learner, it may change how you parent this child, what you believe is possible and who you partner with.
- Realize that their bright right brain neurodivergent learner can either:
- Struggle for years as no one leverages their strengths
- Be much more successful within months
- Assess for other co-existing conditions
- Engage in a conversation on how they can make the difference
Is your child a right brain neurodivergent child?
- Does your child remember places visited even from years ago?
- Does your child learn best when they see and experience information?
- Is your child a lot smarter than present results would indicate?
Click here to download our ‘Is your child a right brain neurodivergent learner screening tool?”.
If you have a neurodivergent, right brain or kinesthetic learner and want to have a conversation, call us at 561-361-7495 or click here to schedule a Let’s Discuss Creating a Pathway to Success for Your Child.
3D Learner Helps The Right Brain Neurodivergent Learner to Make Significant Gain in Months
3D Learner offers a tailored, integrated, engaging and effective option that has helped thousands of neurodivergent, right brain and kinesthetic learners from 46 states and 13 other countries.
As Dr. Linda Silverman, the Director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver Colorado said:
”Your program is what many gifted students who learn differently need. I recommend many of the components you use, but you are the first professionals who have so effectively integrated them with your very unique and effective learning system.”
3D Learner Options
3D Learner offers parents several unique options, including:
- Coming for a one-week intensive program followed up with 10 hours via zoom. We have had students come from California, New York, Texas and many other states — as well as hosting students from 13 other countries.
- For students who live closer, but not close to our Durham NC office, students have come for 3 days of intensive training, followed up with 2 days of intensive training 4 to 8 weeks later. We then can do the appropriate follow-up via zoom.
- We have traveled to other places to do training for multiple clients – with Singapore being the place we traveled the furthest.
- We have also helped students solely via zoom – -which works well for some students – although we do prefer a live option. Note, for the very busy parents where travel is not an option, our program may be far better than local options.
If you have a neurodivergent, right brain or kinesthetic learner and want to discuss the options, call us at 561-361-7495 or click here to schedule a Let’s Discuss Creating a Pathway to Success for Your Child.
Note, we have had students make dramatic gains including:
- A third grader improved his comprehension 3 grade levels in a year and his teacher commented, “He made greater gains than any student I have had in 27 years of teaching”.
- A rising 5th grader from Texas who improved her reading comprehension by 4 grade levels in 6 months, while doubling her reading speed and cutting homework time in half.
- A 7th grader from the State of Washington improved his reading comprehension by 3 grade levels in 5 months and made great strides in all his subjects.
- A student from St Petersburg, FL, went from being a C- student to an A student and her ulcer disappeared.
If you have a neurodivergent, right brain or kinesthetic learner and want to discuss the options, call us at 561-361-7495 or click here to schedule a Let’s Discuss Creating a Pathway to Success for Your Child.
There is a May 31st deadline for both the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities (FES – UA) and the Personalized Education Program Several key points:
- The initial deadline to enroll for these programs for the 2024 – 25 school year is May 31st. While that may change, we strongly recommend parents enroll your child ASAP.
- A number of parents signed up for the Personalized Education Program last year and later realized their child could qualify for the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities — that may be worth $2000 more per year for a student with mild disabilities and much more for students with more complex disabilities. REMEMBER: they can only use one- even if 2 are awarded. Note, these scholarships are only for students in private school or being homeschooled. Public and charter school students are not eligible.
- We encourage parents to get the required documentation for the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities, also known as FES – UA ASAP, preferably before May 31st. Here is a link to more information on the FES- UA.
- If your child is going back to public school in the fall, they will lose whatever is in their account that has not been spent on the day they start school. If your child needs help before reentering public school, consider a summer program.
3D Learner Is a Provider for both the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities (FES – UA) and the Personalized Education Program
Our focus is on the visual learner, kinesthetic learner or neurodivergent learner, who learns best when he or she sees and experiences information. We also identify and address dyslexia, ADHD, visual processing issues and executive function challenges.
We are Dyslexia certified trained for the UFLI ® Program — the University of Florida’s Reading Intervention that incorporates a Core Assessment, and an engaging and effective dyslexia treatment. This is an Orton-Gillingham based program.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss how we can help your child and you, call 3D Learner at 561-361-7395 or click here to schedule a Conversation on How the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities or the Personalized Education program can help your child.
7 ways 3D Learner is different than any other provider:
1. Our hands-on program is designed to help the right brain learner, kinesthetic learner or neurodivergent learner who learns best when he or she sees and experiences information.
2. We address both reading fluency and reading comprehension. We have had students make 2, 3 and even 4-year gains in their reading comprehension in 4 to 6 months. While we are a hands-on program, we also address phonemic awareness and reading fluency with the University of Florida’s UFLI Program ®.
3. We identify and address executive function, visual processing and related issues.
4. We strive to ignite a love for learning, while boosting self-esteem
5. We help parents to be even more effective coaches for their child.
6. We tailor our program to meet the individual child’s needs. We can also address math and writing issues.
7. Our assessment, that can be done live or online, will show a parent:
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- How your child learns best
- Their learning strengths and challenges
- Whether there is an executive function or visual processing issue
- The child’s present level of performance for both reading fluency and reading comprehension
If you have any questions or would like to discuss how we can help your child and you, call 3D Learner at 561-361-7495 or click here to schedule a Conversation on How the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities can help your child
Homeschool successes with 3D Learner. We have helped:
If you have any questions or would like to discuss how we can help your child and you, call 3D Learner at 561-361-7495 or click here to schedule a Conversation on How The Florida Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities can help your child.
If you have a smart struggling child, you may be asking yourself, “Should we invest in a summer program for our child?” Our specialty is the student who is a lot smarter than present results would indicate and is what we call a bright right brain learner – who learns best when they see and experience information.
The simple answer is yes, if:
- Your child is a lot smarter than present results would indicate?
- You have the time and resources to do the right program.
- You find the right program that can help your child to make significant gains in months in multiple areas (e.g. reading fluency, reading comprehension, attention, confidence …)
- You get the help needed to be the coach and advocate your child needs
Is 3D Learner The Right Summer Program for Your Child?
If you have a smart struggling child, they may have been identified with dyslexia, ADHD, executive function or related challenges. We have found that most smart struggling students:
- Are a bright right brain learner
- Often have a sea of strengths and challenges
- Can do far better when one focuses on their strengths, while addressing their challenges
- Can benefit from the right summer program, when school pressure is not present
As we look back over the last 27 years, we notice that a significant number of students we helped over the summer made significant gains in their reading fluency, reading comprehension, math skills, attention and self-confidence.
What were the key actions that led to our student’s success:
– Their parents called us and had a conversation.
– Their parents then invested in our Comprehensive Assessment that in each case showed their child learned differently, had significant strengths and challenges, and had the potential to do far better with what we offered.
– We discussed how what we offered could be far more effective than virtually any other program because:
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- We teach the way their child learns
- We tailor our program to meet each child’s needs
- We engage our students by both focusing on what is important to them and by using our hands-on methods, that are integrated, engaging and effective
- We address the relevant attention, visual processing working memory and/or processing speed issues that are often present as well as address phonemic awareness
- Our approach improves decoding, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. We strive to ignite a love for learning and reading!
- While we help students with dyslexia, ADHD, executive function and related issues, we use the positive label of a Bright Right Brain Learner.
- We help parents to be the coach and advocate their child needs. NOTE: we offer one of the few programs that has parent coaching as an integral part of the program.
– The parents recognized that we could tailor a program to meet their child’s needs, help them to be the coach and advocate their child needed, and had a high probability of generating significant results within months.
– Their parents chose to work with us
What did our most successful parents do that led to truly outstanding progress? They
- Leveraged our intensive program that laid the groundwork for significant gains – note, in the last few years as we leverage zoom, we have been able to help students via zoom, too.
- Did the follow-up over the next few months to generate the maximum benefit from our joint efforts
Their child then made gains like the three cases outlined below:
One mom of a third grader was really frustrated. Despite investing in other programs, her bright 3rd grader was really struggling. 5 minutes into the initial call, she commented, “How is it that after 5 minutes you appear to know my child better than people who have known him for years”. She had been told to find another private school for her son, whose reading comprehension was 2 years below grade level,
She lived out of state and asked, “What is the best way to do your program”. We responded that while we offer a 5-day intensive program, we have seen excellent results with students who came for 3 days (for 2 to 4 hours, depending on the age of the student) and then another 2 days 4 to 6 weeks later. That is what she chose to do. Her son was able to improve his reading comprehension 3 grade levels over the next year, to excel at his school.
His teacher said “I have never seen a student make such dramatic gains in 27 years of teaching
For students who have come to us from California, Washington, Arizona and other states that are further away, a one-week intensive program is often more practical.
A rising 6th grader was really struggling with attention, self-control and reading comprehension. He was also struggling with baseball where his average had dropped to 260, as the pitching became harder to hit. As we spoke with him, we discussed how our program could help his baseball skills, as well as his attention, self-control and reading comprehension. Sports, dance, or martial arts are often what our students want to improve. By working on their neural timing and their visual processing, we are often able to engage the students and help them to dramatically improve their performance in sports and other activities.
With our help, he was able to:
- Improve his reading comprehension 4 grade levels in 5 months
- Double his reading speed
- Go from special education classes to regular education classes
- Be far more attention and control his impulses
- Increase his batting average from 260 to 382 and increase his home run production from 1 to 10
- Become much more confident in his abilities
A rising 9th grader who was a C+ student, his reading comprehension was 4 years below grade level, he was reading at 200 words per minute and was considered unmotivated. In our initial conversation, mom was delighted to hear that we would leverage her child’s strengths. With our work with the student and his parents he was able to:
- Improve his reading comprehension 4 grade levels in 100 days – from the 5th to 9th grade level
- Increase his reading speed from 200 to 360 words per minute
- Become a highly motivated student
- Excel in high school and get several full scholarship offers for college
Our program was developed to do this for our high school daughter. We realize our goal is to both motivate, train and support our students. We get student buy-in before we accept teenage students.
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