Teachers and 504 plans

[mom23boyz]

I am looking into getting a 504 plan for my ds age 7 next year he will be going into 2nd grade. I just found out about them and there are only 5 weeks left in school this year. I have a few questions about the procedure for getting one. I understand the board at the school will put him through some testing and I am worried about him wondering why he is being put through this and being embarrassed about it? He does not know he has ADHD.
Secondly, to finish out this school year, I have spoken with his teacher and we set up some accommadations for him, such as sitting in the front, giving him longer time, and letting him bring things home. But then I am still getting some papers home that he failed to complete a whole side and she will grade it and give him a D or F. Should I speak with her again? I hate to make her mad, but sometimes she will make comments asserting that sometimes he "gives her that look" when he "doesnt get his way" like he isnt going to finish or do the work. She usually then will send him to the in school suspension room to finish or make him finish at recess. I am so stressed out. We are going to try him on Adderall but want to wait until school is over, since it is only 5 weeks, but I cant take these daily ridicules, some days are perfect, the next day horrible. This is why we are switching from Concerta to the Adderall. Please HELP!!!

Also, he is very smart, gets all A's when allowed to finish the work, I am worried they will want to stick him in special education classes if I ask for too many accommadations for him, such as less work, more time, etc? Is this possible?

[charliegirl]

They can only put him in a separate classroom for special ed when they have tried all other means and they haven't worked. If he gets A's when he is given extra time to complete the work that isn't going to happen.

You can ask for extra time for tests and for him to be allowed to bring unfinished classwork home, etc, to be included in the 504. You can also have him go to a quiet place for important exams. I'm sure others here can tell you more about what you can ask for and expect to get.

[lillian]

Here is some basic information about 504's:

www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=30

In addition, I'll address some of your other questions:

1. Testing. A child does not have to be tested for a 504, but the school can choose to test. Do you know for certain that your school will automatically test your child? If so, I wouldn't worry about it embarrassing your son. He's too young for it to embarrass him. A teenager? Then, yes, it might. A seven year old? No.

2. Putting a child in Special Education classes because he's qualified for a 504. The school can not do this. The child has to qualify for Special Education to be put in Special Education classes. The child would have to be tested, found eligible for Special Education AND in need of special education services, an IEP would have to be written, and you would have to sign off in agreement on an IEP. That's all quite different than a 504.

3. Confronting the teacher. Whether a child is given extra time, preferential seating, and allowed to bring work home is up to the teacher, until the Academic Intervention Committee, or whatever it is called at your school, intervenes. What you need to do is take your son's dx of ADHD and a letter requesting that your child be considered for a 504 Plan. In that letter, you should discuss how the ADHD is impairing his ability to learn or impairing other life tasks. At that point, what commonly happens, particularly in this day and age of Response to Intervention, the school's Academic Intervention Committee, or whatever it is called at your school, will meet and discuss the request. It is not a law that you must be present for this meeting, but I suggest you ask permission to be. If the Committee decides that your son needs assistance, it will put some basic interventions in place, such as preferential seating, to see if they are enough to allow the child to be successful. Once the Academic Intervention Committee has put the interventions into place, the teacher is obligated to do them and to assess their effectiveness.

Now, this is one of the many tricky parts of the interventions...What kinds of interventions are allowed will vary greatly from school-to-school. My son's school district, for example, is very careful to make sure that those interventions do not cross over into accommodations that are allowed under 504 or modifications that are allowed under IDEA. Other schools are much more lenient in what they will allow as interventions. For example, your son's teacher giving your son extra time to complete assignments and allowing him to bring the assignments home to complete would be considered accommodations in my son's district. In fact, both of these ARE accommodations my son is given and listed in his IEP, BUT they are listed as accommodations. He would not get these from the Academic Intervention Committee. He would get such things as: preferential seating, being allowed to go to the tutoring center for testing in a quiet environment, being allowed to go to the tutoring center for one-on-one help with a subject, etc.

Accommodations come with a 504 or an IEP (Special Education). The child has to qualify for a 504 or an IEP to receive them. Accommodations are what it is called when the child's curriculum is made accessible to him. The curriculum is not changed, only made accessible. Accommodations include such things as extra time, books on tape, assistive technology (keyboards, i.e.), etc. The list goes on and on, but what you have to remember is that under a 504, these accommodations allow the child to work on grade level or above, by making the curriculum accessible, and these accommodations are not allowed to every student--only students with disabilities.

Usually, what the Academic Intervention Committee will allow as interventions are what would be allowed to any student. And what would be allowed to any student varies from school-to-school. Some schools will readily give a keyboard as a basic intervention, while others will not. Some schools will readily give books on tape as a basic intervention, while others will not. It's very confusing and tricky.

The Academic Intervention Committee will meet, however, and come up with basic interventions, put these interventions into the classroom, assess these interventions to see how they are working, then reconvene to discuss their findings. If it is found at that time that basic interventions are not enough, a 504 will be considered. In my son's school, no child gets a 504 without having gone through the Academic Intervention Committee first. Basic interventions have to fail first. So, getting a 504 can be a long process. With only five weeks left in your son's school year, you may be running out of time to get a 504 this year, so I would begin the process promptly!

[anon4now]

I have a 504 plan in place - but it's for his Type I Diabetes (which is way easier to obtain, I would think). But...I was able to sneak in some of the accomodations for his ADHD in there too. Frequent breaks (even if it's using the bathroom for the ump-teenth time) are allowed, accomodations for standardized testing, Two seating areas, one with group and one away from group...things like that.

I think theres a way for the doctor to determine if he's eligible for the 504 plan. I would definately find out all your options regarding the decision making for your school. And you can adjust them any time during the school year. So if something isn't working, don't hesitate to call the meeting to have it changed.

Good luck,
Anon

[lillian]

A doctor can not give a 504 Plan. The role of the doctor is to provide the medical dx the school needs to qualify a child for a 504, but whether or not the child receives a 504 is up to the school.

[mom23boyz]

Thanks for the wealth of information all of you!! Lillian thanks for outlining that for me, and anon-- you said repeated bathroom breaks, ---Just yesterday my son went to the bathroom and used it, he always goes number 2 at school and takes him forever, which makes the teacher mad to start, well then ten minutes after this she was going to give their spelling test, which he does excellent on, anyway he asked to go to the bathroom again and she told him no wait until after the spelling test because you just went. Well, he peed his pants and I got a phone call. The teacher believes he did it on purpose (we had issues with that in Kindergarten) before the meds, but when I arrived at the school with new clothes, he said he just didnt get all the pee out on his first trip and had to go bad. I will definitely try to add the bathroom breaks on his plan, but how do you insure they do not abuse this? By the way, I am going to just struggle without the plan for the next five weeks, I am going to get the plan set in place for next school year!

[puzzled]

Apr 17, 2008 23:54:52 GMT -5 mom23boyz said:

I am looking into getting a 504 plan for my ds age 7 next year he will be going into 2nd grade. I just found out about them and there are only 5 weeks left in school this year. I have a few questions about the procedure for getting one. I understand the board at the school will put him through some testing and I am worried about him wondering why he is being put through this and being embarrassed about it? He does not know he has ADHD.
Secondly, to finish out this school year, I have spoken with his teacher and we set up some accommadations for him, such as sitting in the front, giving him longer time, and letting him bring things home. But then I am still getting some papers home that he failed to complete a whole side and she will grade it and give him a D or F. Should I speak with her again? I hate to make her mad, but sometimes she will make comments asserting that sometimes he "gives her that look" when he "doesnt get his way" like he isnt going to finish or do the work. She usually then will send him to the in school suspension room to finish or make him finish at recess. I am so stressed out. We are going to try him on Adderall but want to wait until school is over, since it is only 5 weeks, but I cant take these daily ridicules, some days are perfect, the next day horrible. This is why we are switching from Concerta to the Adderall. Please HELP!!!

Also, he is very smart, gets all A's when allowed to finish the work, I am worried they will want to stick him in special education classes if I ask for too many accommadations for him, such as less work, more time, etc? Is this possible?

My son is the same way. Very good grades IF he finishes the work.

He has had a 504 plan for a little over a year. All it took for me was a letter from his doctor stating the fact that he has ADHD and she listed the accomms that would be helpful to him. I took that to the school, and we set up a plan. I have heard horror stories from other parents that their schools were not so easily convinced, however.

[momof6]

Does a child have more protecton under a IDEA versus a 504. My son had a 504 for severe allergies which interfered with his focus as he is on four meds for allergies daily (zyrtec, singular, naphcon, and veramyst. He was placed in inclusion informally and he did fantastic. I wanted to maintain this setting and requested it. They informed me that inclusion was a special ed service. Therefore, is it correct to say that it is better to go after an IEP?

Thanks

[charliegirl]

For him to get an IEP, the school has to do their own evaluation. There is no way out of it.

By law, a child has to be put in the least restrictive environment that meets his needs. Yes, an IEP carries more weight than a 504 but going after an IEP won't give them the right to put him a special ed class. They have to try the IEP and do it right before they can even consider anything other than inclusion.

He would have to fail miserably and that isn't going to happen if he has a normal IQ and his needs are being met. There are steps they have to take to be able to prove he can't handle a normal classroom. You have steps you can take to make them prove it. This is a pretty simplistic explanation of something that can be difficult but it can be done.

If you haven't already, start a paper trail. Keep everything that comes from the school concerning him, his behavior, his inability to get his work done in the same time frame the other kids can, every note the teacher or anyone else sends home. Keep report cards, progress reports and samples of his work. If some is on meds and some isn't, keep samples of both. Some of the others can tell you what they kept and why and how it worked for them so you understand.

I don't know what all he has problems with but if you want to fill us in, we can help you get a good idea as to what to ask for in the IEP.

[lcdc1]

I concur with charliegirl on the paper trail! You should be putting your requests in writing and if you have an "informal" conversation with one of the team members, write it in an email restating what they said and email it to them, then you have their acknowledgement in writing!

As a parent of an IEP kid, I learned through the school of hard knocks, but with the help of people here, we get through this each year. My kid is entering high school, freshman, 9th grader in the fall and I feel anxious about it all and like I have to start all over developing a rapport with a new team! Good luck to you.