Teachers and 504 plans

[momof6]

thank you all so much for your support and response. It feels good not to be alone. I am new to this. He did fantastically in inclusion last year. He had a 504 plan and was placed in as part of the gen ed population. Of course, the teacher's assistant helped him as well so I requested this for next year. They told me that he would have to be classified special ed as this was a special ed service. I went ahead and did it. He did great in all areas of WISC except processing which was 85%. Verbal was 114 and non-verbal 104. Nevertheless, I classified him just to get inclusion. He wanted it and felt comfortable in this classroom climate. He requres redirection. His 504 plan was due to chronic allergies/asthma and he is on four allergy/asthma medication daily. At the meeting, the draft IEP read inclusion and resource room alt days. I declined the resource room because he is high-functioning with a 94 average and does extremely well on state tests. Now I am wondering if I should pull out consent for special ed because I feel like they are trying to give me too much. There is such a level of distrust here on my part. I don't know what to do and I stay awake all night long. I don't know whether they have his best interests at heart. Does anyone have an opinion on the resource room and how it would benefit someone who is performing academically?

Please help - my heart is breaking.

Thanks again my new friends

[lillian]

A child is classified for Special Education services because it is deemed necessary that the child receive specialized instruction and/or modifications to the curriculum. For your child to qualify for Special Education, he must have needed one or both of those. How well he did on the IQ test is of little importance in his case. He could be gifted intellectually and still have great difficulties reading or doing math calculations and would qualify for Special Education services because of that. Although parents put great emphasis on IQ tests, achievement tests are as important as IQ tests, and it is against Special Education law to use only one test, such as an IQ test, to determine Special Education eligibility.

Because the school wants to put your son in resource, I am curious how well he did on his achievement tests. I would suggest pulling those out and looking at them. If he scored below the 25th percentile in reading comprehension, basic reading skills, reading fluency, math calculations, or math reasoning, this may be why they want to put him in a resource classroom, for these are the skills most commonly remediated in a resource classroom. Whether or not they are remediated well in resource is heavily dependent on the teacher and the school.

When you say that you would like to pull Special Education because you don't want your son in resource, you need to understand that your son will not have an aide, either. The aide is part of the specialized instruction he is receiving with his Special Education classification. If he had an aide last year with just a 504, that is probably because the aide was in the classroom, anyway, not just for him. It sounds like the teacher will not have an aide next year, so if he needs one to be successful in the general education classroom, he will need to be classified as Special Education. You can still deny resource placement, while accepting the aide. You do not have to accept both to get the aide.

I also want to make a quick note on semantics, simply for your information. "Inclusion" is when a child is not capable of doing the work in a classroom but is put there, anyway, for the social and emotional growth the classroom placement allows. For example, a child with mental retardation, who is put in a general education classroom, and has his/her work heavily modified is in "inclusion." A child who is mentally capable of doing the work in the classroom but has a health condition, such as ADHD, or a learning disability, such as a Disorder of Written Expression, which requires modifications to certain aspects of the curriculum or one-on-one help from an aide, is "mainstreamed." Today, people on Special Education forums are using these two terms--mainstreaming and inclusion--synonymously, but they actually are quite different, and most schools still make a marked distinction between the two terms, which is the reason why I am mentioning it--just in case, the school says something about his being a mainstreamed student, not inclusion.

[momof6]

Thanks so much for the info. My son took the WIAT II and his scores are as follows:

Word Reading - 105 - 63%
Reading Comprehension - 109 - 73%
Pseudoword Decoding 109 - 73%
Numerical Operations 117 - 87%
Math Reasoning - 115 - 84%
Spelling 93 - 32%
Written Expression - 100 - 50%

The processing speed was low on the WISC IV 85 - 16%
(Is this a visual perception problem?) Do schools provide services for this type of problem)

I understand that these scores are average and range. His organizational skills are very poor and I understand that the resource room was to help him improve on this. The reason why he had a 504 plan was because of chronic allergies and asthma. He is on a great deal of allergy meds and needs a lot of refocsing whether it me the meds or a touch of ADD. Being in inclusion last year was so beneficial. You were correct about the assistant. She was not there for my child, but helped him nevertheless. He is unfocused. There were about 8 classified children and a teacher's assistant who assisted everybody. The other children in the class were not severely disabled. In this district children with severe disabilities or lD or placed in self-containment.

I think this inclusion setting was great for his self-esteem. He was not singled out when needing redirection as the case in a complete gen ed class. I wish I could not be so distrustful of the school system. I am raising six children and this is the first time I had to deal with this.

I thank you so much for your knowledge and support. It
is truly appreciated.

[lillian]

I am curious why you don't trust your son's school system. I'm going to tell you the truth...most kids could not get Special Education services with achievement test scores, classroom grades, and state test scores (the latter two you have mentioned as being high) like your son's. He's scoring from average to above average in every area. Those achievement test scores are excellent and seem to correspond with the IQ scores you mentioned previously. I have to assume that your son's behavior has been a major issue, for the school to be providing a one-on-one aide?

[momof6]

You have misunderstood. My son's behavior is impeccable. He is well liked by his teachers and peers. In fact it is these qualities that really make him shine. His only fault is that he is completely disorganized.

He never had a one-on-one. This fall will be the first time he had a special ed classification. He was a gen ed student who benefited by being in an inclusion class on the gen ed spectrum. Because of his severe allergies and daily allergy medications he requires refocusing. He has never been diagnosed with ADD technically. His 504 was for chronic allergies with heavy regimen of medication. His IEP is to be part of an inclusion strand. They hope his allergies will subside, medication decreased and plan to declassify him before high school. The resource room was to address disorganization, but I agree that it would be a waste as he is high functioning academically. He also is in a gifted program due to his creative writing ability and high state test scores.

Just wanted to clarify -

Take Care and thanks again for a response. Perhaps I should not complain and trust the school system for wanting to give my son any help possible. As a school employee myself, I realize that a lot of people can't get services they require. It could be quite political.

[lillian]

Well, I'm certified in SPED, I taught many children with 504's and IEP's, and I've been a member of forums that deal with SPED issues for three years now, and I've never heard of a child being given an IEP and a one-on-one aide for disorganization alone. If his IQ scores, achievement test scores, classroom grades, state test scores, and behavior are all excellent, and he does not have any major physical disabilities that interfere with his learning (such as CP), I am mystified how he qualified for SPED, to begin with, and can't imagine a school discussing "hoping to disqualify him by high school." I assume he was given an OHI IEP, if it was based on his allergies, but from what you are describing, I really don't see how his allergies are impacting his learning severely enough for him to qualify for SPED. I don't know. It sounds to me like the school is "bending over backwards" to qualify your son, and I'm not grasping why the school is doing this, at all.

[momof6]

I keep telling you, if you read my previous posts, that he never had a one on one aide nor was he classified. He was just a part of a class with a teacher's assistant and a gen ed teacher where he thrived. His allergies are severe and that is why he is classified. it's all over his IEP. refocusing when allergies are severe. He also has asthma. He is on zyrtec, singular, naphcon and veramyist on a daily basis as well as albuterol when needed, which is often. As you can see, this is a heavy regimen of medication. The school has medical documentation, teacher observation as well as a phys intern who did an in-depth observation as to the impact his allergies have on health. He is allergic to dust, mold and all outdoor allergies. I hope this gives you some clarification.


The word they used was "declassify" not disqualify which happens to be a special ed term. This is what they did say. There is a first time for everything - there is no rhyme or reason to children that have disabilities whether health or learning. We just pray for the best and do the best we can as parents and advocates.

[lillian]

What I understand from reading your previous posts is that he had a 504 because of allergies and was placed in a room with a teacher's assistant, who was there to help a number of children, and he was one of those children. When considering what he needed for next year, it was decided that the teacher's assistant was needed, but he would have to have SPED classification to get this next year because there would not be a class with a teacher's assistant. This is what I mean by one-on-one help--the fact that he's going to have an assistant next year. Sorry if I misunderstood this.

[momof6]

That's fine - please forgive me if I was too sensitive. I just want to advocate for my child and this is all new to me. It's nice that you lend a hand to all of us.