13-year-old with awful handwriting (really, printing)

[jbusc]

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No, accommodations were initiated in sixth grade. The school suggested informal accomodations but I have learned that, “. . . if it isn’t in writing it doesn’t exist,” so we insisted on a formal 504 (504 if child can complete grade level work with accomodation vs IEP if workload should be modified).

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<p>Legally, there is no distinction as such. IEP’s can be, and frequently are, about accommodations only without any modifications of the content. Schools can be deceptive about this because IEP puts further obligations on them that they would not like particularly.</p>

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Pretty consistently, the first few months of each school year, teachers underestimated the severity of his problem sometimes trying to eliminate the accomodations. However, by mid year these same teachers were converts strongly supporting the word processing. Freshman year of high school was the worst. The 504 coordinator asked for permission to run a few quick tests during a study hall as she thought since he was succeeding in honors classes the 504 should be eliminated. (she ignored the fact that he was using the accomodation while earning those grades - ugh!! ). We refused and demanded a complete re- evaluation by the psychologist. Again his dysgraphia was demonstrated on testing and 504 coordinator back down. Schools are required to retest every 3 years.

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<p>Dunno about 504s, but for IEP’s, they aren’t changed without the full IEP team approval, even if the teacher does a “few quick tests”</p>