504 plan and denied honors class accommodations

chemmchimney
Sat, 27 Aug 2016 08:21:21 +0000

The teacher’s interpretation of that clause strikes me as not true to the spirit of the law at all and in any case, it is not the teacher’s job to decide which accommodations are reasonable - once they are in your IEP by law they have to be adhered to. She can’t pick and choose and she can’t get in trouble for not being compliant if there is a written legal accommodation. That’s BS.

I agree fair does not have to be equal/same. My daughter had to leave school due to anxiety and depression for a semester and she was allowed to do her presentation via video, and if your daughter can manage that, it does seem fair. She could maybe even tolerate being in the room when the video is played and be available for questions? But she should not be penalized for a disability. If your daughter has an assigned counselor - someone on the child study team for example - this is the person who can best mediate for you - teachers listen to their fellow teachers more readily than parents sometimes. If that person is not available, go to the head of special education at your school, next is principal and finally if all that fails, you can contact the child study team in your county. If you still don’t have a resolution, you can hire a special ed lawyer to write the school - this can get quick results! But it’s expensive and it’s always better to work within the school system until you have exhausted all options I think especially if this is a single issue and other teachers are on board and reasonable.

Anxiety is hard for “outsiders” to understand and it sounds as if this teacher has not been trained (or she’s just a jerk). When you are anxious, your ability to process and therefore to learn shuts down completely in these moments and your"fight or flight" reflex takes over. It’s like a deer in the headlights - and it is deeply frightening to some and it takes time to overcome and this is why the accommodation exists.