This is not allowed per special education legislation. If a family or staff member requests a screening, or child NEEDS services, they can not be placed on a “waitlist” because there are other more needy kids.
This is a piece of misinformation that needs to be ignored…because it is not allowed…and is not true.
Adding…if a family is denied a services due to too many other students or lack of sufficient personnel to deliver the services, the family should write a polite letter to the special education director that they would like to initiate due process hearing for their student.
I can guarantee you that if a district tells a hearing officer that they have a waitlist, the district will be asked to explain…as this is just not allowed.
You may want to take a look at the Parent and Educator Resource Guide to Section 504, published by the DOE, Office of Civil Rights:
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/504-resource-guide-201612.pdf
Page 10:
“School staff should note that a student may have a disability and be eligible for Section 504 services, including modifications, even if the student earns good grades. This is because the student’s impairment may substantially limit a major life activity regardless of whether the student performs well academically, and the student may need special education or related aids and services because of this disability…For example, a student who has dyslexia and is substantially limited in reading finds it challenging to read the required class material in a timely manner. Alternatively, a student who has been diagnosed with depression may be substantially limited in her ability to concentrate while completing school assignments. In both of these cases, the student spends far more time preparing for class than other students and earns good grades because of the student’s intelligence and extreme efforts. The student would still be substantially limited in the major life activity of reading despite earning good grades and may require a multi-sensory approach to learning, and additional time to complete in-class tests or quizzes, even if that student earns mostly A’s.”
There is also a Guide that specifically addresses students with ADHD:
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf
Do you mean your MD ordered a neuropsych eval? MDs really arent trained to do a comprehensive neuropsych eval.
The school is looking for a reason to deny here. It is not correct to look solely at grades to make this determination. Start keeping track of every missed assignment, all correspondence with teachers etc…
Unfortunately the teaches who have given him informal accommodations have done him a disservice. He will absolutely need to have an official 504 before high school. Eventually you will run into the teacher(s) who won’t allow him what he needs and his grades will slip when they are most important.
My suggestion is to conference with the teacher who is most helpful, tenured, and has the most seniority at his school. Explain what happened with trying to get the 504 and ask their insight how to navigate the system at your school.
I am wondering if all of the teachers who give him informal accommodations would write letters on his behalf stating that he would indeed have lower grades if they didn’t support. Then perhaps you could bring these letters to your committee to help his case. Good luck. This is a shame and should never happen.
It varies by districts, but here I think the district has 10 days to acknowledge he request for testing and 30 school days to actually do the testing. After the testing, there are X number of days to schedule the IEP/504 meeting.
A friend is an educational advocate and is really busy right now because all the cases identified at the beginning of the school year are coming due now. We’ve had a few snow days so that put everyone off schedule too.
Do read the articles about the differences between IEPs and 504s. There are different services allowed by each
OP, I was looking for this and finally found it. It is a two page easy to read summary from the OCR of a student’s rights and a school district’s legal obligation under federal law concerning students with ADHD.
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/dcl-know-rights-201607-504.pdf
I would read it as it will give you some clarity.
I disagree with the sentiment posted above that the teachers did your child a disservice by giving him accommodations. By giving him accommodations, they have provided you with “teacher data” that supports your request for formal accommodations. These teachers witnessed on their own, a need for accommodations and provided them. I am surprised that the 504 coordinator did not ask your child’s teachers for their input as they would be knowledgeable about your son. In fact, I’m surprised none of them were asked to be part of the 504 Committee (or were they?). And if any of them were asked or were at the meeting, what did they say?
Did the 504 Committee accept the diagnosis of ADHD but just determine that no accommodations were necessary?Or did they not accept the ADHD diagnosis?
Has your child been assessed for dyslexia and other learning disabilities?
I would call the OCR and run the facts of your situation by them and see if they think the school district made a procedural error in how the 504 meeting was conducted. I have found the OCR easy to deal with and happy to educate parents on what the procedure and law is.
Also, I think there is value in contacting an attorney or educational advocate who handles these matters to ask for input/advice. Even if you decide to handle this on your own, it would be helpful to get some pointers/coaching on what to say or how to best handle things going forward.
Thanks for all of the great information everyone. A few answers to your questions:
I appreciate all of the support and information. It’s not easy for him or us parents…
Psychiatrists are really not trained well to do neuropsych testing. Clinial psychologists who specialize in psychological evaluations are trained to do this. You should expect to have a comprehensive report based on a battery of tests. Ask around for recommendations. The price is worth it if going up against the school.
Several of his teachers filled out assessments for my son and they were mixed. Some said he is always the last to finish his tests, quizzes and others said he was “normal”, has lots of friends and gets good marks. Two teachers attended the 504 hearing; his math teacher stated that if she did not give him extra time on tests he would not score as well as he does. One teacher never filled out an evaluation for him. The 504 coordinator is checking in with him weekly to “see how he is doing”, blah, blah, blah…
The school psychologist said that while he might have ADHD that it does not “substantially impair” a life activity (learning). We obviously disagree.
@socaldad- a psychiatrist is NOT trained to perform and, more importantly, correctly interpret the data from a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. It is very easy to misunderstand and misinterpret the data if one has not been trained in a multi-year and postdoctoral training program. PM me and I will be happy to go on one of my professional listserv and find some excellent neuropsychologists in your area. Its your kid. Do it right.
Remember too, evaluations done in the school system are not designed to diagnose.
Well…not ADHD or the like. But many evaluations done in schools are designed to diagnose. I’m a speech pathologist and I can assure you, my school based evaluations were designed to diagnose and give guidance in terms of educational programming.
Also, in my district, we had a PhD psychologist who was trained in administering and interpreting neuropsychological assessments…and our district did use her for these evaluations when appropriate (her specialty was secondary school so we didn’t use her for primary school students).
I’m sure that is what was meant…that some disabilities aren’t determined by school system evaluations…but some surely are.
@thumper1 , I am glad to learn this is not allowed. However, we were told this, there was a huge waitlist for public services and unlikely to be applicable to my S18. We were able to more quickly have S18 diagnosed with private testing, private therapists rather than seek assistance from the public school system.
I am sorry to learn this is still an issue as recently as May 2018 in Maryland.
"Raising a child who has a disability or learning disorder is difficult enough, but some parents say they are having to go to battle with their school district to get special education services.
Even more troubling, research shows there is an unequal playing field for parents who don’t have an attorney…Anne Arundel County mother Sarah Davis can relate to expensive legal battles. She also hired an attorney because she believes her daughter, Lilli, needs additional help at school due to her dyslexia.
As a military family, Davis says Lilli received a lot more support at her prior school in Texas.
“The interventions that she was receiving included reading and writing tutoring as well as speech therapy, occupational therapy and some other types of interventions,” Davis said. “When we got here, they retested her and they removed most of those supports from her IEP.”
Just to clarify, the doctor who diagnosed my son was a neuropsychologist (PhD)
This is from a local public school system:
"School based Section 504 teams evaluate students for Section 504 eligibility. A student should be considered for eligibility under Section 504 if he/she:
has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities;
has a record of such an impairment; or
is regarded as having such an impairment.
Major Life Activities
Major Life Activities include caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, sleeping, concentrating, reading, communicating, bending and major bodily functions (immune, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, neurological, brain and reproductive systems, bowel and bladder functions, and normal cell growth). PGCPS will adhere to current definitions and eligibility standards under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by the ADA.
Substantial Limitation
Substantial Limitation is the inability to perform a major life activity that the average person in the general population can perform without the use of mitigating measures, and may include impairments that are episodic or in remission.
If you would like your child evaluated for eligibility under Section 504, contact the school counselor and request a Section 504 evaluation."
My son did not have problems with major life activities. We learned of kids with severe disabilities, medical conditions, etc., that needed 504 help and more.
Thanks for clarifying, @socaldad2002, that it was a Ph.D. Neuropsychologist and not an MD psychiatrist who did your neuropsych evaluation.
My kid was not unlike CountingDown’s son, but the spread was more from somewhat below average to 99th percentile. He got a 504 plan in fifth grade thanks to two teachers who went to bat for him. I suspect he’s somewhat ADHD, but was never evaluated. In the end he hated the 504 accomodations and figured out how to get through high school without them. (He got a C in honors chemistry freshman year and got a bunch of low B’s in Latin that were gifts, but mostly did very well with a demanding schedule.) He ended up in the Navy where I think the discipline works well for him. But it is funny - the door to his apartment has a post-it with the list of things he mustn’t forget - things like all the correct pieces of the uniform.
I remember getting this book at the library -
Wrightslaw: Special Education Law about ten years ago. It was excellent.
Here is update on the website with regard to regulations from U.S. Dept. of Education that apply to ADHD
https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/elig.add.grades.htm
Slightly different but S17 has dyslexia, mainly reversals (tested severe below a 4 year old) in private certified testing. School denied our request for assistance because he was performing too well. There was a problem with our state denying too many people who were performing well. They said I could get more testing done through the school (on our dollar) but there was a long wait. By the time frame they laid out he would have been a senior! We just got help outside of school. We were interviewed and had to submit lots of information to an investigator who was challenging some of the state’s rules. They said what happened to our son shouldn’t have. (Too bad he had started college by the time we heard back. I hear they are slightly better now.