The reason I said that the informal accommodations were a disservice was because where I live you need hard data (grades) to prove you need the 504. That is the only thing the committee will accept. Much better to earn that hard data in middle school than high school. It takes time to get accommodations and middle school is the time to let those grades tank. It seems foolish and counterproductive but that is the system.
Luckily the OP has time to get this in order.
Empireapple’s point in post #40 is well taken. Not every 504 coordinator is properly trained and some may have personal biases. Empireapple said where he/she lives, the 504 committee needs to see hard data (low grades). Where I live, the 504 coordinator needs to see teacher data. OP, I wonder what your 504 coordinator needs to see? They are supposed to take in all relevant information and come to a consensus. I often wonder how often this is done.
The issue with the a 504 committee relying primarily on teacher data or hard data only, is that there are times when a teacher may not “see” the impairment because it is not readily visible to him/her. For example, a learning disabled, higher achieving student may be able to compensate for his learning disability to the extent that it does not manifest itself to the degree where it would be obvious that accommodations are necessary. So, let’s say this student was a physics whiz and his learning disability caused him to have great difficulty reading and thus he had trouble completing the tests; however, he still gets decent grades because he is great at understanding physics and he knows to make sure he puts down something for each problem before time runs out, so he will at least get partial credit. So, even if the student absolutely knows how to do the entire problem, he only has time to answer it partially because of his reading disability. He does not fail the test or get a poor grade, but he is not able to answer the question completely to show his entire knowledge. [Ask me how I know this ;-)]. Anyway, a teacher would not see this necessarily. This is why it becomes important for students to communicate with teachers to let them know what is going on. I suppose that one could advise the student to respond to each question fully and leave blank those questions that he was not able to get to–which obviously will affect his grade–which may demonstrate that this student needs accommodations. Personally, I was uncomfortable with this approach.
If one is unhappy with the outcome of a 504 meeting, but there are no procedural errors, it gets tricky because the decision making process is so subjective. How do you prove bias or prove that the committee did not consider fairly, the totality of the data presented?
OP, this is why I suggest that that you get some good advice and guidance on how to best proceed. If you locate an attorney, perhaps even one who is familiar with your district, that can give you great insight into how to productively manage the situation going forward.
Every state has a Protection and Advocacy agency. This can usually be found on the state website for education. These folks are terrific, and can provide advocates and even legal counsel if needed. They know the laws as they apply to 504 and special education issues.
These services are provided at no cost to families. I would urge anyone with questions about 504 or special education issues contact them.
Wrightslaw is excellent too.
“OP, I wonder what your 504 coordinator needs to see? They are supposed to take in all relevant information and come to a consensus”
It is unfortunate, but with the large numbers of kids taking ADHD medication (especially here in CA), our perception has been that some school evaluators may regard medication as potentially more indicative of a student needing help, and pigeonhole those kids who are not on medication as less serious (or worthy) cases, on the assumption that if the ADHD really were a major life problem, the parents would have tried medication for their child.
Yes - my son was evaluated at a behavioral health center. The MD was the primary, and he ordered the other evaluations. His initial work-up was very thorough. They identified his ADHD as well as his fine motor issues. The speech impediment we knew about early on (he had difficulty pronouncing r, s, etc.)
Initially we were very against medication, so we tried cognitive behavioral therapy first before going with medication. That helped the anxiety a lot, but the only thing that really helped with staying focused in class was and has been medication.
Update:
So we have decided to hire an experienced attorney who specializes in special needs kids and will schedule another 504 meeting with the middle school administrators to show them where they went wrong in their denial. This attorney is a pit bull and has been very successful being an advocate for families like ours. Sometimes you need to bring in the “big guns” to get things done.
Apparently the school district is notorious for making it extremely difficult to get 504 accommodations the first go-around so we are playing hard ball this time. The new meeting probably will not be until sometime in December. Will keep everyone updated once new information is available. Thanks for all of your responses and support!
When you get the 504, put in every accomodation that the school is willing to put in, even if it may not be used very often. It is easier to remove thing rather than add them later. Plus later, you will not want to keep bringing the attorney back. Especially in high-school you will want to keep peace with the district. Good luck.
Good point. We permit into the school district and were a little worried that if we “complained” too much in middle school that they would not let us permit into the high school but we already have an email from the school district rep stating that we are in next year and will not have to permit to the high school to gain admittance. It seems like nothing is ever easy…
“Especially in high-school you will want to keep peace with the district.“
I don’t see the rationale behind this assertion, you need to sort things out as early as possible and if that means making a fuss in freshman year of high school (when UCs ignore your grades) then that’s what you need to do. I’d bet the elementary school district will drag things out as long as possible because you soon won’t be their problem.
I’d also note that the elementary and high school districts may have very different attitudes. Our elementary school district is very short of money, which means the teachers aren’t happy and the district is trying not to impose additional requirements on them (or pay for extra special ed services).
Conversely our high school district has a wider and much wealthier catchment area and has well resourced special ed and happier teachers. So we found that the willingness to offer services was much different (though implementing accommodations is always a challenge).
Special education laws mandate that IF a student needs services, the district finances cannot be a factor in determining whether to provide services…or not. If needed, the district needs to find a way to provide the services. They can’t deny because they don’t want to pay extra money.
@thumper1 , they can’t deny services because of money, but they certainly can find ways to deny that the kid needs them, unfortunately. This is likely what has happened in this case.
My nephew, also in CA, had denials for certain things for years. My brother and SIL had to fight for every single service.
What kinds of accomodations,are you seeking? Extra time on tests is usually given quite easily, and so many kids have preferential seating accomodations that desks are often arranged in a circle. Do you want the teacher to remind your son of assignments or to nudge him in class to stay focused, or is that likely to humiliate a teen? If your work with the therapist will take months or years to see results, what is your plan in the meantime?
For others reading this thread, I highly recommend you contact your state NAMI chapter and try to get free representation first. Either someone from NAMI will accompany you to a meeting, or they will tell you someone who can. For example, in Maine, attorneys at Disability Rights Maine will help you at no cost. In a lot of cases, there is no need to spend money on a lawyer to represent you.
The other option is to contact a state rep or senator. I have had two huge issues with my son this year, and in each case my political representatives were able to step in and get me help very quickly.
@MaineLonghorn. Glad you mentioned your political reps. I have used them when Blue Cross or the like refused a treatment for a patient.
One letter on a congressman letter head and they got approval the next day.
^Yes, I’m not going to wait so long in the future when I have issues. The representatives have all been very happy to help. In my case, I will be voting for the guy who helped me this week, even though he doesn’t belong to my political party.
I would see an attorney who specializes in education issues. We found that even meeting with the lawyer for an hour (without the lawyer ever coming to the school) worked magic.
Other resource that was helpful is the Federal Dept. of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. You do not even have to file a complaint. We kept it “friendly” with the school, so to speak, and the OCR came down to “educate/train” our school.
We have the Federation for Children with Special Needs in our area. They have free advocates. You may be able to find an advocate if financing a lawyer is a problem.
Your school does not understand that children have a right to function at the level they should be functioning at without the disability. In other words, time issues should not be interfering with your son’s performance: time issues can be addressed with accommodations.
He will need accommodations on standardized testing (or he can apply to test optional schools), and at college. Having an IEP or 504 in school really helps accomplish those.
As for meds, I would see a psychiatrist or a clinic that specializes in ADHD. There are many options now, and ways to deal with timing (and some newer meds don’t have the peaks and troughs of older meds). They can be enormously helpful. I would completely understand the reluctance at a younger age, and don’t get me wrong I understand it now too, but maybe at least look into meds and do a trial.
One of mine cannot take meds due to another condition and it has been many years of struggle despite how bright my kid is. I would take this transitional time seriously in terms of tools for functioning, particularly as independence and autonomy become important.
@thumper1 I agree with you in theory and it’s the law. I think the reality for much of the country is that it’s an uphill battle to get services when the school doesn’t have the finances or personnel to implement them. i.e. - one SLP that has X minutes a week to serve children and other children already served are slightly less than that.
OP-I’m glad you’ve engaged an attorney. My experience is that too often spec ed parents have to play hard ball. It is what it is…other parents who have gone before you are often angels in disguise and will be of invaluable assistance, too.
I’d highly recommend you get everything in place (even more than you think you might need) now. It makes everything down the road easier. Having a great independent psycho-ed eval is expensive, but pays back for years down the road. We had him update it every few years, and had absolutely no problems getting accommodations on SAT/ACT, in college, and on professional licensing exams. Good luck!
Get this all straightened out for your kid now. But also understand that for college purposes, the colleges will want “current data and assessments” so make sure this is updated maybe during 11th grade at the latest.
Also in terms of accommodations, it will be difficult to prove your student needs these 504 accommodations in college if he doesn’t USE them in high school. So, make sure your kid actually uses the accommodations in the 504 plan you get.
Your child has a disability. The school, unlawfully, doesn’t want to accommodate it. One phone call to the district, using words such as “attorney,” “Americans with Disability Act” will likely quickly result in your school changing its policy.
Yea, it’s a drag to threaten legal repercussions. But sadly, often it’s the ONLY way to get your child the accommodation he/she needs. Good luck.
Unfortunately, either things have changed, or this is different in different school districts/states. My D21 has dyslexia and dyscalculia. Her verbal reasoning is 99% and her working memory is 9%. Her processing speed is 25%. We had her evaluated by the neuropsychologist the school referred us to. The psychologist highly recommended a 504, but the school denied it due to D21’s ability to get A’s and B’s. (with an enormous input of time/energy, sacrifice of other activities, and stress). We are appealing.
Also, just so people know, D21’s teachers had been supporting her and helping her out by letting her stay to finish tests, or if appropriate, come back at lunch. The 504 committee was very upset that the teachers were doing that without a formal process. We were worried that the teachers were going to get in trouble. We contacted the administration to make sure the teachers were protected, and they seemed to listen, so fingers crossed.
Best wishes to you and your son, @socaldad2002 !