400 hours is over 16 days (24 hour days). There is no way she is getting that much instruction in a week. Most schools are only open to 35 hours a week and they won't take away lunch to provide instruction. I think you need to get the IEP corrected if it really says 400 hours per week. Could it be 400 minutes per week? Not sure how she could have missed 1000 instructional hours. If school meets for 180 days that are 6 hours long, that's 1080 hours in total. Again, this isn't realistic for any IEP unless your child is going to school every day. Could it be 1000 minutes? I think asking the IEP team to document the IEP minutes your child gets daily is not unreasonable. And asking them to make up missed time isn't unreasonable either. I do think you need to get the amount of time in the IEP straight before your write to the school. If you know how to put 400 hours into a week that typically lasts 168 hours (24 X 7 = 168), please let me know. I'm behind on some paperwork and could use that extra time to catch up.

The school doesn't have data on how much help he gets at home. Start writing down what you're doing and how long it takes for you to to this. Send this to the school and ask for it to be added to his 504 file so they have a record of what happens at home. Or you put a time limit on help. I know it's not easy to watch your child fail and end up with poor self esteem but the way the system works, this is what needs to happen. If the student scrapes by with outside help, the school doesn't have to offer an IEP. This is why the 504 appears to be working. (They can't read minds. They don't know if you or a tutor are helping him so they attribute his progress to what they are doing.) Did they assess social skills and pragmatics as "areas of need"? These are the 2 areas that kids will tend to qualify for an IEP with. The social skills assessment my school uses is the SSIS -The Social Skills Improvement System . Also, with smart kids, they will mask. My child looked average on the TOPL - Test Of Pragmatic Language. I was told if they had done the optional extended assessment, the issues would have come to light.

Best practice is SMART goals. From Google: SMART goals are a structured framework for setting objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. When the school comes up with a crap goal, ask them to make it into a SMART goal. You should be able to teach yourself what a SMART goal looks like so you can critique the school's goals. https://adayinourshoes.com/smart-goals/ and: https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-goal-bank/ This should help you climb the learning curve. When I copied from Google, it changed my font color. Not sure why that happens.

It appears that you are documenting the missed instructional minutes, which is GOOD. Ask for an IEP meeting to discuss how the minutes will be made up. (To answer your question, no, they are not allowed to cut down her minutes due to testing unless it specifically states that in her IEP.) You don't have to insist on a minute-for-minute replacement (and that may not even be required - depends on your state). But you can ask for a plan as to how your child will be compensated for this missed instruction. It could be done by adding on extra time to her pullout sessions moving forward or it could be done by sessions given during the summer, after school, or before school. Be flexible in what you will accept and hopefully this will not create any tension. They should know these hours need to be made up somehow.

In my child's newest IEP it says she is to spend 400 hours weekly in the resource classroom for reading, writing, and math. The school has been doing standardized testing for the past month, and during that time it looks like she's been getting maybe 25 minutes for just math, and not even everyday. I think they use the classroom for testing for some of the kids. Are they allowed to cut down her hours like that for testing? She's missed out on at least 1000 hours of instruction time due to this. I need suggestions on how to approach this. I'm pretty sure they are already mad at me because I pushed back before the IEP (politely, but firmly which they are not used to from me) because they gave us the exact same goals and an almost copy and past of her current levels from last year.

Hi all. My 11-year-old 5th grader has confirmed diagnoses of ASD (diagnosed age 2) and ADHD Inattentive Type (diagnosed February 2026). He has had a 504 plan in place since the first time we were denied evaluations at all at the end of 3rd grade. We are in Missouri. The district completed an initial special ed evaluation and denied eligibility. I verbally disagreed with the determination in the meeting and did not sign anything. I am on a waiting list for a state advocacy nonprofit with no ETA. We have 23 school days left and he transitions to middle school in the fall. MY QUESTIONS: Does this situation call for requesting an IEE at public expense? Is there a time limit after denial in which I have to request an IEE? The school wants to schedule a 504 Update Meeting. Is there a risk that attending or agreeing to updates could be used against me if I pursue an IEE? If so, should I send the IEE request before agreeing to that meeting? Thank you for any guidance. More context below if needed... The School's Position: The 504 is working Standardized testing scores are average to above average, so no academic need exists Executive functioning struggles are not pervasive across all settings because one teacher rated him average Even if he had qualified, he would only receive task initiation goals — no specially designed math instruction — because his standardized math scores don't show an academic deficit My Argument: The current 504 requires constant teacher prompting and nightly home reteaching to sustain passing grades — that is not independent functioning Standardized scores were obtained one-on-one in a quiet room with no competing demands and do not reflect classroom performance Executive functioning deficits are the core barrier preventing him from independently accessing, learning, and retaining curriculum — especially math — and this is showing up clearly in his most academically demanding class His real classroom math data shows a consistent pattern of failure on unit tests despite passing daily low-demand work, which the standardized scores do not capture I believe he needs both executive functioning support AND specially designed math instruction that accounts for how his disabilities affect learning and retention in a real classroom The evaluation findings: WISC-V: Full Scale IQ = 99 (average) WIAT-IV (one-on-one, quiet room): All scores average to above average. Used to rule out SLD. CELF-5: Core language score 98. Used to rule out Language Impairment. BRIEF-2 (executive function): His math/science teacher rated him clinically elevated on 6 scales including the Global Executive Composite (73). His ELA teacher rated him average (54). I rated him potentially clinically elevated (69). My son rated himself in the average range (62). The school concluded his difficulties are "not pervasive across settings" (said verbally in meeting) and denied on those grounds — despite clinically elevated ratings from the teacher in his most academically demanding class and a potentially clinically elevated rating from me at home. What the classroom data shows: iReady Math: Scored at Grade 4 level in August and again in December (1 scale point of growth over a full semester). Jumped to Mid-5th grade level in March — during the period I was reteaching math at home nightly. School cited this jump as evidence the 504 is working without accounting for my home support. Unit tests in math: Consistently 50% or below. Daily 2-4 question exit worksheets after instruction: consistently 100%. The school's own Tier 3 social intervention was described by the teacher as having "minimal success." The denial PWN lists his current math grade as an "A." His report card has never shown an A in math. His grade in math specifically has been Q1: B-, Q2: B-, Q3: B, Currently in Q4: C