IEP and 504 Issues and Questions

Recently, I declined to approve a post from a community member. It read: I'm helping out a friend who is trying to get help for her daughter, and I know this information, but I can't seem to find the specifics. What impact does it have on a school district based on the number of students they have receiving support? Is there some sort of benchmark they are trying to stay below or are they just denying it to show control? I declined the post and told her I don’t answer questions like that. Not to be mean. Not to call anyone out. But because that line of thinking sends parents down the wrong path. There’s a lot wrong with that advocacy strategy. Mos…

Hi. My High School Junior daughter was diagnosed with ADHD last year. We have finally gotten the school to do a 504 process. I am looking for accommodations that have been effective for your high school-age student. Since she was diagnosed so recently, she has not had the benefit of training/teachings from a younger age. To top that off, she is a super-sociable teenager who will anyway be distracted by other distractions. Almost all accommodation examples I see seem more effective for younger children, not her age/school. e.g. "Break down tasks in smaller chunks." Is this meaningful to ask for at 11th grade? I am also worried that with too much adult intervention (…

An IEP was prepared in private by people who don’t know our student and then presented as a done deal at the IEP meeting which involved parents, teacher, bilingual special Ed teacher. Thanks to coaching from this forum we requested an advanced copy of any documents the district planned to bring. We gave brought careful written feedback to hand out to each person at the meeting. The district IEP presenter walked us through the IEP. She had prepared. After the meeting, we gave very careful thorough item by item, written feedback again. Then we got a second draft from the district IEP presenter, which did not include any of the points we raised. It reads as if we didn’t give…

Student has ADHD diagnosis and is 8 years old. Lives in IL. ONE Teacher is sending home messages everyday about all the things the student is doing wrong. School won’t consider a 504 or IEP because “his grades are too good”. Student is constantly trying to teach other students, corrects other students about rule following, having meltdowns when the teacher won’t listen to him during lecture. Other teachers do not have concerns and state that he “makes them think about things different ways”. The one teacher takes away his recess almost daily even though he is ADHD. He has stated he can’t do anything right for the one teacher and he wants to die! Child is now on medication…

Hello! My 14 y.o. with ADHD has had an IEP since the 4th grade, largely because of behavioral and social-emotional issues. It was "renewed" for 3 years (last triennial) and covered 6, 7, an 8th grade. Both in 6th and in 7th he had a few suspensions for behavior and at the end of 7th after a 3rd suspension the team suggested we reevaluate him, and I agreed thinking it would translate into MORE support for his social-emotional challenges. However, after they did all the assessments they came back and said he was doing so well academically that they felt he no longer qualified for an IEP to "access the classroom" and wanted to move him to a 504. I disagreed and sent the…

Mn- If we talk to another school district about transferring our child to them, will they go back and talk to our current school district? Is transportation covered? They have IEP with transportation currently. We are considering transferring our child to another school district due the school not meeting our child's learning and disability needs (mainly due to them not wanting to meet them as they are known for not accepting kids with special needs). I hate to do it as is a pretty far distance from where we live, but we've had so many problems and have filed a complaint. But how they are treating our child is affecting them emotionally, which is why …

Hi all! I know for an IEP you can have it written that a parent must attend all field trips... Is this a reasonable accommodation for a 504 due to extreme anxiety and self-harm behavior around that anxiety? The parent asked for this and was denied. The school said: Thank you for your patience as I gathered more information from our district 504 coordinator. "Unfortunately, allowing you to attend all field trips with Student is not an accommodation that can be a part of her 504 plan. What we can offer Student is to have her be in a group with a preferred peer, allow her to bring her journal/sketchbook (in like a little bookbag) as a calming strategy, have…

Can language therapy be added to a 504 plan or does this need to be an IEP? This case is in Missouri.

My daughter is currently on a 504 plan. She is homebound because of debilitating anxiety around school. Ironically she is a brilliant actor and singer and participates in the school theater productions. She just finished up Cinderella a few weeks ago (she played Cinderella!). (Acting is easy for her because they tell her what to say, when to say it, how to say it, where to move, etc. It’s predictable so it’s safe.) The next show is starting right after the holidays. The school is now trying to give me the line that “if she’s too anxious to come to school then she’s too anxious to participate in extra curricular activities.” They say if I don’t have her start at least half…

We suddenly have our daughter's IEP tomorrow. We can't postpone because tomorrow is the last day the yearly IEP can be held. We hope to get her into a private school next year as she transitions into middle school. I would like to include some goals that will work with the private school, or at least be tolerable for them. Regardless of whether or not she attends private or public school the need is about the same. 1) How can we write goals that will allow her to only have to complete 50% or 60% and still pass her classes. This would be across the board to include science, social studies, math, and reading. Science and social studies both have a lot of rea…

I have a few questions which I hope the community can answer: Is there a specific timeline for requesting an IEE after the school completes testing? To whom is an IEE request addressed to? The school principal, school district SPED director, state agency? If the IEP goals aren't measurable (and the school was aware,) can I argue for an IEE? My child is moving over to Middle School next school year, should there be a transition meeting which includes the SPED teacher at the new school? Since the SPED teacher stated my child has mastered their goals, is it beneficial to ask for a meeting to have them show m…

Hello, I'm working on our parent concerns letter for our meeting next week. This is our first year dealing with an IEP and I'm pretty lost! I do have the IEP Toolkit, but I'm not sure how to word a lot of things. Our son's teacher emailed me a list of questions to complete prior to the meeting. It is pretty thorough, but long. The last question is about our parental concerns. Do I answer all of the questions and submit that in the form of a parental concerns letter, or just answer the last with a "please reference the attached parental concerns letter?" More specific questions directly related to our concerns: We have an autism and IQ evaluation schedu…

Question: How do you handle it when the school resists adding certain supports or services to your child's IEP? Any success stories or strategies to share?

For those with kids with health issues that cause intermittent absences how is tutoring implemented? I have a high school freshman who has already missed ten days of school this year. I would like to have tutoring written into his IEP as a related service and would love detailed examples of what has worked for others in a similar boat. Sometimes he just misses a day or two and then he's back in school other times he's missed several weeks or more. If we know it will be a long absence we get him on home hospital but for these shorter term periods I feel it's important to have a tutoring plan in place through his IEP. Please include both the wording in your IEP and how well…

So this is Teacher Me talking. I don't know if anyone here has the legal know-how to advise me, but I'll happily take anything. I teach at a virtual school and have a student who could possibly qualify for an IEP. She's not my lowest performer by our beginning of year assessment by any means, but is on the low due to some observed attention struggles. Her mother has been talking about the struggles since before school started and keeps talking about how the kid needs an IEP. Except... Mom is making it so hard and I'm not sure what else I can do. So far, Mom has stated (only by voice) that she thinks Kid needs an IEP and possibly a modified curriculum. …

Looking for guidance...I'm a working mom to a 6 year old who was a micro-preemie diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She has documented learning delays, showing signs of dyslexia, recommended by teacher & special ed to discuss ADHD possibility with doctor (tested at "clinical concern" in school assessment related to attention). Specifically, after receiving therapy services since she was 6 months old and early education starting at 3 years old, she is now in kindergarten and lost all therapies and special education instruction in December 2022. IEP was discontinued because annual review tested for IQ. The IQ and assessment tests were not 20 points apart (per Missouri …

I know, I know, I'm supposed to want recess for my child. I even read the article about fighting for recess. Intellectually, I know it's important. But with the new school year approaching, I am seriously considering looking into getting recess skipped for my child. She will be in the third grade. My state is very pro-recess and has it included in state law. It's also part of, by not only the teacher's union contract and state public employee law, the teacher's duty-free break time. The thing is, my daughter hates recess. We've tried a lot. Efforts to have kids include her and teach her games (the kids are great, really, but my daughter isn't interested). A cou…

The school psychologist is the one who did all the testing on our student. in the IEP She says that she will spend a half hour twice a month helping her. In the first IEP meeting the district representative made a point of saying that school psychologist time is an extremely valuable asset that the District is committing to the student. (the school psychologist really likes the student who is bright, articulate, self-aware, psychologically minded, cooperative. The school psychologist wants to spend time with her.) the student already is meeting with a private education psychologist weekly. The student will be pulled out of class to meet with the school psychologist. …

Hello there, I am reaching out because I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the current IEP process for my child. My child has been diagnosed with and we have recently updated their IEP to better address their evolving needs. One area where I am struggling is understanding how to effectively monitor progress toward the IEP goals. We have set some ambitious goals; but I am finding it challenging to gauge whether we are making adequate progress and how to adjust our approach if needed. I am also concerned about how to ensure that the goals are both realistic and aligned with my childs abilities and needs. Additionally; I am seeking advice on the best practices…

A reader emailed me: My grandson was home schooled Part of last year and part of this year and started back to home school in January and doesn’t want to go back, his anxiety is high and emotions are all over. I feel it I because the program we used didn’t follow the school and he is feeling overwhelmed and lost. I plan on home schooling again. Should I go back to the easier basics so he is more comfortable but am worried he will not keep advancing if he doesn’t put his all in to it. Thoughts?

2e kid (gifted/adhd, 5th grade), has 504 and behavior problems. Initial IEP evaluation (kinder) said he didn't qualify, ups and downs with behavior but overall and upward trend (with outside help) Recent dip and showing a lot of emotion Recent school meeting to tell us all the things that are wrong, bleak picture for middle school, will be suspended soon, the normal grilling to see what we are doing and what 'we' could do better. At the very end, IEP evaluation was suggested by a staff member. Evaluations (we had outside ones too) are very rough on the kid and us. If we felt there was legit support that would help (in addition to our outside help) we'd be m…

First off I like having this anonymity this form provides. We have another IEP meeting coming up I’m nervous. This one is potentially to discuss the results from the FBA. I personally feel like I struggle communicating with the school. The teachers feedback says one thing and my child another. I ask for things outside team members (non school district people) mention to me to request. And none of them ever seem to know what I am talking about. Last school year (different school) we had an open communication and I felt less anxious. How do you handle IEP meetings when the other team members do not provide feedback. And if they do it’s defensive…

And if so, is it considered a reasonable accommodation? In the casual world, I've heard various complaints about IEP accommodations assigning another student to help them. Some say it stresses the student helper out too much, and even one story said the parent pulled the kid from school as the kid shouldn't be doing a teacher or para's job. But it's also seemed a good idea in popularity fit quite some time, so what's the current view?

First off I am mentally drained. My child is a literal and often very inflexible thinker. 7 years old and in 1st grade. He has an IEP. No ASD diagnosis that’s a whole separate rabbit hole in it’s self. We have ran into several scenarios where he takes statements and can’t bend his thinking. He gets very fixated on what words are used and who said them. This is habitually making homework an utter nightmare. We are spending an hour to get two work sheets done. I have reached out to the teacher a few times. We are working on getting some accommodations put into place. The problem is my child won’t turn in his incomplete homework assignments. He …

My child already has an IEP in place. I am struggling in advocating for them as they having a hard time in the mainstream class setting but they are above grade level academically. They are too young for any kind of Gifted and Talented style program. They have delays in their emotional regulation and their social skills with peers. I have requested for BIP's in the past but have been in a stand still on them. They are diagnosed with ADHD and high levels of anxiety. I don't know if it is my own anxiety but I am hitting an absolute wall into what is reasonable to ask for. My child is bored in class. Homework is a challenge because they find everything extremely easy an…