Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional 504 tweaking

I'm somehow having a mashup in my head of our last 504C as Miley Cyrus, and our former principal as Robin Thicke. Not pretty, people... not pretty at all. STILL more fun that way, though, I agree. LOL.

On a side note, I have to agree with blackcat about this-- nip this one in the bud, I say. WHO is the expert on your child, again? Right. YOU are, along with your child's specialists.

Politely, but firmly point out that waiting for your child to FAIL is one reason why he has a 504 plan-- that is, so that such a thing doesn't need to happen each fall, thank-you-very-much. Why reinvent the wheel?

I have 504 tomorrow and am willing to twerk if it helps.

I will pass this tip along to our special ed and 504 teams...

So I am seriously reading all the great posts and came to this one. I started snorting with laughter, and the new puppy and the fat old cat woke up from their naps.
Darn, now I have to go back and read seriously again. The puppy is just looking at me.....

I feel a bit more "armed" thanks to all your recommendations, and feel the need to call the district 504 "intervention counselor" as she/he is called here. I would like to know how to approach the school, and if I really do need to wait until DD bombs a class before the dratted 504 can be changed. Ugh. Haven't even started at the new school, and I feel like "that mom" already. I also have written a letter to our psych. to see if she can draft a letter. Will see how much that costs....

Someone asked if DD has a 504 ADHD or anxiety. It's ADHD inattentive type only at this point, but she certainly has a high level of anxiety about her disorganization at school. Several times last year she experienced screaming panic fits in the car when she realized that she had forgotten something for class. She insisted that the teacher would "kill her" if she didn't bring it in. Her three 5th grade core teachers were the sweetest women on the planet and allowed her to bring things in later (or be emailed). They never witnessed the meltdowns as she only does it within the family. It is so painful to see her worry so much.

This is probably totally off-base, but just in case it's not - my DD had a 504 for ADHD-I, and also clearly had anxiety (which she had some accommodations for). She'd also been diagnosed with dysgraphia, but that no longer seems like a great fit. In June, she was (finally) diagnosed with something that actually made sense to us all - autism. It's been difficult, of course, but also very freeing for us.

Good idea calling the 504 interventionist. Ours is called something different--but she has been instrumental in getting bases covered.

As for anxiety, it's frequently co-morbid with ADHD. I would expect the 6th grade teachers to be less accommodating (at least without 504 accommodations) in regard to accepting late work--that's where extra time can help. I'd mention that historically teachers have been flexible about these issues, and your concern is that the increasing MS demands will interfere with DD's success unless this is accommodated.

Update:
I called the county 504 intervention individual, and they reiterated what the school counselor stated - that the new 6th grade teachers need to see how DD does in class before they will create an addendum to DD's 504. So I asked how I was to handle the fall out at home when DD realizes she forgot her homework. The woman stated that while DD may have done that last year, that was in the past, and we need to see what happens this year. She stated that I could ask to have the 504 meeting in the next couple of weeks after the teachers have gotten to know her.
Thoughts?

I think that they are conflating the IEP and 504 process-- that's my thought.

Because the 504 is about 'equal access' like one's 'unaffected peers' which, um-- you'll need your own pro to write something up stating that not having such systems in place will be detrimental if you want them to address it a priori (IME). On the other hand, I know that in the 504 world, that statement "well, we'll have to see what is needed" when you have parents and experts outside the school stating up front "this is a vulnerability-- we need to think ahead on this one and not let disaster strike BEFORE we do what we can see we should," that is bogus.

Honestly-- what would they do with a child who is legally blind, hmm? "Wait and see?" I hardly think so. (Well, I know of a few districts that would, actually).

The right thing to do is to mitigate what you already KNOW is a problem. They're pushing back pretty hard on that. I'd push for a meeting in the first few DAYS of school. Can you bring in anything from previous teachers or 504 team members?

Our ds' school also purposely schedules the annual 504 updates in the fall a few weeks after the start of school so that teachers have a chance to get to know the student (the previous year's 504 is in place still so accommodations from the previous year are in place). I share a bit of your frustration over the policy! However, if you can't get a meeting any sooner, schedule the meeting asap and document what happens in the meantime.

I'd also look at the situation in a very specific way - rather than worrying about a potential meltdown and anxiety, make a plan for how to handle the organizational challenges together with your dd. Our ds is extremely challenged with organization of this type (remembering what assignments are assigned, bringing home the materials he needs for the day's homework, returning assignments and turning them in). Middle school (6-7th grade in particular) we worked worked worked at helping him get organized on our end at home rather than relying on the school to make it happen. The byproduct of that pro-active approach was we helped ds avoid the anxiety that occurred when he didn't have his materials to work on or when he forgot an assignment etc. It wasn't perfect, ds didn't always like it, and it was a slow process, but it did produce results and helped ds become much more successful at handling his organizational challenges. This is what we did - and you might not be able to do the same thing based on your dd's school situation, but the idea is to set up some type of system that is a daily routine with oversight from someone (it could be you, it could be a teacher at the end of the day, it could be a teen you hire, whoever), and stick with it so that it's repeated every single day. In our situation, we drive ds to school and his middle school teachers posted the assignments for the end of the day on their whiteboards in the classroom. DS had an iPad he could take pictures with. When I picked ds up, I went into the school, verified he had his picture taken on his iPad, had him tell me what the homework was in each class, had him think through what books/supplies he needed to do each homework assignment, verified that they were in his backpack, and we left. After homework was done we went back over the list, verified he'd done all of it and that it was in the backpack. I also would ask him at the end of each day when I picked him up "Did you turn in ___?" (from the list of what was due that day).

DS *hated* it - so we had an agreement that bits and pieces were dropped (like the locker/backpack check etc) after he'd gone a certain amount of time without missing an assignment.

Not sure that will be helpful in your situation, but I found that it helped me to focus on what I *could* do to reduce anxiety and help support building skills.

Good luck!

polarbear