Triennial Meeting - IEP vs 504 Plan

Thursday we had Madison's Triennial meeting along with her IEP meeting.  As much as I know the goal is for the child to place out of special education and no longer need services, at first, I was hoping that my daughter would still qualify.  I wanted her to have the option to receive pull out services if she needed them, as well as maintain her current modifications.  However, as I began to think about it, I realized that it would be okay if she didn't qualify, because she could still receive a 504 plan for the remainder of her school career....even through college.   Many parents do not realize that if their child tests out of receiving special services that they are still eligible for a 504 plan, allowing them to continue to receive their accommodations.  As stated in the article "A Parent's Guide to Section 504 in Public Schools" 

Section 504 states that: “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 706(8) of this title, shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance...”  

Because a person with a disability is anyone who:  " (i) has a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity; (ii) has a record of such an impairment; or (iii) is regarded as having such an impairment” a child that "tests out" of services, but would still benefit from accommodations can and should receive a 504 if they no longer qualify for an IEP.  As well as including specific learning disabilities, a child may also receive a 504 for medical conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, allergies and for my EOS followers, it would include eosinophilic esophagitis as well.  If one of these issues are impeding your child's ability to perform in school, they should qualify for a 504.  The purpose of this plan is to level the playing field for our children.  What sense does it make to phase a child out of their IEP and give them no support afterward?  It is in your child's best interest to know which accommodations will benefit them while they work toward a complete phase out.

As for Madison, it didn't end up making a difference.  After struggling with the decision to have her privately tested again or letting the school do it, and then thinking about what to do if she didn't qualify, she did...in reading, writing and math.  However, her resource teacher was shocked about the math, saying that she knows Madison knows how to do the problems.  It was visually confusing, but she also could have just had an off day.  Her IEP team is wonderful including the resource teacher, a new school psychologist (who wrote up the most comprehensive eval I have seen from a school psychologist), the classroom teacher and principal.   We reviewed her test results and rewrote her IEP making it more effective for her needs now.  It was a very productive meeting. 

So, I know I said in the beginning that I wanted her to still qualify, and I did/do, so that she can receive the services that she needs, but as a parent, there is still that feeling you get in your stomach and heart when you hear the news.  I want what is best for my child, and I will never stop fighting to attain that, but truth be told, there are so many times I just wish that she didn't have a learning disability and could complete all her work as easily and quickly as most of her peers.  However, I am so blessed that she is my daughter.  She is such a hard worker, so smart, kind, loving and beautiful.  I'm so proud of her!

Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Tips for Parents

With August quickly approaching, so is the beginning of school...at least for those of us that live in the south.  The start of school also means IEP meetings for many of us with children with special needs.  Below I have given an overview on Individualized Education Programs (IEP), as well as listing resources to help parents prepare for an IEP meeting, whether it be your first or your fifteenth.  Hope you find this post useful.

An Individualized Education Program is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Acts (IDEA).  The IDEA requires the public schools to develop an IEP for every child that has met the requirements to be considered in need of special education or related services.

In order for an IEP to be successful, parents, teachers, other school staff, and even sometimes the student must work together to identify the student's needs and the best way to address them.  So if your child has been identified with a learning disability and is eligible for services, the next step is to set up an IEP meeting.

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Learning Disabilities and End of Grade Standardized Testing

I always dread the end of the school year.  There is so much pressure put on students regarding end of grade standardized testing.  The teachers have pressure put on them for their students to perform well, so many of them in turn put pressure on the students.  This can cause even the best of students stress and anxiety.  So what about the children with learning disabilities?  Research has shown that these students experience more stress and anxiety on tests than their non learning disabled peers.  So imagine having to cope with your disability as well as an added amount of stress.

I personally don't agree that all children's competence or knowledge can be assessed by the format of standardized tests.  As we have hopefully become more aware over the past several years, children learn differently and need to be afforded differentiation in instructional and evaluative strategies.  Not all children learn through pencil and paper question and answer (especially the LD child), which is the format of the standardized tests.   This being said, standardized end of grade tests are the reality and we need to know how to prepare our children best for them.

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Madison's Journey--Living with a Visual Processing Disorder

Madison is a bright, sensitive, caring 9 year old girl who is growing into a beautiful young lady. When she was born, as most mothers say, it was truly one of the happiest days of my life. She was a wonderful baby...always happy and smiling. She met most of her milestones on time, although she didn't crawl until she was about 10 months old. However, she walked at 12 months and kept cruising along. She talked early, had a large vocabulary, but did have speech issues with articulation. She started speech at age 3 and "graduated" fairly quickly.

She began preschool at age 2 and absolutely loved it. She enjoyed the "play" based program and grew socially and emotionally. During the next 2 years she continued in this program and blossomed even more. She loved having books read to her, singing songs, coloring pictures and dancing around. As a former kindergarten and first grade teacher, I knew how much emphasis was being placed on kindergartners knowing their letters so I began to casually introduce the letters of the alphabet to Madison. This was an extremely difficult task for Madison. She may remember one for a minute, then forget it the next. She may remember one for a day, then forget it the next. She may not even be able to tell me what a letter was 2 seconds after I had told her the name of the letter. So, being the teacher that I am, I began to try all of the "fun" things that I used to do with my students. We made letters out of play dough, we wrote letters in whipped cream, I had her trace them on sand paper, lace letters with yarn, write them in sand, make pictures out of them, etc. But no matter what we did, no matter what had worked with most of my students, Madison could not retain letter names...please do not get me wrong, we did not do this daily or even weekly. We would just do this periodically until she reached kindergarten. However, this is when I realized that something just "wasn't right".

In the fall of 2005 she began kindergarten. She struggled to learn her letters. My husband and I conferenced with her teacher who said she needed to work on letter identification, but when asked if she thought there was a problem she assured us everything was fine. Madison changed schools in the middle of kindergarten and started her second semester at a private school. She was still having difficulty with letter id, but the teachers assured us once again that this was nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, at home, we were working diligently to try to get Madison to retain her letters...not an easy task. She stayed at this school through first grade with the same feedback from the teachers. She is a little behind, but it is nothing to worry about. And let me tell you, as a teacher, I was asking, "Do I need to be concerned?" The answer was always "No".

In many cases, well behaved girls fly under the radar when it comes to learning disabilities. They follow directions, they can be quiet, and in Madison's case, she has a strong work ethic, so she is always on task. Well, at the end of first grade I told my husband that I knew there had to be something going on. She was different than any student I had taught and we needed to get her the help she needs. Most private schools do not have testing, so we decided to have Madison privately tested for a learning disability. As it turned out, she has a visual processing disability. This effects many aspects of her life and education.

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