504 screw-up “compensation”

[Smiley74]

School acknowledged they didn’t follow the 504 when administering a pretest which then caused the child to sit through instruction that was not appropriate (child should have received alternate higher level work when mastery was demonstrated). School asked me what they could do, but I’m  drawing a blank. The next unit is already in progress and enough time has been wasted so I don’t want the higher level packet to be given after the fact (it likely wasn’t that meaningful anyway).  Is there anything appropriate the District should be doing as a result of not following the 504 that could make up for having to sit though a week’s worth of instruction not at my child’s level?

[JSD24]

So there was a pretest before starting a weeks worth of lessons and your child's score wasn't high enough for the advanced/enrichment packet because the school failed to follow the 504.  Unless they have time travel technology, there isn't a way to fix the past.  Providing appropriate accommodations going forward so this doesn't happen again is really the only solution.  It would be nice if someone at  the school apologized for the non-compliance issue.

I'd ask the school how my child should advocate for their 504 to be followed if they find that the 504 is not being followed again.  Is there a person in the school they should go to?  Not sure your child's age to know if this is elem, MS or HS.  Why did this happen?  Was a teacher not given the 504?  Did they fail to read it?  Did they read it & ignore it?  Retraining the person who should have know what was in the 504 might help to bring closure to the situation.

[Smiley74]

Child is 10 and really bad at self advocacy. Teacher had the document just didn’t follow it. Score absolutely would’ve been at mastery had the environment been appropriate. My kid usually takes pretests in the afternoon while this particular teacher has planning time, but on this occasion to the pretest with the rest of the class for some unknown reason. The tapping of others pencils, others whispering, etc are distractions not present in the 504 environment 

[JSD24]

So he has poor self-advocacy skills.  Has the school evaluated this?  Do they have data that he does not self-advocate for his accommodations?  (You might need to keep a log of when this happens.)  With data, he might qualify for an IEP so the school can teach him how to self-advocate.  This is a life skill.  If he's headed to college, he'll need to advocate for everything he needs.

[Nona1]

On 2/7/2024 at 5:34 PM, JSD24 said:

So he has poor self-advocacy skills.  Has the school evaluated this?  Do they have data that he does not self-advocate for his accommodations?  (You might need to keep a log of when this happens.)  With data, he might qualify for an IEP so the school can teach him how to self-advocate.  This is a life skill.  If he's headed to college, he'll need to advocate for everything he needs.

Sorry to interupt , Can they put him on IEP him if it is only belong to self advocate because here in my kid's school there's nothing to put a child on IEP because he has bad s3lf advocate it has to be acadimicly bad numbers or speech impaitment!

It is so frustrated. They just did an IEP eval for my son and they said he is doing fine acadimicly which I do not belive ! And they will keep his IEP just for speech and social and the social is not helping him to self advocate! He is really very weak in self advocate! Shy and afraid to ask! I have to push him all the time . 

 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

To answer Nona's question...  IEP's are definitely NOT limited to academics and speech.  But you say he has an IEP for social skills, so that would not be academics or speech, so I'm a little confused.  Did you ask for a goal under social skills for self-advocacy?  If you disagree with the school evaluation, you need to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE).  You do not have to give a reason other than the fact that you disagree with the school's evaluation.  Make sure the IEE addresses your concerns of academics and self-advocacy.  After the results of the IEE come in, the team will have to reconvene to discuss the results and hopefully add some goals based on the new evaluation, if warranted.

[Lisa Lightner]

To piggy back on what Carolyn said, the school is required to evaluate in all areas of suspected disability. Sounds like that did not happen.

https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-timeline-how-long-does-the-school-have-to/

https://adayinourshoes.com/iee-independent-education-evaluation/

You can also read up on OCR complaints for not following a 504 plan.

https://adayinourshoes.com/office-civil-rights-complaint-special-education/

 

[Smiley74]

Is there a cheat sheet of when a 504 complaint is a state dept of ed complaint versus federal OCR complaint?

 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

It would depend on the state.  Section 504 is a federal law, like the IDEA, but unlike the IDEA, many states do not codify it in any way or provide any complaint procedures.  Many just direct you to OCR.  Some might provide for administrative hearings.  I would check with your state department of education.  Also, many school districts have written internal policies for resolving 504 complaints, a hoop you may have to jump through first.