ADHD kid and Section 504 plan

[Odetta]

I'm putting this here instead of the ADHD forum, because I think this forum gets more traffic, and it is about a parent trying to do best by their child.

S2 has ADHD that has been partially managed by medication since first grade - he is now in fourth. Focusing at school is still a struggle no matter what we do with adjusting meds, teaching coping skills, having consequences, etc. This school year has been disastrous, as he had a teacher who lacked patience, resenting having to work to keep him on task, and seemed to basically see it as willful disobedience and not symptoms of a real disorder. He is a very bright kid who qualifies for the gifted program, but his grades are all over the place - from A's to F's on daily work, and cumulative/averages of some C's on report cards.

I've done a little bit of research and it seems to me that having a Section 504 plan in place with some specific accommodations will help him be successful in school, and also protect him from teachers such as the one he had this year.

Does anyone have any insight into this situation, or experience with a similar situation, to share?

 

[mafwons]

I'm putting this here instead of the ADHD forum, because I think this forum gets more traffic, and it is about a parent trying to do best by their child.

S2 has ADHD that has been partially managed by medication since first grade - he is now in fourth. Focusing at school is still a struggle no matter what we do with adjusting meds, teaching coping skills, having consequences, etc. This school year has been disastrous, as he had a teacher who lacked patience, resenting having to work to keep him on task, and seemed to basically see it as willful disobedience and not symptoms of a real disorder. He is a very bright kid who qualifies for the gifted program, but his grades are all over the place - from A's to F's on daily work, and cumulative/averages of some C's on report cards.

I've done a little bit of research and it seems to me that having a Section 504 plan in place with some specific accommodations will help him be successful in school, and also protect him from teachers such as the one he had this year.

Does anyone have any insight into this situation, or experience with a similar situation, to share?

Yes I have a son who was more or less in the same boat, except we don't believe in medication or blaming the bad behavior on adhd and we ran the gambit of good and bad teachers and final realized that being in school was no good for him. We took him out of school and he is thriving. It still isn't easy but we don't have to deal with a third party critiquing his behavior and then supporting that third party even if they are wrong. I mean this kid could do square roots in first grade and can explain computer science like he has a phd but he was getting C and D grades on his report card. That solved the problems for us. The schools can barely handle the kids they can hammer into the mold let alone any that in any way don't fit.

 

[hedrick]

It seems to me that the advantage of an official plan is that it would put teachers on notice that they can't just ignore the issue. Some accommodation is required. How much that will help is hard to predict. It depends upon the teachers, and whether the kinds of changes that they can reasonably make would have a significant impact.

Unfortunately it won't give teachers patience.

 

[Odetta]

I turned in a teacher placement request letter for 5th grade on Friday, along with a copy of that letter and a cover memo asking for evaluation for Section 504 accommodations. I got a call from the school counselor first thing this Monday morning. She said he was protected under 504 because of the ADHD, but to qualify for accommodations, the teacher had to have been doing extra things for him, such as extended time on assignments, that she didn't do with the other kids. Which I do think she was doing, she just seemed to resent it.

I am glad they are taking this seriously. The counselor said that in addition to helping me pursue the 504, she will work with the administration to make she he's in a more appropriate classroom for next year.

The reason I started all this was because in writing the placement letter, I mentioned several incidents, include an incident in which S2 came home from school crying. He would not tell me why, so I asked if it was something from the bus (shook his head no), or from school (nodded yes.) So I emailed the teacher, and she wrote back that he did not get any of his work done that day, and she had a talk with him at the end of the day about it. She did not share exactly what she said or how she said it, and S2 still hasn't talked to me about it. But obviously it upset him enough that he was still crying about it an hour after school let out. The incident upset me, and I almost called the school about it at the time, but didn't because it wasn't like I wanted him to move at this late point in the school year, or anything, and he's facing important standardized testing in a week.

Anyway, in writing the placement letter and including this example of teacher/student mismatch, I got more upset and thought this is bullarky, something needs to change. Now I wish I had called the school when the crying incident happened.

 

[ALEA40]

I've been there too My 4th grade son has a 504 plan. I think it is interesting that the school initiated the 504 plan for asthma and food allergies but I had to initiate it for his autism spectrum disorder. My son should actually have an IEP for his autism but they said he doesn't qualify unless he is failing.

My son was 1st dxd with austism at the end of 1st grade. Since the school didn't have any good programs in place, I pulled him out and homeschooled him. He completely recovered from his anxiety and depression in the 2 years he was home. He ended up going back for 4th grade. The 504 plan does provide a mechanism to educate teachers on various ways to approach a disability. My son's teacher is also not very creative in his solutions. I have to suggest solutions and I even went in and set up his desk in a more organized way. We've just kind of gotten through the year.