Getting the Most from an IEP or 504 Plan

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to present a national webinar for ADDitude Magazine on "A Parent’s Guide to Evaluating and Troubleshooting Your Child’s IEP or 504 Plan." 

As with other presentations I have done, I planned out a series of slides (and you can see them and the entire free presentation if you click on the link above) that set out how to tell if there were problems with an IEP or 504 Plan and what parents can do if there are such problems. Some of the remedies I mentioned were:

• How minor issues with an IEP can be dealt with without needing to hold a meeting of the IEP Team. These include increasing or decreasing the frequency of a service (such as OT or PT) that is already provided in the IEP, or adding a minor accommodation, such as having exams taken in a quiet location in addition to extended time.
• More extensive changes to an IEP will likely need a meeting of the IEP Team. These might include adding a service or support, changing a class setting, or even changing the school a child is attending. Parents need to keep in mind that they are entitled to request an IEP meeting at any time, not just once a year as is customarily scheduled. That is a right, not a favor being done by the school.
• Parents are also entitled to a new evaluation once each year. The IDEA requires re-evaluation every three years, but if parents feel that circumstances warrant it, they can have their child re-evaluated more often. As with a new IEP meeting, this isn't something that the school might do as a favor. It is a legal right. 
• Also, parents who have had a recent evaluation and realize that it was inadequate, can seek a publicly funded Independent Educational Evaluation, an IEE, which can then be the basis for a modified IEP. We have an extensive blog post on this subject.

Almost as interesting to your blogger as preparing and presenting a webinar, are the questions parents have during (and after) the webinar. Some parents wanted to know:

• What happens to their child's IEP when they move? We were able to point them to a blog post on this too. 
• Several folks wanted me to explain again the differences between an IEP and a 504 Plan. We were able to tell them that these stem from two different laws, both designed to help individuals with disabilities, but having different procedures and sometimes offering different supports.

In addition to this recent webinar, you can check out and listen to my several other webinars for ADDitude. 
 

Signs It May be Time to Change Schools

I have been preparing for a webinar I will be presenting for ADDitude Magazine on March 6th on"A Parent’s Guide to Changing Schools: How to Find the Best Match for Your Student with ADHD or LD" and thinking about what parents need to consider and do before deciding to move their child to a different school.

We aren't talking here about the natural progression from elementary to middle to high school, or the need to move schools as part of a family move from one place to another -- whether in the same school district or across the country. We've addressed these issues before for students with IEPs and there are specific rules to be followed for such moves.

What can be most difficult for families is determining whether their current school is meeting their child's needs and, if not, what can be done to make things better. Whether parental concerns are based on lack of academic progress, social or emotional issues, safety, or distance, there are usually steps that can and should be taken before a decision to change schools is made. 

The first step is generally to meet with your child's teacher, even if the teacher may be part of the problem. See for yourself what the teacher is like (if you haven't already met him/her) and get the teacher's take on the issues that concern you. If the teacher is unwilling or unable to make changes to address your concerns, consider whether a meeting with the principal or another administrator might be helpful. Such meetings can be useful if you want to switch your child to another class or teacher or to have your child placed in a special program -- a gifted track, a bi-lingual class, or a class of diverse learners with a regular and special education teacher in one room. 

But, sometimes these steps are insufficient. If the problems your child is facing are academic or behavioral, this is the time to request an evaluation to determine whether she or he meets the criteria for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Section 504. The evaluation is the first step in this process. The IDEA also provides for a functional behavioral assessment for children whose behavior is of concern. 

Another issue that might make your child's current school problematic is bullying. In New York City, children who are bullied may be entitled to a transfer to a different school. Our colleagues at Advocates for Children have created an excellent guide to recognizing and dealing with bullying and the right to a transfer.

What about issues that your child's school or district can't really change in the short term? Is your child's class size simply too large? Does the school or the area in which it is located have safety issues? Is it too long a trip for your child to get to school? Does he or she have a talent or skill that the school can do little to support? Or might your child have an IEP and need a specific service, such as speech and language therapy or a reading teacher with training in dyslexia remediation, that your school does not provide and is unwilling or unable to offer? These situations may be reasons to consider changing schools. We'll address the steps to take to make such a change in a later blog post -- and in our March 6th webinar. We hope you listen in and submit your questions. 

Building a Better IEP or 504 Plan

Yesterday, Dr. and Mrs. Yellin were the featured speakers in a webinar from ADDitude Magazine, where Mrs. Yellin is a regular columnist, writing on "Your Legal Rights." For this event, they jointly presented information on how parents can make sure that their child's IEP or Section 504 Plan will properly provide what is needed for their child to succeed in school.

As they explained to their live audience of close to 2,000 listeners, the first step in creating an effective IEP or 504 Plan is to fully understand the issues with which your child is dealing by having a thorough evaluation, one that looks beyond labels or diagnoses. They noted that it's important to keep in mind that these plans need to be individualized, and that administering a standard battery of tests may not be sufficient to get to the source of your child's problems.

The assessment that begins the IEP or 504 process needs to delve deeply into the specific areas of breakdown. It needs to look not just at a child's challenges, but also look at strengths, since these can be leveraged to help to bypass challenges. Likewise, areas of interest or affinities should be identified, since these can help your child become involved in their academics. Presenting a sports obsessed struggling reader a book about baseball or football is more likely to keep his or her interest than having that same student read about travel or music.

Another key point of the webinar was the importance of goals. Having appropriate goals is critical to a successful plan. Goals set out in an IEP or 504 Plan should be:

• Specific, objective, and quantifiable
• Should include standardized measures
• Must contain a clear understanding of:
• Who is responsible for implementation
• The frequency of assessment
• The mechanism for reporting to parents
• A clear understanding, upfront, of what constitutes sufficient progress. 

You can listen to the webinar in its entirety on the ADDitude website, or watch it on YouTube, below. 

Putting Advice to Work

Several months ago, your blogger was featured in a webinar from ADDitude (the magazine folks who also have an informative website) on "Determining if Your ADHD/LD Child Needs an IEP or a 504 Plan and How To Go About Getting It." Like any presentation, especially those not in front of a live audience, it wasn't clear to whether the information provided would actually be put to use by parents.

So, it was good to receive an email last week from a mom who wrote,

"I wanted to take a minute to thank you. I have an 8th grader finishing up middle school and heading to high school next year. He has been struggling since elementary school. In 7th grade I was finally able to establish a 504 plan for him. Two years later, his grades continue to slide and he goes up and down. They give him extra help in reading, then he does well and they pull him out of the extra help classes. It’s a vicious cycle. I have been pushing for reading and writing help since September.

"In October I listened to your Attitude Webinar on IEP and 504 and what to ask for. I stuck to my basic points: ADHD qualifies a student for an IEP [an Individualized Education Program] under OHI [the category of Other Health Impaired]. After several meetings and finally getting the school board involved, they tested him again and agreed that his reading and writing were seriously deficient. The school has agreed to the IEP and he started in the facilitated reading and writing classes the day following our meeting...

"It was that key piece of lingo …“IEP qualifies under OHI” discussion you talked about in the webinar that I needed. I followed your advice to stay calm, listen, be nice, state what you want and stick to a few key points. It’s interesting, I do this all day in my “day” job, but when it comes to your kids, your emotions get in the way. I decided I was going to strategically approach it like I would negotiate anything else and it worked! THANK YOU."

This mom was right on target that we need to take the skills we use in the workplace and other aspects of our lives and put them to use with our children. It is very difficult to stay calm and focused when dealing with your child's school and the more your child is struggling, the more difficult it is to use your skills to help

them. That is why the respected special education attorney Pete Wright, who runs the Wrightslaw website with his wife Pam, titled his basic primer for parents, From Emotions to Advocacy. This is why I always suggest a few key points to parents attending an IEP or other significant meeting about their child:

• Don't go in alone. Bring at least one person with you who will stay calm and focused and help you to do the same. You have the right to bring anyone you want with you - a spouse, a friend, an advocate, but if you plan to bring an attorney you should let the school know so they have the choice of having their attorney present. Otherwise, they may require the meeting to be rescheduled so their attorney can attend. This is one reason why most attorneys don't generally attend IEP meetings.
• Take notes. If you can't focus or participate while taking notes, have someone with you (who can be the person mentioned above) who can do this for you. 
• For formal meetings, like those of the IEP team, ask for a copy of the attendance sheet that will passed around. Chances are you won't use it for anything, but it sends a signal that you are making a formal record of the meeting in case you need to appeal the decisions reached. 
• Come in with a list of the issues you want to address. Just like the most effective shopping trips start with a good list, you will be shopping for services and supports for your child. While you might learn things or hear ideas that will change your mind about items on your list, at least you won't forget to raise important points.
• Don't be pressured to agree to anything or to sign anything at the meeting. While services under an IEP will not begin until you sign off on them, taking a few days to consider things is perfectly reasonable and will allow you time to think about what your child really needs. 

And, as the mom who wrote the note mentioned, "stay calm, be nice, state what you want and stick to a few key points." 

Watch Now: Dr. Yellin Dyslexia Webinar from Learning Ally

A recording of Dr. Yellin’s webinar from earlier this week for national nonprofit Learning Ally, Dyslexia: Diagnosis, Planning and Support for Struggling Readers, is now available for viewing online. The one-hour program was seen live coast-to-coast by hundreds of parents, students, and educators, and is featured on the Learning Ally website, where it will remain available for future viewing. Learning Ally provides accessible media such as audiobooks to students with learning disabilities and visual impairments. 

In the program, Dr. Yellin provides a detailed explanation of what is meant when we talk about "dyslexia"; an in-depth look at the many types of subtle learning variations that may be at play when a student is struggling with reading, spelling, or other challenges; and insight into why understanding each learner's individual strengths as well as weaknesses should be an essential component of educational planning. He also answers many questions from viewers.

“When parents, teachers and practitioners understand how developing appropriate strategies and interventions can improve children's reading skills and boost self-esteem, and when they have a deeper understanding of the root causes of a student's reading symptoms,” notes Dr. Yellin, “they can help to grow resilient, improved learners with a rekindled love of reading.”

Watch the video below:


Dyslexia: Diagnosis, Planning & Support for Struggling Readers from Learning Ally on Vimeo.

Thanks to all of the great people at Learning Ally for making this webinar possible.