504 plan when your kid is rocking school?

[echoesofspring]

So here's a situation I'm not quite sure what to do about - DS is in 6th, he had a diagnosis of ADHD in early 3rd grade. In Sept we had him reevaluated based on the struggles he had in upper elementary - we are considering starting him on medication and also wanted to rule out any learning disabilities. That eval, which was much longer/more thorough than the first diagnosed very low working memory, processing speed, mild ASD in addition to the ADHD. We just got the results this week (and still haven't seen them in writing) so a little overwhelming but honestly lined up a lot more with what we see day to day with him that the old diagnosis.

If you asked me how he was doing in 5th grade I would have said, his handwritings a disaster, his math skills vary day to day, he has trouble writing more than a couple sentences without seriously assistance, his writing is riddled with spelling, punctuation, grammar errors, and while he loves listening to audio books and being read to, he's reluctant to read anything on his own that more complex than Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Distance learning in 3rd and 4th was a disaster for him. The only reason he made 'grade level' on reading goals was b/c he listened to audio books. His grades throughout elem were meh, mostly the equivalent of low Bs and Cs and even some 'needs improvement'. But we just got his first quarter 6th grade report card, and he made almost all A's and is on the honor role. I'm so proud of him and thrilled for him b/c he's over the moon, but I'm also wondering how I'm going to have much credibility on Tuesday at our 504 mtg. Are they going to ask why does he need a 504 when he's rocking school? The counselor kind of asked that about a month ago, and I pushed back with 'it's all review right now isn't it, how can you use this as a benchmark?'.

Any recommendations on how to handle? I'm not sure why his grades are better, I think it's a combination of him being a year old, working hard (sometimes), the work being actually less challenging than 5th was so far, and us sitting next to him *everyday* to make sure he gets his homework done. We've had several assignments I've caught uncomplete at the last minute or missing that we've had to track down and work with him to finish or turn in. If we weren't scaffolding him at home, I think his grades would be a different story. He doesn't always know what's expected if it was instruction in class vs. written in Google classroom, etc. But when I asked his teachers at conf night last week if they observed anything we should work with him on in class they all just said he was doing great. (And they all seem really great, and have been quick to respond to me when I've reached out with questions.).

I'd love any advice on how you might approach the 504 mtg. Maybe it'll go fine, and maybe we'll breeze through middle school but I"m concerned it's going to get harder. And that right now I'm not going to have much credibility given his report card. I don't want to miss out on an opportunity to put something in place for later. And while I hope medication might help him, we're not on anything yet. I also am not sure what to ask for - the thread on slow processing was very helpful. There's never really busy work assigned imo it's just a little bit of reinforcement in math, sometimes english/history or some writing. I'm of the mind it's good for him to do all that, and I've found it's good for him and I to review the math sometimes. If you sat down and just did the homework it only takes 30 min or less most days, minus independent reading time. So far tests and quizzes can be corrected or retaken so a lot of the accommodations we had on file for those aren't really applicable, and we never really used them. The one thing our current psych recommended was maybe a planner where each class has a daily box that says 'i did/did not finish what I needed to in class' that he can have a teacher checkoff as he's leaving class so we know if there's catch up work to do. Those have been the hardest assignments to address at home, they often don't have instructions in G Classroom and he tended to be reluctant to share about them (or doesn't know what he was supposed to do). I'd also love to get him into some sort of group setting to help him with his social skills (related to the ASD) but I don't know if they offer anything or if we'll have to look elsewhere.

Sorry that was a lot, appreciate any advice you have from traveling down this road!

[hbridge]

I sent you a PM...

[georgiegirl]

The fact that he’s rocking school shows that the 504 is working. I don’t think the school will try to get rid of it. My DS1 has a 504 since the end of 5th grade (because I wanted accommodations set for when he started middle school.) he did fine online in 6th grade, fine in 7th grade in person, but now in 8th grade, things are a complete disaster with three very bad grades (and 4 good grades). You never know when your kid will struggle.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[hillview]

Fight for the 504 and the accommodations. You are doing a lot at home, so that plus the accommodations means his needs are being met and that the 504 is necessary (we had this with both kids). He has a lot of school left. I would lean heavily on what accommodations the evaluator recommended. Good luck. Feel free to Pm. My boys are in 12 and 9 grades both with 504s.

[echoesofspring]

Thank you everyone.

shows that the 504 is working

TBH I don't think the 504 was utilized very much in elementary school, and I don't think it's being used in the middle school. It was put in place the week before the pandemic school closures and just kind quickly updated each year. I called the first week of school to make sure the middle school had etc. and that it had been provided to the teachers, but it was pretty clear in talking to them last week they weren't aware of it. And honestly it never felt like it really helped him except maybe to keep him from getting punished for taking too many breaks. Mostly I felt it was valuable in 4 & 5 b/c it gave us a starting point for discussions with the teachers and let them anticipate issues, i.e put him right up front away from distractions, give him a strong buddy if he needs one, etc. He pulled up his reading 'grade' by taking tests on audio books he had listened to but none of the adults knewuntil after the fact that he had done that, we were all working on encouraging him to read more challenging books. I'm not sure his teacher realized that's what had happened but I didn't correct her b/c it does say he can do audio books (I don't know how common this is at different schools but at his school your reading grade was based on your cumulative scores on online quizes you took when you finished a book, basically the harder the book the more points you got for that quiz. He wasn't doing well b/c he would only read lower level books or wouldn't finish a book but then he started taken quizzes on the percy jackson books we listened to at home and boom!)


I guess that's part of my concern - we have a 504 with accommodations that aren't really being used and he's doing well, so maybe they'll argue he doesn't need it. Guess I'll see tomorrow. I'd love to figure out what accommodations would really help him, but I sort of feel like what he really needs is a tutor/individualized instruction to help him mostly with his writing, but I'm not sure that's anything the school would provide and from his grades it would appear the school thinks he's on track. I'll fight to keep the 504 esp with the new diagnosis, I told DH the most important thing was to keep it going so that the process was in place for when he needs it.

[bisous]

I just saw this. Let me get back to you! DS1 had a 504 for all of school (diagnosed with type 1 diabetes since age 2) and DS3 has an IEP. We're dealing with a similar issue right now. DS3's performance at school has gone from not meeting standards to excelling across the board! I have some thoughts I want to share but I'm heading off for an afternoon of chauffering kids. I'll post back later!

[lizzywednesday]

The fact that he’s rocking school shows that the 504 is working. ...

Check your state's special ed statutes; 504/IEP implementation should not be tied to grades.

My kid (also has ADHD-Combined, but school-at-home was such a struggle that the re-eval turned up "definitely needs more than a 504 for support") kicks serious butt in science and math, but struggles in classes where you have to have better executive planning skills, like writing essays in language arts and social studies.

[citymama]

We have the same situation with our straight A student who is doing a million extra curriculars. The #1 thing is her doctor's diagnosis and recommended accommodations. The teacher reviews were all glowing but the school case manager and counselor had to follow the medical guidelines per the doctor's dx.

[niccig]

We kept the 504 all through high school. DS’s medical condition can flare up so I wanted accommodations available when needed. Don’t agree to take it away


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains

[echoesofspring]

Thanks everyone - we were able to keep everything in place and with some advocacy from the vice principal add the ASD and slow processing speed/working memory diagnosis to the plan. Added an additional accommodation around having teachers sign off bi weekly on his planner that he's keeping it up to date w/respect to in class work being that he may need to finish outside of class since those assignments aren't always in google classroom. They did sort of act like they had never heard about the bullying incidents we had reported at the beginning of the year , which was annoying because it's a carry over from elementary and I brought it up with several adults in the school, pretty sure 2 of out 3 there, but other than that I thought it went well.