Anyone have a 504 for a medical reason?

[Anonymous]

Kid has severe migraines with aura and missed a lot of classes last year because of it. Someone suggested pursuing a 504.

Anyone have a 504 for similar reasons?

I’d appreciate your guidance.

Also: anyone know if a 504 is a red flag on college applications?

[Anonymous]

Colleges can't see that you had a 504, unless you choose to write your essay about the 504.

[Anonymous]

Do it and do it now. 504 will only help, not hurt.

[Anonymous]

Red flag is flailing in school because you don't have a 504

[Anonymous]

You'll likely get better answers on the special needs forum.

[Anonymous]

Yes but for a different medical condition. Yes you should pursue it. Think about what accommodations you'd be seeking - some might be extended time for make ups if sick, scheduling harder classes in certain order if symptoms become worse in p.m. for example (this will of course be limited by how many times a day the classes are offered at your HS), excused absences beyond whatever limits are in place if for migraine, testing in dark/quiet room, etc.

School counselor tried to put us off from pursuing 504 plan by saying in practice teachers would be reasonable given it is a medical condition, but our experience was that teachers are human and some aren't reasonable. Also having the 504 means our DD doesn't have to advocate each time with each teacher which was stressing her out leading to more health issues.

GL!

[Anonymous]

Yes, for Type 1 Diabetes.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I have a 504 so my child can have water/ emergency low blood glucose snacks anywhere in school.

Unlimited bathroom access.

Extra time on test IF needing to stop test for low/high blood glucose.

Able to make up work and not be penalized when missing school/homework for medical purposes.

The bathroom/water/snack are the ones used day to day.

The other stuff is just in case, not every teacher is understanding, and better to have the 504 in your back pocket.

[Anonymous]

Yes. File for it. Sounds like a long term issue that affects a student’s life skills such as concentrating and learning and impacts the student’s ability to attend classes.

FYI if this can affect your child in college, having the medical documentation with a MCPS 504 pays the groundwork for requesting accommodations in college. Colleges would be interested to see that your child needed accommodations in high school if this is a long term medical issue.

[Anonymous]

Yes, for asthma. Kiddo was missing about 25-30 days of school/year.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who has it for a gastro issue. I don't know what the underlying cause is but yes plenty of kids have it for diabetes, migranes and other medical issues. One kid had some longer term issues getting around the school due to an injury.

It's not on the transcript

[Anonymous]

100% do it, OP. As a teacher in another system I want to know what helps your kid so I can provide it. Yes, in theory all teachers should feel this way but they don’t so put it in writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes but for a different medical condition. Yes you should pursue it. Think about what accommodations you'd be seeking - some might be extended time for make ups if sick, scheduling harder classes in certain order if symptoms become worse in p.m. for example (this will of course be limited by how many times a day the classes are offered at your HS), excused absences beyond whatever limits are in place if for migraine, testing in dark/quiet room, etc.

School counselor tried to put us off from pursuing 504 plan by saying in practice teachers would be reasonable given it is a medical condition, but our experience was that teachers are human and some aren't reasonable. Also having the 504 means our DD doesn't have to advocate each time with each teacher which was stressing her out leading to more health issues.

GL!

This is not legal. You qualify for a 504 plan by having 1) a disorder that 2) significantly impacts activities of daily living. If you qualify for a 504 plan, the school cannot avoid giving you one by telling you that they’ll do the same things informally for you without any 504 plan. Also, a single person (counselor or teacher, etc.) isn’t authorized to pre-judge your request and deny it. A 504 plan decision is usually made by a team of people with varied expertise.

My DC had one for post-concussive syndrome, which included headaches and other symptoms.

At first the school tried to offer informal accommodations. Then the school responded “we don’t do that” to some accommodation requests, when we knew very well the accommodation was possible. Then the school tried to turn us down because DC had “good grades” and was in advanced classes. They suggest DC self-accommodate by dropping out of advanced classes. Obviously, illegal. We wrote a letter stating so, and the school ultimately fixed their mistake in a subsequent meeting.

Write a formal letter and request a 504 plan.

Also, migraines can be a lifelong issue. You want to establish a record of accommodations (not be i formally accommodated) because accommodations at each higher level are easier to get when you’ve had them in the past.

[Anonymous]

My DD has immune deficiency, a complex orthopedic condition and hearing loss. Her 504 plans in middle and HS were very useful. When she had an infection, she was able to get both class work and home work to keep up from home as well as extended time ro complete assignments. Some teachers had to be reminded, but with 504 in place, they had to comply. She also got preferential seating and when ortho condition flared, extra time to get to class. It was easy to get her college to base their accommodations on the history of past 504 accommodations. For example, she got closest dorm to her school in the University. When she got infections that were persistent, she was allowed to lower her class load without penalty and her scholarship continued for the extra semesters needed to graduate.

[Anonymous]

Definitely get it. My kid missed a bunch of school due to medical condition, and was sent back with instruction to “take it easy” and slowly ease back into work. Because we did t have a 504, school thought she should make up a week’s missed work in 2 weeks (their usual rule), but that would have required her to do 1.5x homework and go in after school many days to make up quizzes, which she really couldn’t do because of the restrictions. They kept saying I didn’t have a 504 on file.