Teachers—what do you think is reasonable/good in an elementary school 504

[Anonymous]

My 2nd grade daughter has adhd. The doc who did the neuropsych is really encouraging us to get a 504. I am conflicted. I want teachers to understand her and be empathetic to her challenges (e.g. she’s much more able to focus standing at a table rather than sitting as she endlessly tips her chair back). On the other hand, I don’t want her to be singled out and I also don’t want teachers to have low expectations of her academically or in terms of behavior.

What do teachers really think of 504 plans for adhd kids? What’s helpful and what’s annoying?

[Anonymous]

I am not a teacher, but do have a kid with a 504 (for anxiety, not adhd) and I am actually intrigued by your framing here. We never thought of the 504 as anything but making sure my kid got the support she needed to thrive. Her 504 is all about being able to leave the classroom if she feels she’s about to meltdown and accommodations to finish tests or assignments later if she breaks down in the middle of one. This is our second teacher with the plan and we’ve gotten nothing but support so far…. My kid has only needed to use the accommodations a couple of times but it means she can melt down without having to do it in front of her classmates, which is so very necessary for her….

[Anonymous]

From a teacher standpoint,

I love: accommodations that are one and done. Things I set up once, that the student can then utilize as needed. Access to fidgits, desk in the back of the room so she can stand up or walk around when she needs a break, kick band on the chair legs. Also things that are good teaching for EVERYONE that don't add any work for me because I'm already doing them. Written copies of directions, providing examples for big projects to manage expectations, breaking down big things into smaller deadlines. These are things that everyone should be getting anyway, they just are necessary for some kids and nice to have for others. When I see them in a 504, I assume a student had a bad experience with a rigid former teacher, because in my experience any good teacher does these things by default.

I happily implement: Things that can be done quickly. Mastery level workload (when I notice an assignment is taking super long, suggest she just do odd math problems or just answer worksheet questions 7 & 8 since they summarize the whole lesson), check in to make sure she starts on independent work.

I despise (but I do because I legally have to): things that take significant time away from others & things that are time consuming in general. Things I will inevitably forget to do (therefor getting me in trouble). Things like daily progress reports home. Having a student do all testing orally. These are logistical challenges. I despise things that impact other students negatively. "Teacher will ensure Larla is surrounded by quiet students".

Things I roll my eyes at: Things any good teacher does. The number of 504s that say, "Teacher will redirect off task behavior" or "teacher will ensure student has understanding of task before having them begin". Duh. Of course I do that. I do that for every child.

But I never, ever judge a student based on the 504 that shows up before the school year starts. I promise you, I work to understand who your child is, where they are, and what they need to the best of my ability, regardless of what the paper says. The paper is just a starting point of accommodations on day 1 (and a leg to stand on if you end up with a difficult teacher one year who doesn't want to budge)

[Anonymous]

Many teachers subconsciously regard IEP/504 kids as not very capable or bright. It's unavoidable. But it's a tradeoff you have to accept if you really believe your kid cannot function in school without accommodations. The fewer changes you request, the more apt teachers are to overlook the annoyance and see a bright and capable child. The more demands you make, the more your child is seen as a useless lump of extra work. Nobody will ever admit this to your face though.

Be very very judicious with your requests. Ask to see sample 504 plans and imagine being in the teacher's shoes and having to accommodate lots of students with problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many teachers subconsciously regard IEP/504 kids as not very capable or bright. It's unavoidable. But it's a tradeoff you have to accept if you really believe your kid cannot function in school without accommodations. The fewer changes you request, the more apt teachers are to overlook the annoyance and see a bright and capable child. The more demands you make, the more your child is seen as a useless lump of extra work. Nobody will ever admit this to your face though.

Be very very judicious with your requests. Ask to see sample 504 plans and imagine being in the teacher's shoes and having to accommodate lots of students with problems.

Nowadays at least a quarter of the class, at least, has a 504. Teachers don't judge students by it one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many teachers subconsciously regard IEP/504 kids as not very capable or bright. It's unavoidable. But it's a tradeoff you have to accept if you really believe your kid cannot function in school without accommodations. The fewer changes you request, the more apt teachers are to overlook the annoyance and see a bright and capable child. The more demands you make, the more your child is seen as a useless lump of extra work. Nobody will ever admit this to your face though.

Be very very judicious with your requests. Ask to see sample 504 plans and imagine being in the teacher's shoes and having to accommodate lots of students with problems.

Teacher here. This is false. I have a lot of students with 504’s that are smarter than the average student. They just need accommodations to continue to shine. Standing instead of sitting is a non issue

[Anonymous]

Not a teacher, but you cannot actually expect it to be ok for your child to stand instead of sit. take a movement break, OK. But yes, they need to be able to sit in a chair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a teacher, but you cannot actually expect it to be ok for your child to stand instead of sit. take a movement break, OK. But yes, they need to be able to sit in a chair.

NP, yes, they should sit in a chair, but if they can't, then what? Should they be suspended, retained, or expelled? Or allowed to stand or sit under their desk, if that's what they can do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many teachers subconsciously regard IEP/504 kids as not very capable or bright. It's unavoidable. But it's a tradeoff you have to accept if you really believe your kid cannot function in school without accommodations. The fewer changes you request, the more apt teachers are to overlook the annoyance and see a bright and capable child. The more demands you make, the more your child is seen as a useless lump of extra work. Nobody will ever admit this to your face though.

Be very very judicious with your requests. Ask to see sample 504 plans and imagine being in the teacher's shoes and having to accommodate lots of students with problems.

This is not really true with 504 plans, but it does seem to be true for IEP. My ADHD kid has an IEP for speech articulation (they lisp), and every year the school forgets about his right (in the IEP) to have small group testing, and everyone admits (orally only) that it’s because he is so smart they forget he has an IEP. Implication being that smart kids don’t have IEPs.

I have never had comments like that with my other kids’ 504 plans - those are a dime a dozen at many schools and held by kids with lots of profiles.

[Anonymous]

School rigor increases as you get into the higher grades, so she might need preferential seating to reduce distractions, repeated directions, multiple breaks, or extended time later on. In the early grades, what it does most is put teachers on notice that what they may perceive as behavior problems actually stem from a brain difference that the student cannot easily control. Medication for ADHD helps a lot, BTW.

Don't fall for the "social stigma" trap. My kid (now in college) had an IEP for severe ADHD, low processing speed and learning disabilities, and was in all advanced classes in middle school and had 11 AP courses in high school. Ditto for my other kid with a 504 for a medical diagnosis, who was put in Algebra 1 in 6th grade and is on track for even more AP courses. Intelligent students with neurodivergence may be temporarily misidentified by their teachers, but at most it lasts for the first quarter of every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a teacher, but you cannot actually expect it to be ok for your child to stand instead of sit. take a movement break, OK. But yes, they need to be able to sit in a chair.

Huh? You aren’t a teacher so obvious. Most elementary students have a hard time sitting for hours doing work. We incorporate activities and breaks that allows the students to move. A student requesting to stand is a non issue. If the parent asked me, I wouldn’t even recommend a 504 because I am accommodate that. The students desk is in the last row of the classroom or last cluster towards the back, depending on how my class is set up. They can easily move the chair to stand at their desk so their body does not black others vision. I this for my more active students that do not have a 504

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a teacher, but you cannot actually expect it to be ok for your child to stand instead of sit. take a movement break, OK. But yes, they need to be able to sit in a chair.

Glad you're not a teacher.