School revokes extra time accommodation from 504 plan
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Anonymous
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DS is a 7th grader with diagnosed low processing speed and ADHD inattentive. We've done neuropsychological twice over 6 years and working memory and processing speed were outliers by a large margin. Extra time in tests was recommended.
He is extremely motivated and hard working and is currently doing 3 grade levels above in math. This is the only subject that he uses the accommodation in. He is also extremely conscious of how he is perceived and hates sticking out. This makes him very reluctant to use extra time unless he feels like he absolutely needs to. The school has tried to revoke the extra time accommodation multiple times. First they claimed that he was not using it at all. We questioned why it had to be a use or lose it policy while the disability always remained. Also on further questioning it came to light that he had tried to use it a couple of times in a quarter but was denied as the quiz timed out on the computer. They agreed to fix it and try it for another quarter. This time, they say that he did use it sometimes but that it was to check his work rather than complete it. DS claims that is not true and that he is finishing it up. They also claimed that he is doing well, in an advanced class and that he needs to only be able to complete the test 25 to 50% in order to get the accommodation. It has now been revoked. DS works extra hard to do well in tests. He truly takes a while to understand word problems and put them down on paper. This is the only subject in which his working memory is taxed. I'm so disappointed in the school and sad that they cannot provide even a reasonable accommodation. Who is right here? What should I do next. This is Howard County. |
Anonymous
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He should be permitted to check his work, not just complete it when using extra time. It’s a great habit, especially for someone with inattentive ADHD, to look for small errors.
My understanding is that grades cannot be used in determining the need for accommodation. Can you clarify what you mean by, “He needs to only be able to complete the test 25 to 50% to get the accommodation”? |
Anonymous
| Honestly it does not sound like you have a good legal argument for this. Just let them drop it and let your DS figure out what works for him. Just because his working memory and processing speed may be comparatively lower than other areas of intellectual functioning does not mean he is disabled. |
Anonymous
| get a lawyer |
Anonymous
| When we had concerns about accommodations, we had some success talking with the Special Ed staff at the district level. Before you do that, I would read every document you can find about their policies on accommodations so that if you feel like they are going against their own policies, you can ask about the discrepancy. |
Anonymous
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Schools will always do the bare minimum.
We have a lawyer and an advocate for 2e student and when they imploded in hs down to c’s from straight a’s they still did not care. Only thing that got their attention was when they beat the shit out of kid who was bullying them. Then they were all hands on deck - more out of fear of being sued by us as we had been requesting help for over a year for our child’s challenges and being bullied. |
Anonymous
| When DS moved from private school to MCPS HS, they refused his extended time. We had years and years of documentation but he was a straight A student. We were told they would make it an informal accommodation meaning he could ask for it and it would be granted and they would monitor how it goes. It seemed sketchy and we knew an informal accommodation had not legal teeth. DS was very stressed. I was prepared to hire an attorney but in the interim I instructed him to ask for extra time (using the so called informal accommodation) every time he had a test or quiz. The teachers were fortunately kind and always allowed it but they could have refused so it was dangerous territory. By the end of the quarter, his extra time was restored. The school staff were unanimous in supporting him. The harder part was that when he applied for CB accommodations, he was denied based on that brief period of time. We had to appeal and appeal and redo all testing. |
Anonymous
Just a FYI because I will likely be dealing with this prevailing attitude of "disability". My daughter has allergies. We will be submitting a 504 for her so that her classroom does not use her allergens in the classroom for education, she is not required to share supplies and only uses her own, and that her lunch table be cleaned and her seated at the end to reduce # of people/risk. Further, the nurse and teacher will both be required to have epis. The epis will be handed off to specials, will be required to be with her at lunch and recess. The OPs son does have a disability and so does my daughter per 504. It doesnt matter if they still make As with their disability and accommodations. |
Anonymous
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I think their argument is the only subject he is using extra time in is the one he is three grade levels ahead in. Every other subject he doesn't need it. If he were in a grade level math class would he need extra time? If no then they think he is just trying to gain an advantage.
I don't think it is the entire team, it is probably one person who thinks he shouldn't get it. The other people probably haven't given it much thought. Is it an administrator or his math teacher? Finding this out is helpful to figure out what is going on. |
Anonymous
No, you do not get every accommodation you ask for just because you have a diagnosis on paper. And of course allergies are far different although even with allergies you are not entitled to everything you ask for. What the school seems to be saying is that OP’s son is getting good grades in an accelerated math class without extra time so he doesn’t need the accommodation of extra time. |
Anonymous
| It doesn’t sounds like he needs this. You say he only needs it in math, where he is 3 grade levels ahead, and only sometimes on word problems to check his work. All kids want that. |
Anonymous
An accommodation for equal access. Not grade-level access. If that was the case then no accommodations should be made for any student doing "above grade-level" work or GT/Honors/AP. Are you suggesting that if he were making As in a grade-level class he would also not be given accommodations? Or would he need to fail the grade-level non accelerated course for accommodations to be sufficiently warranted? |
Anonymous
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I have a 2E kid with a physical disability who has a 504 in college. While my kid needs certain accommodations all of the time, extra time can heavily depend on the test type & length.
My kid’s disabilities are pretty obvious when the teacher meets them; however, they had trouble with one teacher in Highschool. The teacher openly didn’t believe in having disabled kids in advanced classes. Not sure what to say if you have one like that and the administration won’t rein them in, except contact a lawyer and see what can be done. With the department of education being what it is currently, I’m not sure what to advise. |
Anonymous
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We went through something similar. I asked several people for advice and the thing that I was told unilaterally is - he MUST use the extra time. In all subjects, he cannot pick and choose. Have him slow down so that he does not finish the test early and then just sit there and check his answers with the extra time. You have to play the system to some extent. Once teachers see him using it, every single time, they will support him using it.
He is young now, but as he gets older and his classes get more demanding, he will probably want it in all classes, not only math. He won’t need to pretend anymore at some point. My son was self-conscious about it and reluctant to use it also. It was a battle at home, we told him he had to. Now he is older and is thankful to have it and understands, but at that age it’s just one of those things where you have to put your foot down as a parent and tell him he has to do. About the idea that he’s getting As so he doesn’t need it or he’s advanced in math so he doesn’t need it (why not just dropped down to grade level instead) or as long as he is average, like C level, he doesn’t need it… we did encounter that but thankfully not from every teacher. Some teachers are just angry, miserable people who secretly despise kids. It sucks but it’s true. You have to just work around those people as much as possible. There are good teachers out there who actually want to help kids too. I’m sorry you were going through this. |
Anonymous
The high achievement without the accommodation suggests accommodation not reasonable. |