Advocate for 504/IEP?

[Anonymous]

504 Plan = a child who is reliant on others for support

IEP Plan = a child who is taught skills to compensate for the disability and who learns to be self sufficient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:504 Plan = a child who is reliant on others for support

IEP Plan = a child who is taught skills to compensate for the disability and who learns to be self sufficient.

Nice try, but no. That's an oversimplification. They come from different parts of federal education law. They have different requirements, different standards.

Whichever path your kids follows, though, you need to be sure the plan meets their needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:504 Plan = a child who is reliant on others for support

IEP Plan = a child who is taught skills to compensate for the disability and who learns to be self sufficient.

Nice try, but no. That's an oversimplification. They come from different parts of federal education law. They have different requirements, different standards.

Whichever path your kids follows, though, you need to be sure the plan meets their needs.

Please explain further and cite the law.

For a child with ADHD though, what’s the better outcome? A 504 plan in which the classroom teacher (who has 30 other kids in the class) is responsible for doing a list of 20 things to keep a child on task or an IEP with goals and objectives so the child is learning organizational, task completion, and behavior modification skills?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special ed teacher here. I don't know where the PP is at, but at my school, if you have the documentation from your doctor that your child has any medical condition (ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, etc.) we give you a 504 plan. We know how much it benefits these kids to have those accommodations. We will discuss if they need an IEP. And for the record, I've had kids with "straight A's" be given an IEP because we evaluate them and see the need for specialized instruction (not always academically, usually behaviorally). And while we ask if a kid's on medication (so we can help monitor the effectiveness or be on the lookout for side-effects), I've never recommended it. I'm not a doctor, that's not under my purview.

This was not the case at my ES where I had to fight for over a year despite documented SLD.

OP, hands down Suzie Blattner. She really knows her stuff.

I’ve heard good things about Rick but we worked initially with one of his associates and the experience was not that good. Unfortunately, MCPS will give you the “wait and delay” approach and it requires someone well versed in process as well as special Ed.

I’ve also heard good things about Michelle Davis but I don’t have personal experience with her.

[Anonymous]

I’ll never understand the parents who will pay for an attorney but not a tutor or therapy for their kid. It’s like they just want the satisfaction of “beating” MCPS and don’t really care about their kid’s needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll never understand the parents who will pay for an attorney but not a tutor or therapy for their kid. It’s like they just want the satisfaction of “beating” MCPS and don’t really care about their kid’s needs.

Many of us pay for all of it. Dinner out and vacations have been few and far between!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll never understand the parents who will pay for an attorney but not a tutor or therapy for their kid. It’s like they just want the satisfaction of “beating” MCPS and don’t really care about their kid’s needs.

Many of us pay for all of it. Dinner out and vacations have been few and far between!

+1 - You have to pay for the private evaluation, pay for an advocate or an attorney, and when a child doesn’t receive the services on the IEP or if a child is still denied an IEP, pay for the private services that aren’t being provided at school. You get what you can get from MCPS and invest a fortune in private services so your child with a disability has an education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Word of advice when the school points to passing grades in Synergy/Parentvue or report cards saying that the child is making progress - GO INTO YOUR CHILD’S CANVAS ACCOUNT AND SUBMIT TO THE SCHOOL TEAM THE INFORMATION IN CANVAS.

MCPS has two grade books. For a child with ADHD, the two grade books can almost look like two different children. Synergy/Parentvue grade book leaves off information such as how many assignments are turned in late. Synergy/Parentvue can lag weeks behind Canvas so missing assignments might not show up till the report card grades are due.Then there are the 50% for work not done that makes it appear that a child attempted an assignment when the assignment was just missed. The more damaging practice in MCPS to cover up problems is when failing grades in Canvas are converted to full credit in Synergy/Parentvue or blanket exemptions to pass a child along.

The grade inflation in Synergy/Parentvue makes it seem like a child is successful when Canvas shows a child that is really struggling. For past Canvas data - last year or first semester, send an email to your Principal who will stall but will need to produce within 45 days. You then should ask for another IEP meeting to review the data from Canvas.

The lack of honesty and transparency by MCPS staff is either sheer stupidity or an agenda to not educate kids. How many children are passed through from grade to grade? Who came up with the bs idea to have two grade books so parents don’t see the problems?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll never understand the parents who will pay for an attorney but not a tutor or therapy for their kid. It’s like they just want the satisfaction of “beating” MCPS and don’t really care about their kid’s needs.

The parents who pay for advocates and/or attorneys do pay for tutors and therapists. In the DMV, most clinicians are out of network. I’ve been at this for 10 yrs. MCPS is cheaper than private, but to the posters comment below—vacations are a thing of the past. I think it may be slightly easier in less affluent districts; in MCPS, they do nothing until forced. In terms of equity issues, students of color get funneled into juvenile justice. ADHD is a serious disability. Got the years you have a caring teacher, be grateful. It’s not the norm. This is all pre-Covid by the way.

[Anonymous]

At today’s BOE meeting there was an explanation by MCPS that all children with IEPs and who didn’t make progress with their goals and objectives that they will receive Extended Year Services. What about the children who suffered this year because they have a disability but they couldn’t access the curriculum because their 504 accommodations were not being provided? What about the children with disabilities that have been denied IEPs and 504s but they have fallen off a cliff in digital learning?

There has been no discussion with the BOE about how ALL children with disabilities who couldn’t access the curriculum this year will receive compensatory services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll never understand the parents who will pay for an attorney but not a tutor or therapy for their kid. It’s like they just want the satisfaction of “beating” MCPS and don’t really care about their kid’s needs.

The parents who pay for advocates and/or attorneys do pay for tutors and therapists. In the DMV, most clinicians are out of network. I’ve been at this for 10 yrs. MCPS is cheaper than private, but to the posters comment below—vacations are a thing of the past. I think it may be slightly easier in less affluent districts; in MCPS, they do nothing until forced. In terms of equity issues, students of color get funneled into juvenile justice. ADHD is a serious disability. Got the years you have a caring teacher, be grateful. It’s not the norm. This is all pre-Covid by the way.

Distance learning has only added another layer of inequality for students with ADHD in MCPS. Many children have regressed but very few will get services to make up a year’s worth of a lack of access to the curriculum. Does anyone in MCPS care? No. Teachers won’t speak up for children they know are struggling. School administrators play dumb and loose with the ADA and IDEA. It will take a lawyer to get what your child needs or placement into private school.

Gone are the days anyone in MCPS cares about actually educating children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any recommendations for someone who helps you figure our the resources available for my child? He has ADHD and is now is newly diagnosed as on the spectrum but high functioning and at grade level academically.

Thank you so much. I posted in special needs as well.

Do not do it. If you win the BOE will Sue you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any recommendations for someone who helps you figure our the resources available for my child? He has ADHD and is now is newly diagnosed as on the spectrum but high functioning and at grade level academically.

Thank you so much. I posted in special needs as well.

Do not do it. If you win the BOE will Sue you.

What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any recommendations for someone who helps you figure our the resources available for my child? He has ADHD and is now is newly diagnosed as on the spectrum but high functioning and at grade level academically.

Thank you so much. I posted in special needs as well.

Do not do it. If you win the BOE will Sue you.

What? Can you cite an example of the Board of Ed suing a parent over services for a disabled child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll never understand the parents who will pay for an attorney but not a tutor or therapy for their kid. It’s like they just want the satisfaction of “beating” MCPS and don’t really care about their kid’s needs.

Many of us pay for all of it. Dinner out and vacations have been few and far between!

+1 - You have to pay for the private evaluation, pay for an advocate or an attorney, and when a child doesn’t receive the services on the IEP or if a child is still denied an IEP, pay for the private services that aren’t being provided at school. You get what you can get from MCPS and invest a fortune in private services so your child with a disability has an education.

+1, Our IEP was a joke. They refused basic supports and didn't follow the ones they put in the IEP. We decided it was better to spend the money on private services but if my child had something more serious I would have done both. Its near impossible to get anything done without an attorney.