Reply to School revokes extra time accommodation from 504 plan

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]504 is a civil rights law- grades can be one factor but should not be as heavily considered as with an IEP. Have your son write a paragraph about why he needs this accommodation for math and which features of his disability neccesititate it.  Prep him and have him be prepared to respond to counter arguments. You can ask to have another 504 meeting where he personally advocates for this to be added. Or you can go above the school and reach out to the district 504 coordinator with your request and possibly file for 504 mediation. Also know that school staff can be retaliatory though, whether you like it or not, so weigh how much  waves you want to make. Ask me how I know.[/quote]

Huh? IDEA is also a civil rights law. That is not relevant point. For 504 you have to show an accommodation is needed due to a disability and the accommodation has to be reasonable. There is a very good argument that extra time for a kid doing advanced math without needing the extra time so far, is unreasonable. But if anyone wants to understand how Stanford has 40% of students with “disabilities,” well ….[/quote]

A student must show a need for special education instruction to get an IEP-typically low to failing grades provide a strong indicator . For a 504 plan, the student needs accommodations to access the curriculum to level the playing field with their general education peers. A dear colleague letter from the department of education expressed that students with 504 plans who have hidden disabilities such as learning disabilities should be able to access accommodations to fully demonstrate their abilities. If a high IQ kid has a disability, without appropriate accommodations, they may not be able to fully demonstrate their abilities.  In theory, they should have 504 protections but schools often refuse to serve these students. Their high IQ masks the extent of their disability. [/quote]

Thus how we get 40% of Stanford students with accommodations lol.

I don’t think “fully demonstrate abilities” is the standard for this and I don’t think it is reasonable to give kids who are academically advanced without extra time, extra time. [/quote]

Your opinion is your opinion and not actually what the law says.

A disabled Einstein is still eligible for accommodation if his disability is adversely impacting his education (IEP standard) or if his disability "substantially limits a major life activity" (of which "learning" is mentioned in the statute, which states that the list in statute is "non-exclusive"). 
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How can a student who only rarely uses an accommodation for extra time for only one class, and that class happens to be three grade level aheads show their impairment substantially limits one or more major life activities? And then only needs it check answers? The vast majority of students doing math three grade level aheads would benefit from extra time to check answers or figure out what exactly a word problem is asking.

The big benefit which then borders on being unfair is that you have time to plug the answer back in to verify it is the correct answer to check your work. Or if you don't know how to solve the problem and it is multiple choice you have time to plug all 4 or 5 answer choice back in to see which answer is correct.  If that is occurring that is really not the purpose of extra time if no other student has time to do that. [/quote]

As a tutor, I can say that it’s super common for kids with ADHD, for example, to finish test quickly, but to make a lot of silly errors or forgetting to answer one part of a multi part question. These kids appear to finish quickly but need extra time to go back and recheck their answers. Sometimes they’ve made a mistake that means that they actually have to rework the whole problem again.

You can be many grades ahead in math and still need this extra time to go back and check your work. Other kids don’t need to plug in the answers to make sure they’re right because they don’t make these kinds of careless errors in their work. These kinds of careless errors aren’t connected to an understanding of the material and they aren’t connected to intelligence, they’re simply a function of brain processing speed, working memory limitations, impulsivity all things that are typically an aspect of executive dysfunction and ADHD.

Your questions show your ignorance of what it means to have a learning disability or a special need.

What I find amusing as a tutor is how so many Neurotypical people believe that if only they had as much time they could do much better. As a tutor, I can tell you that that’s really not the case having an extra half an hour doesn’t mean that you can complete math material that’s several grades above level.

Also, the answer to your question about substantial limitation is that it is possible to be substantially limited and still be a performing above grade level. For example, a kid who does well in history, but who has problems with writing. Or a kid who’s able to do math two levels ahead and who understands very well. The concepts being introduced, but who has ADHD and whose handwriting is so messy that when he goes to do the math, he often makes error errors due to things like miscopying, or dropping signs. Those kinds of mistakes are unrelated to the understanding of the math. [/quote]

But they are related to the performance of math. [b]A kid who can do the same math test in the same time with fewer errors deserves the higher grade. I truly believe that. [/b]

A kid with ADHD needs to be taught to go back and check his work in the time given.

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Your opinion isn't law.  And think about the implication of what you are saying - if your kid can finish a math test in 45 minutes with no errors and a kid with a broken arm needs 60 minutes to finish the same test with no errors, are you really saying that your kid deserves a better grade because he was able to do it faster?  A grade is about mastery of the mathematical principles that have been taught, speed is not relevant to that.  Attentional errors don't have to do with misunderstanding of math, they have to do with impulse and attention control, which, for an ADHD person, may not be something they can control thru mere effort but rather medication or extra time.  If students with disabilities aren't accommodated in testing environments that have conditions that are irrelevant to subject mastery (speed, noise, distraction, no calculator or no computer use) then they cannot get access to higher level learning opportunities and have lower career and earning potential, which is bad for taxpayers and bad for employers, considering that many jobs don't require speed.

You think it's unfair that disabled students get accommodations, but what's unfair is that the system requires students to compete on measures (like speed) that are irrelevant to showing mastery of what's been taught and irrelevant to future performance in many, many jobs.  So, in fact, it's neurotypical students who have unfair advantages that they don't want to give up. [/quote]

The broken arm isn’t a good analogy because the arm is unrelated to what is actually being tested. The better analogy is whether a kid with a broken arm needs to be allowed to pitch in the baseball game. [/quote]

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