My ADHD kid went through ES/MS/HS with a 504, got accomodations that worked. Occasionally he had to advocate for himself (HS) when a teacher wouldn't follow through on his accomodations. It worked. He's currently in college (with a few accomodations still), has straight As, and is a success story. If you had told me this is how it would be when he was in MS, I would have said no way, but here we are. The accomodations, supportive counselors all the way through, and an Exec Function coach starting in 8th grade is where I credit his success.

It's all about what your child needs to be successful in school. If accomodations are enough, you'll have a 504. If your child needs services, you'll have an IEP

My child has a different condition, but my understanding is that a 504 guarantees accommodations whereas an IEP will specify services. An IEP is literally a plan that will include goals for your child that you and others in the meeting will agree upon. A 504 will not have goals written in as it’s not an educational plan.

We live in VA and I was told that the biggest difference between a getting 504 and an IEP is evidence of an adverse educational impact. A diagnosis in and of itself is not evidence of adverse impact. Basically there needs to be evidence (e.g. from testing/evaluations) that your child is falling behind or struggling in order to get an IEP. It’s not enough to say that they *may* fall behind due to their condition. We didn’t have any test results we could point to as evidence of adverse impact, so my child has a 504.

Some parents of kids with my child’s condition feels strongly that all kids with this condition should have an IEP and that parents need to fight for it. I felt defeated and exhausted by the process. I will fight the battle if I truly think it’s needed in the future, but I’m not going to be combative for no good reason. I’m sure parents of kids with ADHD end up in a similar situation with respect to the 504 vs. IEP, and different states maybe using different guidelines. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old just got a diagnosis- not super surprising. We're all new to this; support is needed for him at school, but I don't know where to begin in terms of requesting an IEP vs. a 504. Can someone help me out?

Usually a 504- that provides things like priority seating, extended time on tests, etc.

An IEP has more legal teeth but it provides specialized instruction or services like speech or special education. For most ADHD kids, a 504 is sufficient.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Want to add it’s a very long process. You ask. They have 30 days to meet (sometimes more depending on your state). First meeting is to discuss whether an evaluation is needed and if so what type. Then there’s a period where the evals are done which is probably another 30 days. Then you meet again to discuss results and decide whether he qualifies for an IEP or 504. And then you meet again to develop the IEP or 504.

30 days to meet? Too long. 30 days to evaluate? Too short. What state is this?

In Fairfax County, if a parent makes a referral, the local screening committee has 10 business days to convene. If that committee decides to move forward with an evaluation to determine if the student is eligible for special education services, the committee has 65 days to complete the testing and reconvene to determine eligibility. If your child is found eligible for special education services, a case manager is assigned and will have 30 days to develop an IEP with you and the teacher.

If the committee does NOT decide to move forward with an evaluation, they could decide to determine eligibility for a 504 based on the ADHD diagnosis. One that eligibility is determined, a new meeting will be scheduled by the person in charge of 504 plans and the teacher to determine what accommodations are needed.

IDEA has no timeframes built in. That’s governed either by state law or “reasonable time” standard. Regardless even your school takes 105 days from start to finish which is three and a half months. So ask today and if eligible, the IEP will start sometime around 2/8/24 which is a very long time away.

In Arlington it's as described above with the 10 day/30 day thing. That said, we had a full eval which lead to the IEP but I think we could get a 504 without an eval, just needed a dx. But that was awhile ago at this point.

I think you’re right about the 504. But if you’re not sure what is needed you’re kind of pushed into the longer timeframe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Want to add it’s a very long process. You ask. They have 30 days to meet (sometimes more depending on your state). First meeting is to discuss whether an evaluation is needed and if so what type. Then there’s a period where the evals are done which is probably another 30 days. Then you meet again to discuss results and decide whether he qualifies for an IEP or 504. And then you meet again to develop the IEP or 504.

30 days to meet? Too long. 30 days to evaluate? Too short. What state is this?

In Fairfax County, if a parent makes a referral, the local screening committee has 10 business days to convene. If that committee decides to move forward with an evaluation to determine if the student is eligible for special education services, the committee has 65 days to complete the testing and reconvene to determine eligibility. If your child is found eligible for special education services, a case manager is assigned and will have 30 days to develop an IEP with you and the teacher.

If the committee does NOT decide to move forward with an evaluation, they could decide to determine eligibility for a 504 based on the ADHD diagnosis. One that eligibility is determined, a new meeting will be scheduled by the person in charge of 504 plans and the teacher to determine what accommodations are needed.

IDEA has no timeframes built in. That’s governed either by state law or “reasonable time” standard. Regardless even your school takes 105 days from start to finish which is three and a half months. So ask today and if eligible, the IEP will start sometime around 2/8/24 which is a very long time away.

In Arlington it's as described above with the 10 day/30 day thing. That said, we had a full eval which lead to the IEP but I think we could get a 504 without an eval, just needed a dx. But that was awhile ago at this point.

Do you have neuropsych testing done? That should have recs for an IEP if the evaluator deemed it necessary. Or is the school going to do the neuropsych testing?

What sort of accommodations or services are you looking for? Lots of accommodations in 504s. At our mcps ms, most adhd kids just have 504s unless there's other stuff going on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Want to add it’s a very long process. You ask. They have 30 days to meet (sometimes more depending on your state). First meeting is to discuss whether an evaluation is needed and if so what type. Then there’s a period where the evals are done which is probably another 30 days. Then you meet again to discuss results and decide whether he qualifies for an IEP or 504. And then you meet again to develop the IEP or 504.

30 days to meet? Too long. 30 days to evaluate? Too short. What state is this?

In Fairfax County, if a parent makes a referral, the local screening committee has 10 business days to convene. If that committee decides to move forward with an evaluation to determine if the student is eligible for special education services, the committee has 65 days to complete the testing and reconvene to determine eligibility. If your child is found eligible for special education services, a case manager is assigned and will have 30 days to develop an IEP with you and the teacher.

If the committee does NOT decide to move forward with an evaluation, they could decide to determine eligibility for a 504 based on the ADHD diagnosis. One that eligibility is determined, a new meeting will be scheduled by the person in charge of 504 plans and the teacher to determine what accommodations are needed.

IDEA has no timeframes built in. That’s governed either by state law or “reasonable time” standard. Regardless even your school takes 105 days from start to finish which is three and a half months. So ask today and if eligible, the IEP will start sometime around 2/8/24 which is a very long time away.

Anonymous wrote:You ask for an evaluation. After that is completed a decision will be made as to whether he qualifies for a 504, an IEP or nothing.

504 provides accommodations.

IEP provides accommodations and specialized services. You have to demonstrate a disability, a negative educational impact and a need for specialized services. ADHD can flashlight as a disability under other health impairment if it has a negative educational impact.

What district is this? I'm a school psychologist, and we would never, ever concurrently evaluate for a 504 and an IEP. Sometimes parents don't know exactly what they are looking for so we have to talk them through the options of if they'd like to refer for a 504 eval or an IEP/SPED eval, but it's not a thing where we do a broad evaluation and then say 504 or IEP.

In some cases, we might do the IEP eval and determine that the kid doesn't qualify but a 504 evaluation would be appropriate, but that triggers a whole 'nother process.

Anonymous wrote:Want to add it’s a very long process. You ask. They have 30 days to meet (sometimes more depending on your state). First meeting is to discuss whether an evaluation is needed and if so what type. Then there’s a period where the evals are done which is probably another 30 days. Then you meet again to discuss results and decide whether he qualifies for an IEP or 504. And then you meet again to develop the IEP or 504.

30 days to meet? Too long. 30 days to evaluate? Too short. What state is this?

In Fairfax County, if a parent makes a referral, the local screening committee has 10 business days to convene. If that committee decides to move forward with an evaluation to determine if the student is eligible for special education services, the committee has 65 days to complete the testing and reconvene to determine eligibility. If your child is found eligible for special education services, a case manager is assigned and will have 30 days to develop an IEP with you and the teacher.

If the committee does NOT decide to move forward with an evaluation, they could decide to determine eligibility for a 504 based on the ADHD diagnosis. One that eligibility is determined, a new meeting will be scheduled by the person in charge of 504 plans and the teacher to determine what accommodations are needed.

Want to add it’s a very long process. You ask. They have 30 days to meet (sometimes more depending on your state). First meeting is to discuss whether an evaluation is needed and if so what type. Then there’s a period where the evals are done which is probably another 30 days. Then you meet again to discuss results and decide whether he qualifies for an IEP or 504. And then you meet again to develop the IEP or 504.

You ask for an evaluation. After that is completed a decision will be made as to whether he qualifies for a 504, an IEP or nothing.

504 provides accommodations.

IEP provides accommodations and specialized services. You have to demonstrate a disability, a negative educational impact and a need for specialized services. ADHD can flashlight as a disability under other health impairment if it has a negative educational impact.

My 7 year old just got a diagnosis- not super surprising. We're all new to this; support is needed for him at school, but I don't know where to begin in terms of requesting an IEP vs. a 504. Can someone help me out?