I am an MCPS counselor (W school, not Westland). First, 504s are often treated like a consolation prize. They're not an IEP, which gives kids true interventions. A 504 Plan is only accommodations -- they don't cost the system money. It's a lot harder to "buy" an IEP than a 504. Second, I'm pretty appalled by the number of times I've seen kids without resources, or kids of color, get no accommodations at all because of "exclusionary factors" or because there's no pattern of strengths and weaknesses in their school-provided psych testing, while a kid with an expensive neuropsych report gets a number of supports. In practice, this means that an 8th grader who can't read may well get no interventions while his wealthier, white classmate magically gets a 504 Plan for his "mild" ADHD. That said, I rarely see 504 Plans followed with fidelity anyway. They're not worth much unless a kid is a good self-advocate. They don't immediately translate to extra time on standardized tests either -- those companies are onto parents, fortunately. Last, as a counselor, I think we need to be taking a good look at how we're writing and updating these plans. There's a lot of inconsistency, and counselors lose a lot of counseling time to paperwork. So I'm not at all opposed to 504 Plans for those who need them, but I'd like to see more equity across the board and more consistency in counselor and teacher approaches to them.

In our experience, Westland has done absolutely nothing to assist with learning disability. The IEP process is a legal formality, but my son gets zero actual support. We have had to higher a private tutor. I wish we would have gone to private, but it's too expensive. Anything you get you will spend twice as much time advocating for; if you're not able to support your child at home I don't think they will succeed at Westland.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents in that area get their kids put into a 504 or IEP because they want special attention and they really do not need it. There are plenty of doctors who will go along with this game.

It has been so over diagnosed that more and more kids now fall into those categories.

flame on

troll

It's not untrue. More than half of the population meets diagnostic criteria for some disability, and parents in this area pay $5,000 for a diagnosis and then wave it in front of the school demanding accommodations. The most often accommodation demanded is extended time because parents know it will give their kid an advantage on the SAT. It's a combination of cheating and Munchausen's by proxy and it dilutes support away from kids who actually need it.

Probably over half of the kids in the W cluster who have 504 plans for attention or anxiety wouldn't see a significant decrease in performance if those accommodations were taken away.

+1
HS teacher at a non-W school. It is ridiculous the number of 504 determinations I have had over the past couple of years in 11th grade - at least one per class. Oh, your student who has been an A/B student in Honors classes to date suddenly has been diagnosed with ADHD and now needs extended time and preferential seating? And you ask me in the middle of 1st quarter to move your child's seat because now they want the front and center seat? Sorry, I already have 8 other kids with 504s sitting in the front. You'll have to wait until 2nd quarter when I can come up with something creative. (and I'm not joking, this was last year, and I've got 2 determination meetings coming up this year.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents in that area get their kids put into a 504 or IEP because they want special attention and they really do not need it. There are plenty of doctors who will go along with this game.

It has been so over diagnosed that more and more kids now fall into those categories.

flame on

troll

It's not untrue. More than half of the population meets diagnostic criteria for some disability, and parents in this area pay $5,000 for a diagnosis and then wave it in front of the school demanding accommodations. The most often accommodation demanded is extended time because parents know it will give their kid an advantage on the SAT. It's a combination of cheating and Munchausen's by proxy and it dilutes support away from kids who actually need it.

Probably over half of the kids in the W cluster who have 504 plans for attention or anxiety wouldn't see a significant decrease in performance if those accommodations were taken away.

bumping for more recent experiences here. DC will be a sixth grader next year. Thanks.

Let me guess. It's one of the elementary schools right?

There's at least one of those in the Whitman cluster as well.

Anonymous wrote:Or perhaps the principal at an elementary school in the Westland cluster?

uh oh, which one?

Or perhaps the principal at an elementary school in the Westland cluster?

Or is it the special needs coordinator at a different nearby school who also seems to have that attitude?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents in that area get their kids put into a 504 or IEP because they want special attention and they really do not need it. There are plenty of doctors who will go along with this game.

It has been so over diagnosed that more and more kids now fall into those categories.

flame on

Hi, Westland counselor!