Both of these documents protect children with disabilities in their school environments, but are different in the needs they address. And while it is possible for a child to have BOTH a 504 plan AND and IEP, it is generally rare.
Let's begin with the least restrictive of the two - the 504 plan. Like the IEP, a 504 is a federally mandated and binding agreement between the school and the family that certain conditions exist for a student and that certain accommodations will be made for that student so that he or she can be successful and healthy in school.
Generally, you see a 504 plan for a child with a medical issue which prevents that child either from participating fully in the curriculum or whose health may be affected without specific considerations. These issues range from a child with asthma or diabetes, to a child with food allergies, or even a child with ADD. In most cases, there are certain considerations that the school needs to make, but for the most part that child can be fully surrounded by her peers and be in class. Considerations may include a nut-free table in the lunch room, or even specific rooms or even whole campuses being nut free. It could be allowing an asthmatic child to keep his inhaler with him, though the school has a strict policy that all medicines be with the nurse. It could be allowing a child with diabetes to eat whenever he needs to.. all things that should be written down for the protection of the child, but that generally can be managed without removing the child from the regular school environment.
An IEP, then, is one step further away from that unrestrictive environment. A child whose learning is becoming affected because of his or her medical condition may then qualify as a child with an Other Health Impairment and is awarded the protection and more significant accommodations to help him be successful.
Generally, under Other Health Impairment, we don't see children with diabetes or asthma; we see more students who have other emotional or behavioral concerns which impede their ability to function fully in the regular class environment.
This is not to say that co-morbidity does not exist, and you won't see a child with both a learning disability for which he has an IEP and something like asthma, for which he has a 504 plan. However, when the 504 was originally written for either a behavior or emotional reason, such as ADD or a mood disorder, then once the child needs an IEP, the 504 is no longer recognized as the guiding document, and since the rules governing IEPs are even more strict that those of a 504. Once an IEP is written, the team generally considers that 504 plan to be null and void.
Educationally yours,
The SpEd Guru
Showing posts with label ADHD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ADHD. Show all posts
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Some practical tips for kids with ADD in the classroom
Many children with ADD or ADHD (the two terms are often used interchangably. Sometimes you hear of ADD-inattentive type or ADD-hyperactive type. I will go into the differences between the two in a bit) can be successful in a regular education setting with a few modifications to their environment. But first, what is ADD?
Attention Deficit Disorder has seen fair share of press, often with the media getting it wrong! A child with ADD may be perfectly able to ATTEND to his or her environment, only they addend to everything in their environment; they can be what is called "stimulus bound". If something moves in their line of sight, they MUST see what it is.. If something changes in their environment, they MUST check it out. For many of these kids, it is really not an option; it can be simply how their brains are wired. The really great news about kids with ADD? They can make the best multi-taskers out there!
The difference between the two 'forms' of ADD are this; you have known of, or seen, the child who is hyperactive. The media, and movies, have had a decent representative of these sorts of behaviors. A child who has ADD-inattentive, however, can often go undiagnosed simply because they are NOT a behavior problem in the classroom. These are your daydreamers, your children who may appear to be paying attention, but are often not even hearing the discussion. If you believe your child may meet this description, a conversation with your doctor may be in order, because your teacher will not be the one brining the issue to your attention; the teacher may not even notice because there nothing TO notice..
However, in a traditional American classroom, a child with ADD poses a problem to both his teacher and himself. He can often act out, or be impulsive, causing a distraction to others in the class. While this is going on, he is not learning, but neither is anyone else! With a reduction in stimuli, many teachers report a reduction in these impulsive behaviors. So, what sorts of reductions are we talking about?
Many researches believe florescent lights (those lights that illuminiate nearly every single classroom on earth?!) can impact a child with ADD (as well as a child with Autism, epilepsy, or a child prone to migraine). The constant flicker that a non-ADD brain can ignore is seen by a child who has ADD. Natural light is best whenever possible. If a teacher is willing to open her blinds in the classroom and turn OFF the overhead lights, often there can be an improvement in ADD symptoms.
Your traditional concept of an elementary classroom is also ripe with distractors. All the bright colored posters, the word walls, the pictures, the items dangling from the ceiling? Every single item on the wall can pose a distraction for a child with ADD. Not that anyone wants to learn in a room that mimics a jail cell, but if teachers are willing to forego a few of the decorations, or even have a corner of their room free from visual distractions, they may be rewarded by a reduction of behaviors, simply because there is less stimuli for a child to attend to!
Some in-class modifications that have been proven successful for children with ADD include the following:
To medicate, or not to medicate; that is the question!!
The knee-jerk reaction to a diagnosis of ADD is to think of medication. Many parents are understandably concerned about giving their child medicine for a behavioral condition, and I can see their point. The question to ask yourself is this one: is my child's behavior impacting their ability to learn? If behaviors can be managed by external modifications of their environment, and some behavior modification with point-sheets and rewards, then medication is probably not necessary.
However, if the interventions mentioned above have been tried, and have failed to improve your child's ability to attend to, and learn from, their school environment, then it is my personal and professional opinion that medication needs to be considered as a viable option. I have known students whose behavior is incredibly intrusive and inappropriate, and they were soon labeled "troublemakers" by their school. It is my firm opinion that these children were NOT trouble-makers, but were simply NOT IN CONTROL OF THEIR ACTIONS. Their ADD was so severe, they were truly not able to stop themselves. To not medicate a child who meets those descriptions, to expect him or her to change on their own, is unreasonable and unfair to that child. When you have tried everything else, and have not meet with success, it is time to have that talk with your child's doctor.
Educationally yours,
The Sped Guru
Attention Deficit Disorder has seen fair share of press, often with the media getting it wrong! A child with ADD may be perfectly able to ATTEND to his or her environment, only they addend to everything in their environment; they can be what is called "stimulus bound". If something moves in their line of sight, they MUST see what it is.. If something changes in their environment, they MUST check it out. For many of these kids, it is really not an option; it can be simply how their brains are wired. The really great news about kids with ADD? They can make the best multi-taskers out there!
The difference between the two 'forms' of ADD are this; you have known of, or seen, the child who is hyperactive. The media, and movies, have had a decent representative of these sorts of behaviors. A child who has ADD-inattentive, however, can often go undiagnosed simply because they are NOT a behavior problem in the classroom. These are your daydreamers, your children who may appear to be paying attention, but are often not even hearing the discussion. If you believe your child may meet this description, a conversation with your doctor may be in order, because your teacher will not be the one brining the issue to your attention; the teacher may not even notice because there nothing TO notice..
However, in a traditional American classroom, a child with ADD poses a problem to both his teacher and himself. He can often act out, or be impulsive, causing a distraction to others in the class. While this is going on, he is not learning, but neither is anyone else! With a reduction in stimuli, many teachers report a reduction in these impulsive behaviors. So, what sorts of reductions are we talking about?
Many researches believe florescent lights (those lights that illuminiate nearly every single classroom on earth?!) can impact a child with ADD (as well as a child with Autism, epilepsy, or a child prone to migraine). The constant flicker that a non-ADD brain can ignore is seen by a child who has ADD. Natural light is best whenever possible. If a teacher is willing to open her blinds in the classroom and turn OFF the overhead lights, often there can be an improvement in ADD symptoms.
Your traditional concept of an elementary classroom is also ripe with distractors. All the bright colored posters, the word walls, the pictures, the items dangling from the ceiling? Every single item on the wall can pose a distraction for a child with ADD. Not that anyone wants to learn in a room that mimics a jail cell, but if teachers are willing to forego a few of the decorations, or even have a corner of their room free from visual distractions, they may be rewarded by a reduction of behaviors, simply because there is less stimuli for a child to attend to!
Some in-class modifications that have been proven successful for children with ADD include the following:
- Reduce florescent lights and increase natural light
- Reduce the amount of visual stimulation on the walls
- Increase the amount of auditory stimulation by introducing 'white noise' in the classroom (background noise of rain, or something similar)
- Allow for a stimulus-free area of the classroom, with perhaps a study carrol.
- Allow a child to move around a bit in the classroom; pacing in the back, or sitting on a posture-ball. By keeping their bodies gently moving, their brains can focus better.
- If a posture-ball is not an option, see if a "wiggle seat" would be acceptable.
- Keep a point-sheet with rewards for positive behavior in the classroom, Rewards should be immediate at first, then tapered off to be more delayed.
To medicate, or not to medicate; that is the question!!
The knee-jerk reaction to a diagnosis of ADD is to think of medication. Many parents are understandably concerned about giving their child medicine for a behavioral condition, and I can see their point. The question to ask yourself is this one: is my child's behavior impacting their ability to learn? If behaviors can be managed by external modifications of their environment, and some behavior modification with point-sheets and rewards, then medication is probably not necessary.
However, if the interventions mentioned above have been tried, and have failed to improve your child's ability to attend to, and learn from, their school environment, then it is my personal and professional opinion that medication needs to be considered as a viable option. I have known students whose behavior is incredibly intrusive and inappropriate, and they were soon labeled "troublemakers" by their school. It is my firm opinion that these children were NOT trouble-makers, but were simply NOT IN CONTROL OF THEIR ACTIONS. Their ADD was so severe, they were truly not able to stop themselves. To not medicate a child who meets those descriptions, to expect him or her to change on their own, is unreasonable and unfair to that child. When you have tried everything else, and have not meet with success, it is time to have that talk with your child's doctor.
Educationally yours,
The Sped Guru
Thursday, September 8, 2011
My Child has ADD; do they qualify for Special Education?
Without wanting to come across circumspect, the best answer to this question is MAYBE. There are certainly cases where students are serviced under Special Education who are not learning disabled or meet the criteria for having an emotional handicap. In fact, in my years of teaching, I have always had at least one, often more, students whose only "issue" is that they have ADD.
So how does a parent get to the point where their child gets the additional servcies that come with an IEP? Its not a short process, I want you to know that going into it.
And why does it often take so long for a student with ADD to be indentified as needing an IEP? I hope to address that point as well in this post.
Remember, the whole goal of education is to provide a FREE AND APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION to all students. Along with that, the federal guidelines established under 2004's IDEA show a push toward maintaining a "Least Restrictive Environment" for all students. This regulation is in direct contrast to the way things were handled fifty years ago when students who didn't fit the typical picture would be sent off to either a special school or an institution. Times have changed dramatically since then and I would like to think we have learned a thing or two along the way.
With that in mind, when a student exhibits behavior in the classroom, say, "typical ADD behavior", many things need to happen, in sequence, before a student is identified as needing special education. General classroom interventions are the first place to begin. I will have a seperate post on things that have been proven to work with students who are easily distracted. When those classroom interventions show they are not successful, the next step in the process is NOT an IEP. Since ADD is a medical concern, the logical next step is for the child to be serviced and proctected under what is called a 504-plan. Just like an IEP, a 504 is a federally recognized, legally binding contract between the parent and the school, and it should lay out reasonable accommodations that your child is entitled to in order to help him or her be successful.
An IEP is advised for students with ADD only when other resources have proven to be 'not enough' to help the student. Some parents do want to jump straight into an IEP once the diagnosis of ADD is handed down by a doctor (and remember, schools cannot diagnose. This is not to say that teachers are incapable of noticing the behaviors associated with a student with ADD, but since ADD is often treated with medication, it is only diagnosed by a doctor). I would caution them to do this for the following reason.
The nature of an IEP basically states that for whatever reason, that child is "disabled". While that may be true, and again, in my years' of teaching, I have met students who were truly disabled by their condition, remember, no one wants to call a child disabled when he or she is not.. it feels wrong to educators, to parents and especially to the children affected.
So, the long and short of the question is this - can a child with ADD qualify for and receive Special Education servcies? Yes. However, as a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your child is successful in the LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT POSSIBLE before placing him or her in Special Education.
Educationally yours,
SpEd Guru
So how does a parent get to the point where their child gets the additional servcies that come with an IEP? Its not a short process, I want you to know that going into it.
And why does it often take so long for a student with ADD to be indentified as needing an IEP? I hope to address that point as well in this post.
Remember, the whole goal of education is to provide a FREE AND APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION to all students. Along with that, the federal guidelines established under 2004's IDEA show a push toward maintaining a "Least Restrictive Environment" for all students. This regulation is in direct contrast to the way things were handled fifty years ago when students who didn't fit the typical picture would be sent off to either a special school or an institution. Times have changed dramatically since then and I would like to think we have learned a thing or two along the way.
With that in mind, when a student exhibits behavior in the classroom, say, "typical ADD behavior", many things need to happen, in sequence, before a student is identified as needing special education. General classroom interventions are the first place to begin. I will have a seperate post on things that have been proven to work with students who are easily distracted. When those classroom interventions show they are not successful, the next step in the process is NOT an IEP. Since ADD is a medical concern, the logical next step is for the child to be serviced and proctected under what is called a 504-plan. Just like an IEP, a 504 is a federally recognized, legally binding contract between the parent and the school, and it should lay out reasonable accommodations that your child is entitled to in order to help him or her be successful.
An IEP is advised for students with ADD only when other resources have proven to be 'not enough' to help the student. Some parents do want to jump straight into an IEP once the diagnosis of ADD is handed down by a doctor (and remember, schools cannot diagnose. This is not to say that teachers are incapable of noticing the behaviors associated with a student with ADD, but since ADD is often treated with medication, it is only diagnosed by a doctor). I would caution them to do this for the following reason.
The nature of an IEP basically states that for whatever reason, that child is "disabled". While that may be true, and again, in my years' of teaching, I have met students who were truly disabled by their condition, remember, no one wants to call a child disabled when he or she is not.. it feels wrong to educators, to parents and especially to the children affected.
So, the long and short of the question is this - can a child with ADD qualify for and receive Special Education servcies? Yes. However, as a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your child is successful in the LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT POSSIBLE before placing him or her in Special Education.
Educationally yours,
SpEd Guru
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