504 not working

Ropefree

Banned
Just talked to the 504 specialist and went round the wheel again.
Now the question is offered: is straight A what the difficult child wants?
I am sick to death of the educators hedging on:
using testing to verify weither or not any meaningful change is evidenced
from the testing upon which the IEP was founded.

If there is NO CHANGE then the student remains a qualificant and the fact that the services have not been provided apropriately to his FAPE IDEA IEP
are evidenced.
If there is CHANGE then whatever the student now requires are balanced upon a new testing battery and not on
teacherwishfulneglect!

Chech this out the teachers are showing a trend to a cap level at the bottom tested abillity prior to ANY services whatsoever.

this implys that the result is the teacher have a lack of any motivation to engage the learner in an increased compitence. The low score remains the top level?
The gpa is going down each year a little more.
It is not a will of the learner issue. it is a practical abscence of the appropriate educational attention to the learners needs.
Again the central topic I am hearing is "a system" for the teachers to communicate the assignments in a timely manner to me (?)
What is missing is any effort at the school to bridge this tiny time need by a caring teacher to actualize the process to details for the completions as the teachers require to receive these to acquire the habits of academic excelence.

I understand the thinking to "let go and let the adolscent control his learning" we have so many youths hanging onto all manner of substances rather than to learn the skills to learn and move forward. My best assessment is that when adults "let go" and watch the many young people go into useless wastelands it is a form of neglect.

The communication has not been effeciant when e-mail and phone lines offer the teacher the almost immediate contact to home. what more advancement can be required befor the students in the rooms over seven hours each day are given the meaningful input for their educational achievement?
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
No disrespect intended Ropefree, but I'm not really following your post...... I don't really understand whether you are addressing a direct issue with your difficult child or special education in general. I'm finding the thoughts and points a little disjointed and difficult to follow.

If you are addressing the system in general, I would have to say that in order for the system to be successful you have to have a combination of involved and informed parents (sadly), educated and emphathetic teachers, and caring and experienced administrators and above. If one of these levels is missing, it's tough to get what the law dictates without battles. Unfortunately, there are more stories of subpar Special Education and battles with schools than there are successes on this board. But I can say that I have heard (and personally experience) of some real positive experiences with Special Education services from members of this site.

Sharon
 

Ropefree

Banned
Sharon: no disrespect received. apparently I am unable to communicate clearly and therefor others have no way of perceiving meaning through my use of writing.
Oh yes, I am very familiar with the challenge in the systems to create the
environment that meets learners needs. My personal time as well as the nonspecific
general issues.
But I do my best to place the matters in front of others who may take some time and interest and care.
My computer skill is poor and the fact the print does not stay in lines as I have typed them is a mystery.
But thanks Sharon, for letting me know that you find my communication is not clear to you and that you are unable to follow what I write.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
What I'm understanding is that you are frustrated that his GPA is slipping each year. And that the school seems to be lowering the standard for measuring his success each year, based on test scores for that current year, which have dropped from the year before?

If he has a 504 plan, it's not usually set up with measureable goals or achievement targets. At least in my experience, it's been more a document to specify what the school will do to support the student in his education. It doesn't guarantee performance. But if he is slipping in his grades, that should be an oppotunity to request a review of his plan to determine why he is struggling or not performing to the best of his abilities. The school may not have the answers. You may need to consult an outside professional.

That's sort of where I'm at with difficult child 1 right now. Trying to find out why he's been struggling in certain areas the past two years so that I can specify what I want the school to do for him in the way of accommodations. It may mean smaller classes or classes that are slower-paced.

I could be missing your point altogether, but that's what I'm hearing.
 

Ropefree

Banned
Gvcmom: It was the doe here, I was told, who required the switch from IEP to 504.
What I requested (since the appropriate re-evaluation by retest was appropriate) is to check by testing again wether the improvements were reflecting an actually increase in the area qualifying him for IEP.

In plain language: lets look.

Instead they insisted that the 'transition to college' would be better with the 504 and not IEP services, which they were not giving him in any meaningful way anyway. Poeticly the following quarter it was a class called transittion to high school in which the teacher brought the fact that the 504 labeled student is actually recieving zero accomidation (not unlike the IEP given what services were included were also ignored in a practical manner....ie. no conseling services although in the iep, no contacting me reguarding completions below the benchmarked level and in reality the only "service" was lip service when parent "team" member complains)...the signal or sign that the 504 means nothing whatsoever was the reciept of F in the quarter grade.

In meeting the teacher clarified that she had not taken any step in the 504. And she had the gaul to offer due to her student load she could do nothing.
Her ineptitude is seen in her meathod of merely flunking many students without taking any step to do her job and understand what HER problem is.

At that point the 504 specialist met with me and the ONLY solution was for me to contact her and recieve the weekly reporting and this by e-mail for teacher convieniance.

E-mailiing is not in my best interest as this meathod requires me to engage in a task that is not healthy for me due to my disablility. Hense it is both difficult due to lack of the fluidity of use and requires me to do this which is not beneficial to me it is determental.

This quarter the 504 speciallist was not available due to vacations, absences, and conferences to follow through with this hokey system for communicating the timely
info.

Also in October when things went hyewire on the homefront she was not available and so I went to the school and was provided information from the regular conselor.

In the school mind the special needs of a student who is functioning above the remenial level with an occational F is not a concern.

The fact that this Federal and lawful rights of disabilities is something of a large and
unhumorous joke is not my point.

Befor the winter break the contacting meathod was not workiing. My attempts were numorous and the effort did not prove to work. I obtained what was provided by meeting with the 504 specialist at the school and was shown glowing reports.
Just befor the break I got wind of an assignment critical to one subject contacted the teacher directly and was told she had to many students for her to offer the information on one.

The first weeks of the new year the 504 specialist did not gather the material as per the hokey 'plans' and I called her. Then she told me glow stories again. then she
sent the e-mail with the last semester final grades and these were not the glow worms of her prior statements. Instead the lessoned grade levels and lowering gpa.

I directed her attention to the lies. She then stated she wasn't lieing these were what the teachers had told her.

And she offered the idea that the grades now recorded are "what he earned" and that my expectations may not be what he wants.

What is wrong with this system is the idea that doing the actual fact based assessments and focusing the effort on what is needed for the learning subject of the process is not a matter of "wanting".

I think that the schools are abdicating their paid employment obligations to match these federal laws because the prevasive social disscussion pits "the taxpayer' against the "public free education system" and certainly any indivigule with a disability.

This student is not needing rocket science level attention. And to me that is especially telling. Academic excellence is learned behavior. And even when a student brings the abilities to learn to the picnic the educators who are unwilling or inept to the service of teaching are clearly visible. They are talking AROUND to problem and not engaging in sollution.

As a parent when I have placed so many calls, been to so many meetings, and made contact sometimes on a daily basis to motivate the school, teachers, conselors and these have the nerve to then both place the work of weekly gathering the assignment facts and grade facts and then THEY FAIL to either give the information, return the calls, do the work and they blame me, or they talk about
what the student wants, or they defer to lowering expectations.
 
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