504 plan and denied honors class accommodations

Parents Forum Learning Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD
1

DD has social anxiety disorder/depression and has a 504 plan that states no speeches as an accommodation(she is in therapy and we are hoping it will only be an accommodation this year). Her English honors teacher is stating that public speaking is a component of class and she will not be in compliance of district standards so will give zeros if DD does not participate. She recommends DD takes regular English because they will have to accommodate and honors does not. True or not true? If not true, where to find info to get compliance of 504 plan.
p.s. DD is in all honors classes and English is the only class balking at accommodations.
p.s.s. DD chose the honors classes not me and she is qualified to take them.

Any help is appreciated, as I am brand new to 504 plans.

2

I’m really sorry that you and your daughter are having a rough experience.

Contact the Special Ed office for help. A 504 is part of a federal plan. You dd should not be forced to take another class because the teacher “doesn’t want to deal with an accommodation”. Your dd shouldn’t be forced to do anything that will trigger her anxiety.

I would suggest that you make a suggestion (“accommodation”) to that teacher, who obviously doesn’t know anything about a 504, that your child be allowed to be a part of a team whereby another student does the presentation or to allow your child to present her task on a video or powerpoint. A number of our teachers allowed our kiddos to present their projects by video. That way, it was “fair” for everyone. The videos were often taken at home, in a relaxed environment. (Then have her write a college essay on hurdles she’s faced and how she problem solved).

I have never, ever heard of a class not accommodating students with needs. I had a deaf student, with social anxiety, who had AP English classes. They paired her with another student (who did the speaking) and he used her written script for the powerpoint.

3

aunt bea,

Thanks so much for you time. She is using this phrase

“… A public entity also may not impose or apply eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or any class of individuals with disabilities from fully and equally enjoying any service, program, or activity, unless such criteria can be shown to be necessary for the provision of the service, program, or activity being offered.”

from Dear Colleague Letter: Access by Students with Disabilities to Accelerated Programs

saying that giving a speech is a criteria that is necessary for the provision of the service.

any ideas? thanks.

4

Very nice quote!
Get the VP on staff involved. The on-site psych should also help. I wouldn’t, however, want the teacher to penalize your child; also, make sure you keep copies of everything.

If the teacher does give your daughter a hard time, you would have a legitimate complaint to the school district.

5

aunt bea,

Staff is mulling situation. In the meantime, does ‘very nice quote’ mean nice try or they have a valid reason to keep her out of honors?

From initial response, they are going to side with teacher. This would be devastating to DD because all her friends are in this class. Friends are very important to someone with SAD and not easy to make. It is a disaster either way to her.

Thanks again.

6

I have no advice but I do have lots of sympathy for you and for your daughter. It’s probably mean of me to say, but I hope karma comes around and takes a big bite out of that teacher.
I could see her point if this was a public speaking class. An honors English teacher should be able to come up with a reasonable compromise that accommodates your daughter while still challenging her at the level the other kids are being challenged. Fair doesn’t have to be the same.

7

Thank you mom2twogirls! I appreciate your response, I needed a little sympathy today. Here’s to karma.

8

The teacher’s interpretation of that clause strikes me as not true to the spirit of the law at all and in any case, it is not the teacher’s job to decide which accommodations are reasonable - once they are in your IEP by law they have to be adhered to. She can’t pick and choose and she can’t get in trouble for not being compliant if there is a written legal accommodation. That’s BS.

I agree fair does not have to be equal/same. My daughter had to leave school due to anxiety and depression for a semester and she was allowed to do her presentation via video, and if your daughter can manage that, it does seem fair. She could maybe even tolerate being in the room when the video is played and be available for questions? But she should not be penalized for a disability. If your daughter has an assigned counselor - someone on the child study team for example - this is the person who can best mediate for you - teachers listen to their fellow teachers more readily than parents sometimes. If that person is not available, go to the head of special education at your school, next is principal and finally if all that fails, you can contact the child study team in your county. If you still don’t have a resolution, you can hire a special ed lawyer to write the school - this can get quick results! But it’s expensive and it’s always better to work within the school system until you have exhausted all options I think especially if this is a single issue and other teachers are on board and reasonable.

Anxiety is hard for “outsiders” to understand and it sounds as if this teacher has not been trained (or she’s just a jerk). When you are anxious, your ability to process and therefore to learn shuts down completely in these moments and your"fight or flight" reflex takes over. It’s like a deer in the headlights - and it is deeply frightening to some and it takes time to overcome and this is why the accommodation exists.

9

:bz Have you ever heard of the American Disabilities Act that requires schools to offer whatever a student with LD needs. Colleges are required to get note takers, readers etc, so you are saying HS are not. Read more about the act, you might be suprised as to what schools are required to offer students with different needs and have been identified with a test like the one for an IEP or 504.

10

@Michael Robison -

The schools aren’t required to offer whatever a student needs. They are required to offer reasonable accommodations for identified conditions. All 4 of my sons are/were classified and my only D became a special ed teacher. I have spent 22 years in the system trying to get the services and accommodations my kids need(ed) and not always succeeding.

As for the OP -

I completely understand the frustration of not being able to take an honors level class because of LD issues. My 2 youngest sons both had to drop AP Euro and APUSH because their dyslexia made it too difficult to read and write that amount of material on a daily basis. Here, however, it seems that the teacher is being unreasonable. Permitting the girl to pre record her presentations and then show them to the class seems reasonable. Perhaps the teacher is afraid that other kids will want the same treatment, which is not an unreasonable concern.

11

If she is taking a class in English, and in an honors program at that, I suspect that speaking is considered an integral part of the task (as would be writing). Therefore, a reasonable accommodation at the college level would not include not speaking.

12

If that is an accommodation in the 504 plan then it should be followed. If the teacher thinks an accommodation isn’t lawful, reasonable, etc., she needs to go through the proper process vs simply declaring she disagrees/won’t do it. 504 has legal protections and a process. I would start with your 504 coordinator at the school or district level.

If necessary, you can also seek an advocate. In my community, you can hire a private advocate or contact an area non-profit for volunteer advocates who are well versed on 504.

My child has a 504 plan and takes some honors classes.

13

@rockhoundmom I am sorry that it happened to your DD. I agreed with @techmom99 that ADA may not help you. However, if you want to pursuit, I suggest you look into 504, I think the school is supposed to provide reasonable accommodation so that your DD can access the curriculum as adequately as her non-disabled peers.

IMO, just because the teacher decided the criterion it does not mean that it is not discriminatory… I assumed, once upon a time, someone decided that the criteria that one had to be white in order to sit in the front of a bus.(please excuse my recollection of the history)

Do you have the teacher’s recommendation that regular class has to accommodate and honor does not? If not, ask for a copy of the policy in writing… if you were to look into the USOSEP letter they referred to, you will see that Honor and AP classes are regular classes, hence they cannot say they only accommodate in regular classes but not Honor…

If it were me, I would ask for the curriculum for both classes, call for a meeting and ask for what a typical day in the honor class look like and the type of homework so as to identify what accommodations are needed.
If I were to file a complaint, I would ask for a copy of their policy and criteria for attending the class in writing…I will look into how they can exclude a group of students solely because of their disabilities.

14

If the school backs the teacher up, I would file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights, appeal the decision to the school district, and perhaps get a lawyer. Kids with a disability should not be denied access to honors level classes if they can do the academic work. I find her position that public speaking is “an eligibility criteria” that is necessary to the provision of Honors English to be ridiculous. Your child is not trying to take a public speaking, drama, or debate class. This teacher may like having a performance component to her class to help kids learn to give a presentation (i.e., a good job skill), but it is not necessary to teaching English, much less honors English. This is exactly the kind of “access” issue that the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act are meant to address. What if your child was a physical mute? Would this teacher take the same position and bar your child from the class? Just because your child’s disability is a “mental” one, suddenly no accommodation is reasonable.

15

@GABaseballMom That would depend if the AP course syllabus, approved by college board, requires public speaking. If it does not, then the teacher cannot force the student to give a presentation. If, however, the AP course description(found online) does include public speaking, then, Yes, the teacher is in the right.

16

@APChemteach That does not sound right to me. How can the college board override federal disability law? The exam itself allows accommodations, so I’d like to see where in the college board website it says the AP classroom is prohibited from offering 504 accommodations.

17

I understand that your daughter receives accommodations under a 504 plan that includes waiving oral presentations as an accommodation for severe anxiety. Your daughter attends honor classes because anxiety does not adversely impact her firstacademically in high level classes.
There are two pairs of laws.

The first pair is the IDEA and an area of Section 504 that are applicable to students before high graduation. The IDEA provides special education and related services to children whose disability results in a severe academic impact. The 504 parallel (d or e or close) provides accommodations to children whose disabilities requires accommodations, but there is no adverse impact.

The IDEA further distinguishes between accommodations and modifications. Accommodations are traditional such as extended time, multiple day testing, extra breaks, reader, scribe, assistive technology, but are much less likely to change the essential demands of the task. Modifications are alterations that change test criteria fundamentally. Modifications include do overs, question clarification, reducing the choices from 4 to 2 on multiple choice questions, hints, explanations and reteaching, changing grading criteria, and other changes that significantly change the task to something easier. For example, some children may receive extensive modifications that allow them to earns A grades on easier exams.

The ADA, as amended, and the appropriate part of Section 504 evaluate persons with disabilities are evaluated against the same requirements as persons without disabilities. In college admissions, applicants with disabilities are held to the same requirements as other applicants. Students with disabilities maybe accommodated by extended time and other accommodations that
compensate for aspects of the the functional limitation of the disability.

I think you may be caught between a rock and a hard place. The ADA describes a student or adult to be otherwise qualified for admissions, employment, and so on. If a requirement for a class is waived, the student is not otherwise qualified. Accommodations for you student might include giving the speech to the teacher only, records or videotapes the speech, give it to a small group of friends. Waiving the speech is not a accommodation but a significant change in grading requirements. Neither the ADA or adult portion of Section 504 do not guarantee an outcome.

None of the laws guarantees academic success, but the IDEA probably comes closest. I think you student must attend the led rigorous class without public speaking or give the speech to someone that allows the teacher to evaluate and grade your student.

18

Can you ask if the oral presentation can count for a smaller percentage of her grade? (In other words, she does it… but it counts less or not at all for her final grade, so that she is less anxious about the stakes but shows that she is willing to push herself way beyond her comfort zone for the class?)

19

Or to have her do her oral presentation in front of the teacher, only, and not the whole class? Or submit a video of the presentation so she can record herself doing it? (Whichever feels challenging but not impossible…)

20

I would ask to speak with the 504 compliance officer in the school. I would tell them exactly what is going on. Your child should not be denied an honors level class because of their disability. It’s is grounds for an OCR complaint. And no school wants OCR coming in. It is a major pain! Make sure you go up the chain of command. Involve the principal and then the superintendent. But absolutely reach out to the 504 compliance person!!