504 Plan

[KRIS ATKINSON]

Thanks, Joe's mom. Kris

[KRIS ATKINSON]

I thought I would report what occurred to us regarding the 504 plan this week. Thank God for 504, by the way! We got the kids' progress reports, which are sent out 1/2 way through the quarter. My daughter had 2 zero's for assignments not handed in for science. She couldn't figure out what she had "forgotten" to do and we were stumped. My husband called the teacher and found out that he had handed the assignments out during the last 5 minutes of class when she had left early due to her 504 plan which prevents her from getting bumped between the about 1000 students in the high school hallway. He had forgotten to remove her scores from the grade book and promised he would remove them now. Erica has a habit of forgetting to hand it stuff over the years and we originally assumed she had the assignments in her notebook. Thankfully, we called to check on it and found out it was not her fault. This may bring her grade up to what is what we consider "doing her best", about a B in Science. Make sure you keep abreast of what your kids are "missing" during their early exit from class, those of you who get the 504 plan going. The plan is a lifesaver, by the way. Erica had assistance from another student between classes for the first probably month or 2 and used a wheelchair provided by the school. This was more comfortable for her back to sit in class and the other student was able to prevent people from knocking into her when they pushed her wheelchair from behind, in the early stages of post-surgery when she first went back to school. She started school about 7 weeks post-surgery, which was the first day of school this August, by the way. The wheelchair was a Godsend, as her "assistant" reported getting bumped in the shoulder as people had to work their way around them when they didn't leave class quite early enough to avoid all the rush. To think they could have been bumping her shoulder instead! Kris

[flowerpower]

Good things to keep in mind. I will need to get together with Joe's school/teachers probably early Dec. to set up a plan. I am anticipating him being able to return to school about 2-3 weeks after school returns from winter break. I am concerned how this might affect his biology grade. They have lab on Thursdays which cannot be made up, but the school will have to make some kind of accomodation/allowance, right? When I e-mailed his PE teacher informing her Joe would not be able to participate in PE for the rest of the year after returning from surgery and I inquired as to what modifications (or change in schedule) would be made for him, her response was that he could help her with certain things (which was good) and do "light to moderate STRETCHING and EXCERCISING I didn't even respond back, I figure we'll cross that bridge later.

KRIS, was there anyone from the doctor's office that helps you work with the school in setting up a plan or did you just need a doctors note? What will be done in case of an emergency? (evacuation, lockdown, etc.) My husband is really freaked out thinking about that in addition to passing btwn classes, lunch, etc. The high school is fairly large, somewhere around 1,500 kids.

Anyway, its good you're continuing to keep on top of things. Hope your daughter continues to do well. Keep us posted.

Renee

[KRIS ATKINSON]

I had the surgeon write a medical excuse and took it to the school to be filed with the 504 plan. It was required by the 504 plan administrator at the school. I am fortunate in that most of our teachers were aware of the existence of the 504 plan when we informed them at open house. We wanted to make sure it was being enforced in each classroom, and not just filed away in the office. All teachers were eager to allow her and a buddy to leave 5 minutes early, use the wheelchair as desired, etc. Call your doctor to get the note, and, of course, make a photocopy before you give it to the school. Good luck! Also, I found out some buses have a few seats with seatbelts apparently. If I felt the great urge to spin some bearucratic wheels for the rest of the year (LOL) then I might try to get Erica assigned to one of the belted seats instead of driving her to and from school while her fusion becomes solid this year. That is why I drive her now, and the bumps that are worse on a bus than in the car. Kris

[flowerpower]

Buses aren't an option for our high schoolers, so I will be driving Joe regardless. That's fine with me though, I've been lucky enough to drive him (and siblings) since he was in kindergarten - besides, what on earth would I do with that extra hour LOL

Yeah, I am certainly going to meet with all the teachers and various school people to ensure things go as smoothly as possible. They all seem really nice so far and I feel fairly confident they will do whatever is necessary for Joe - I think they just don't realize how serious the surgery is, that it entails more than placing some rods to hold spine straight. We should be hearing from doctors office soon anyway, they said 2 mos. before surgery date to get the process started. So I guess in a couple of weeks we may really actually (have to) get the ball rolling on this

Renee

[Joe's Mom]

My son has a 504 plan this year. At first, the school led me to believe it would be initiated by the doctor. That was incorrect information (maybe I just misunderstood them). At any rate, I did need to have medical documentation for the reasons behind having a 504, but otherwise, it was a document initiated and drawn up by the school.

You can request that your school begin the process for a 504 plan at any time (just like you would request an IEP process begin if academic issues were at play). They will have you sign paperwork to begin the process and meetings will be scheduled.

By law, every school district has to have a 504 Chairperson.

Now in my case, some folks at the school were less well versed than others, but I found that the Director of Special Education for our district was not only the 504 Chair but also very knowledgable about 504 and IEP issues.

It wasn't difficult to work out once I got them to act. And the doctor/medica people aren't really involved beyond providing documetation and information.

[flowerpower]

Thanks for the input, I think I will contact the school in the next week or two to at least start the paperwork process. The only administration person I have spoken with so far is my son's counselor, so I will make a point of asking for a meeting with the 504 Chairperson.

Another question: you mentioned an IEP - what is this, and will I need to utilize this if Joe run's into any academic difficulties b/c of his surgery?

Thanks,

Renee

[KRIS ATKINSON]

Ask the EC department or the coordinator for the 504 plan about the IEP vs 504 plan. My school has separate divisions for each. The IEP (Individual Education Plan) is handled by the EC department. My daughter has an IEP for Speech at the moment and has in the past had an IEP for Learning Disabilities. She also has a 504 plan for post-surgery during this school year. The IEP is generally for disabilities that affect the ability to learn in education, such as the need for longer test taking time or for a test to be given orally or whatever, to accomodate the educational needs of the child. The 504 plan is usually for physical accomodations, I think. My daughter needs the speech assistance for her educational needs, and the 504 for her physical needs temporarily: extra set of books, things to prevent further injury by avoiding crowds, etc. She does not need educational accomodations for her post-surgery, just physical changes. I think that is the difference. To get an IEP it is also required to be evaluated for that need by special tests that qualify the student in that area. My daughter became disqualified for Learning Disablilities last year, as her tests showed she no longer had the discrepancy in test scores to qualify as Learning Disabled. All you need for 504 is a doctor prescription requiring accomodations post-surgery, no testing is needed. Kris

[flowerpower]

Thanks, I have printed out this thread so I can start making a detailed list of things to present and refer to when dealing with the school. I will let you know how things work out once we get this started.

Take care,

Renee

[Joe's Mom]

An IEP is used when a child has an educationally handicapping condition . . . like a Learning Disability or Mental Retardation. IEP's are used to direct speech therapy services, learning support services, and special education classroom placements. Sometimes kids with IEP's also have orthopaedic problems and these issues can be added to the IEP if one exists.

For kids who do not have educationally handicapping conditions that require an IEP but end up having issues related to their orthopaedic condition (also applies to kids with psychiatric issues, behavior issues, health issues where an educationally handicapping condition doesn't exist) a 504 Plan is used.

The 504 Plan has actually been around for a long time . . . it just hasn't been used much.

Unless your child needs an IEP because of something like a learning disability, all you really need to address the orthopaedic issues is a 504 plan.

[flowerpower]

I'll start with the 504 plan. Hopefully that will address whatever needs come up.

Thanks,

Renee

[Cheryl M]

504 plan

I'm going next week for Briann's 504 plan. Just wanted to say thanks for all the suggestions in this post. I plan to ask for it all. She is in a small school and I'm sure they will work with me but my worry is next year in high school where there's 2500 students. I still don't want her carrying textbooks home.

Thanks again and let me know if there are any more suggestions on what is needed in the 504 plan.

Cheryl

[KRIS ATKINSON]

Cheryl, I'm not sure if we included fire drills, etc., in Erica's plan. She ended up in them before we knew it. I'm not sure if you can really enforce getting certain kids out of the classroom 5 minutes before emergency situations, anyway. After all, a drill is a preparation for a time when the teachers don't have any "notice" to prepare for the emergency. That can be a rush in the hall that you might think of a way to avoid. The main thing is to have someone available at all possible times to walk behind Briann when she ends up in a congested situation. It's hard to monitor that though if the real thing happens: a fire or whatever, so I didn't insist on it in the 504 plan, but you may want to consider that. Erica did use the school's wheelchair for about a month, with a student assigned (or volunteered) to escort her 5 minutes before class changes. It was confusing for people to see her in the wheelchair, knowing she could walk, but it saved Erica's back from strain of walking distances by the end of the day and the chair back was more comfortable that the wooken backs in chairs in class. She now uses a cushion which she carries everywhere. Good luck! Kris

[ProudParents]

Kris,

We thought of having Lisa use a cushion when she returns to school. Can you tell me what type of cushion Erica carries with her?

Jane

[ProudParents]

We have just got our 504 plan approved and signed off yesterday for our daughter's return to school. The school agreed to everything that was requested. Below is a letter that we submitted during our meeting with the school administrators. Most of the info we obtained from this thread.

Basis of Necessity for 504 Plan

The basis of our 504 plan request is to address the needs of Lisa (last name) for her disability created by a surgical procedure to treat her medical condition of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. We greatly appreciate your time and efforts in helping Lisa get through her recovery with a successful outcome. Her surgery is scheduled for October XX, 2005, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and will require a normal hospital stay of 5 to 7 days. Patients are generally permitted to attend school 4 to 8 weeks after surgery, sometimes starting with half days. Lisa will still be recovering from surgery long after she reenters school.

Lisa’s surgery will consist of a spinal fusion with instrumentation. The procedure involves a posterior incision, stripping the muscles and ligaments from 13 vertebrae and exposing raw bone, removing bone sections from 4 ribs, and using the rib bone to pack around the vertebrae to enable the 13 vertebrae to fuse together. The vertebrae must be held in a fixed position to allow the bone to fuse together. This stabilization of the spine is accomplished by a stainless steel construct consisting of numerous screws and two vertical rods. The fusion of the bone occurs in stages and is complete after two years. The modern instrumentation holds the spine fairly stable during the critical fusion process so a post-surgical brace is generally no longer prescribed, but precautions must be taken to avoid disturbing the fusion area. Pain is initially controlled with morphine-like drugs, followed by oral narcotics, and then over-the-counter pain medications.

Several aspects of Lisa’s recovery will require conditions to be addressed in the 504 plan:

 The fused spine must avoid any type of impact during the critical fusion process.
 There will be restrictions for bending, lifting, turning, and climbing stairs.
 The trauma of such a serious surgery will cause fatigue and weakness.
 The realignment of the spine will cause imbalance.
 Medications may need to be administered.
 The newly installed instrumentation will cause irritation and discomfort.
 The disturbed muscles and bone will cause pain and discomfort.

In order to address the above conditions associated with Lisa’s recovery, we ask for the School Administrators’ suggestions, and have developed a list based on our ideas, doctors’ recommendations, and suggestions from the Scoliosis Research Society. All items are open for discussion, with considerations for practicality and feasibility. It is not our desire to disrupt the school day, so special rules will only be used when necessary and will never be abused. The requirements developed in this 504 plan are based on the expected outcome of the surgery. Unanticipated complications may need to be addressed by revising the plan accordingly or by developing a new plan. Also, most restrictions are lifted as the recovery progresses, but some restrictions, such as avoiding contact sports, may be permanent. It must be realized that the guidelines established in the 504 Plan must be strictly adhered to and that not following the guidelines could have a permanent detrimental effect on Lisa’s well-being.


Requirements to be included in the 504 plan:

1. Provide a hallway pass to allow Lisa to arrive in class a few minutes late to avoid the crowded hallway rush.
2. Provide an elevator pass.
3. Provide a buddy classmate to help Lisa with her notebooks.
4. Have the ability to go to the nurse for medication or as Lisa deems necessary.
5. Provide two sets of books, one for home and the other to be kept in class.
6. Have the ability to stand up in class if sitting proves to be too unbearable.
7. Allow padding or a pillow for her chair if the instrumentation is uncomfortable to lean against.
8. Provide an end or top locker.
9. To be taken from the class before a fire drill.
10. Provide a seat at the front of the bus.
11. No participation in bus evacuation drills.
12. No participation in Gym. Lisa will be seeing a physical therapist who will instruct her on appropriate strengthening exercises.
13. Provide a home tutor for Lisa when she is recovering at home.
14. Lisa may first return to school for half days until her health improves as determined by her doctors.
15. Promptly supply the packets of the necessary schoolwork. We ask that the teachers please summarize the work so that it may be performed in a reasonable amount of time. It is unreasonable to expect that a recuperating patient will have the ability and time to complete every missed class assignment and all missed homework. If the amount of missed work is overwhelming for Lisa, the teachers and administrators in authority shall, at the parents’ request, arrange a meeting with the parents and Lisa to review the work and agree to a reasonable alternative plan. Missed schoolwork shall be turned in at an appropriate time based on the parents’ and doctors’ judgement balancing rest and work. No penalties for late work will be assessed when the reason for lateness was directly related to Lisa’s recovery.
16. The extended absence for Lisa’s scoliosis surgery recovery shall not count as part of the total absences allowed before medical documentation is required for each subsequent absence, resulting in an unfair hardship for Lisa.

Lisa has an excellent outlook on life. She is confident that she can overcome her spinal problems and actually gain from this traumatic experience. With compassion and assistance from the XXXX High faculty, we are certain that Lisa can succeed. We deeply appreciate all the help that you can provide.

We request that this document, titled Basis of Necessity for 504 Plan, become an attachment to the 504 Plan on this 17th day of October, 2005.

___________________ __________________
Mark XXXX (Parent) Jane XXXX (Parent)