Need a plan and info

[Bessie6]

I want to have some type of a plan in place at school for my 2nd grader. He is on medication, but this year his class is double the size and quite frankly I think he'll get lost in the shuffle. Where can I find information? I know there's IEP and 504 but no clue what the difference is. He was diagnosed through his pediatrician, but I can request the school screens him? Which should apparently be in writing but I don't understand what I should be putting in the letter and how the process works. Is this all the same no matter what state you live in or do things differ by state? We live in VT.

I feel so lost my son started school already being worried about falling behind like he did last year (he was finally diagnosed the last 1-2months of a school). I'm doing my best to reassure him that I'm here to help and I will be in touch with his teacher.

Thanks for your help!

[ChristinaReader]

Look up multidisciplinary evaluation request on the internet and you should be able to get the letter to send to his school. He should at least qualify for a 504 plan now you just need to ask the school to sit down and work out the details. I'm still navigating this stuff too but a good teacher-parent partnership can make all the difference. Good luck!

[Bessie6]

Thank you

[JDsmom]

You should send an email to the principal of the school requesting an educational and behavioral assessment be done on your child who has been diagnosed with ADHD. They have to respond to the request and schedule the assessments within a certain time frame. The process takes time, the sooner you get the email off the faster you can get help for your child! The school will then sit down with you and review the results and determine if he is eligible for a 504 or an IEP. 504 plans are for one diagnosis and it mostly provides in classroom support. IEP children typically have two, or one and they are falling behind. This is for in and out of class support. Develop a communicative relationship with his teacher they can be very helpful! I would recommend you try and find an educational advocate. They are experts with the school process and can guide you and make recommendations. They will even attend school meetings. Also, ask your pediatrician about getting an independent assessment done too! Typically those dig deeper and find other challenges that the school didn't' find! Good luck, this stuff isn't easy!

[Onthemove1971 in reply to JDsmom]

I would Also include some from especial esucation be involves with the procesa. Many times schools will hold an "SST" student study team and day they met the familias needs, unless the correct people are involves.

Just my experiences..

[Bessie6]

So I've had some time to look into this a little and I have a another question. From what I have read it seems like I am supposed to make the request if the student is struggling. Is that the case? I don't want to wait until he is struggling again because it is a process.

[ChristinaReader in reply to Bessie6]

There can be a need without failing grades or struggling. For instance my daughter was not able to complete her daily classwork and homework took three times longer than it should have. You don't have to document needs to make a testing request but having examples of work may help later when they are determining if he will get an IEP or 504. There is a lot of good information on Understood.org. Goodluck!