When Does Your Child Need a 504 Plan?   Frank Barnhill M.D.
 

Every year just after school starts, moms and dads of ADHD kids often ask, “Does my son (daughter) need a “504 plan” for this school year?  

The answer may surprise you, as sometimes, it’s no!

Your ADHD child must show a disability related to school and his or her ADHD. Usually, this means an educational specialist knowledgeable in the Disabilities Act Section 504 will need to evaluate your ADHDer and see if ADHD is causing problems in your child’s ability to learn and successfully navigate attending school in a manner similar to kids who are not ADHD. 

So, if your ADHDer is doing well in school without intervention, then she probably doesn’t need 504 accommodations. And quite frankly, you would not want her to have unnecessary changes in her school experience. We’ll cover this very important aspect of being your ADHD child’s advocate later.

Before we discuss whether your ADHDer needs a “504 plan” for this school year, let’s clarify a few key points about 504 plans:

• “504 plans” do not guarantee that a child will pass his or her current grade
• The plan only assures an ADHD child receives an opportunity to succeed academically based on modifications to his learning environment. If your child doesn’t study or participate, or you fail to help your child as a normal parent would, then the plan is not responsible, if they fail.
• While “504 plans” are federally mandated, they may differ in the way they are handled from state to state.
• You as their parent should request an evaluation of your ADHD child’s school performance in order to initiate the process. Federally funded schools are mandated to detect and make classroom and learning experience accommodations for identified children, but this process doesn’t always find 100% of affected kids.
• Let’s repeat that last statement; “Every school and educational program, whether private or public, that accepts federal funds should evaluate students for and accept 504 accommodations for ADHDers”.
• Section 504 doe not have provisions for removing a child from his classroom for individualized instruction or special classes
• And to emphasize our previous discuss, not every child will qualify for inclusion in a “504 plan”. The child’s ADHD must be shown to adversely affect his or her learning experience and social interactions at school. If the ADHDer only has problems at home then he will not qualify for the plan.

With these key points clearly in mind, let’s now take a look at things that would indicate an ADHDer needs a “504 plan”

.The obvious school problems are:

• failing grades and performing below grade expectations
• inability to focus and complete classroom work
• disrupting the classroom and interfering with other kids learning experience
• failure completing homework and assigned tasks
• poor test taking abilities, including failure to finish tests on time and failure to understand directions needed to complete a test
• anger outbursts and discipline problems at school

I’m sure none of these ADHD traits surprise you, but there are several more school related ADHD problems that may keep your ADHDer from succeeding in school:

• poor social skills resulting in difficulty with key social events such as making and keeping friends and interacting in school sports and field trips
• being unable (not unwilling) to take proper notes due to concentration and focus problems or poor handwriting skills
• problems expressing herself using either or both written or spoken words 
• failure to follow even simple rules to ensure safety and security (leaves school grounds without permission)
• gets stuck when moving from one classroom assignment to the next
• frequently loses things needed to do classroom work, such as pencils, paper and other materials

While there are probably many more school ADHD related problems that may cause your child to fail, these seem to be the most common related by parents and teachers. Now that you understand more about Section 504 of the disabilities act and behavior that could indicate a need for ADHD intervention, let’s discuss how to ask for help for your child.

A parent, teacher or any professional involved in your child’s academic or health welfare can ask for a “504 evaluation”. Usually, this is done through an educational specialist, such as the school psychologist and will require a parent’s participation.

How can you be sure your ADHD child is evaluated properly and receives classroom changes that would make him or her more likely to succeed in school?

• Find the most likely person at your child’s school willing to help you start the process. This is usually a guidance counselor or school district psychologist. Your child’s teacher can point you in the right direction.
• Do not expect immediate results! If you feel your child’s emotional or behavioral problem is urgent, they probably don’t need a 504 intervention. You need to see their family doctor and discuss a more appropriate rapid evaluation.
• Do not place blame! If you blame anyone, including yourself, it will be hard to communicate your child’s needs to others.
• Concentrate on seeking help in the subjects your child seems to be having the most problems with. Using the “shot gun approach” by saying, “He’s having problems in everything”, won’t work. That implies you don’t want to help solve the problems, instead you want someone else to do all the work.
• Try to involve your ADHDer as much as possible. After all, it’s his life and welfare we’re dealing with. Even grade school ADHD kids can tell when they’re in trouble and should have input into what happens.
• Do not expect your child to get out of doing homework or taking tests. You must be reasonable in your request to “level his school learning-playing field. It is not emotionally healthy for a child to expect to do less to get the same as other kids. This is very important as expecting less of ADHD kids can backfire and set them up for future failure in school, work and family life!!!!!!
• Key Point! Be very sensitive about telling others of your child’s ADHD. Some kids consider it embarrassing and even the smallest will suffer at the hands of friends and classmates when it is obvious they are different or being treated differently.
• You must be and must remain your ADHD child’s best advocate. You can’t simply “get the ball rolling and turn it over to them to make it work”. You must actively stay involved at all times. A lot of parents who successfully used 504’s to help their children become and remain and proper in school tell me that “it’s a lot more work than I thought it would be”.

If I can leave you with one very important point, here it is:

Be sure to continue your child’s 504 all the way through college if necessary. Of course, she will need to be re-evaluated each year to develop a new game plan, but the rewards will far out weight the efforts. Your overwhelming goal in evaluating, treating and loving your child as an ADHDer should be to provide him or her with the education, practical life experience, and emotional and physical skills needed to grow into a happy, productive, functional adult capable of independent living and living in a normal society.

Good Luck!

Dr. Frank

P.S. Please be sure to visit the number one on-line resource for helping improve your child’s grades and learning experience, Pat Wyman’s www.howtolearn.com.

Also if you’re interested in learning how to integrate your child’s learning skills with his or her visual and touch sensory traits and improve verbal skills at the same time, please take a look at Stephen Guffanti M.D.’s www.rocketphonics.com.

drhuggiebear, drhuggiebear.com and contained materials are the copyrighted and/or registered properties of Frank Barnhill, M.D. and may not be reproduced for profit without the express written permission of the author.  All materials may be photocopied in whole for educational use.  For information please contact us at drfrank@drhuggiebear.com.