Successful 504!

[LNN]

Just came home from a very positive 504 review and had to share with people who'd understand.

DS was 6 when Pandas struck. In the two years since, we've battled with an arrogant school psychologist and insecure, controlling principal and we only begrudgingly given a 504 in May, one month before DS moved on to another school and they wouldn't have to deal with it.

 

Today, we had our 504 review with the new school. Night and day difference. They were interested, engaged, and genuinely cared about doing what was best for DS. The thing that really set the tone for the meeting was that I put 5 writing samples in front of them, all from the past 12 months. The night and day differences between exacerbation and good health were so striking (think of the drawing samples by the girl on Dr K's website) that the light bulb clicked for everyone in the room. I could have talked about Pandas and behaviors till the cows came home and they wouldn't have really understood. But those samples spoke volumes and let them see things they're trained to see. They could see b/d reversals, margin drift, loss of mid-line lettering - and suddenly we were on the same page. From there, they could extrapolate and start to see how every aspect of DS's behavior would be changed in an exacerbation and how it truly would have to a really flexible set of accommodations depending on where he was health-wise. They then understood how frustrating it must be for DS to know he was capable of X but only able to produce Y and how that would effect his self-esteem.

 

So I guess the moral of the story that I wanted to share was that if there's an aspect of your child's life where you can show the school examples over time, this seemed to be the key (plus now working with a far more agreeable group of people in general). I planned for this meeting the same way I've learned to approach doctors appointments - with visual examples and brief talking points. Wow - being understood - what a concept!

[kimballot]

You are a great Mom and a great communicator! Thank you for sharing your techniques with all of us!

[KaraM]

Awesome. You and your son deserve a response like this. Congratulations!

Kara

[JAG10]

Congratulations!

 

As someone who sits on the other side of that 504/IEP table everyday, I would agree visuals make a stronger impact, especially when you are talking about something not well known or accepted. I'm sure you are quite convincing!!! At least they didn't say...."So you want OT?"

[MomWithOCDSon]

Way to go, LLM! Persistence, resilience and resourcefullness will eventually triumph, and you've put all of those to good use for your DS!

 

And just to pile on here for good measure . . . writing samples seemed to "flip the light switch" for our DS this year, too, when we met with his teaching team at the top of the year. And then again at his IEP update meeting. I guess many adults aren't all that different from kids when it comes to the old addage, "A picture is worth 1,000 words!"

 

So, hang on to those writing samples, everyone! They really are powerful tools of persuasion!

[Megs_Mom]

Go LLM! You teach us all by your advocating examples. Congrats.