[Excerpted from A PARENT'S GUIDE TO SPECIAL EDUCATION: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child by Linda Wilmshurt, Ph.D. ABPP and Alan W. Brue, Ph.D., NCSP. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of The American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. All rights reserved. www.amacombooks.org.]
The following excerpt is from Chapter 2, "Not All Roads Lead to Education Placement: The 411 on 504 Plans"
The accommodations required for a child vary based on the child's needs as well as strengths and weaknesses. In general, there is a common set of accommodations for children who have a particular disability. We will address some disabilities and include accommodations that may be helpful.
Asthma
Major Life Activity Affected: Learning- Provide rest periods.
- Share with school personnel the child's medical needs.
- Train appropriate school personnel to properly dispense medication and monitor for side effects (as needed).
- Develop health care and emergency plans (such as what to do when a child does not respond to medical intervention).
- Assist with inhalant therapy.
- Adjust schedule for administration of medications.
- Allow time to make up work when absent for medical reasons.
- Provide the child with peers who can carry books and other supplies as needed.
- Adapt activity level for recess, physical education, and other times as needed.
- Minimize allergens (such as perfume, cologne, lotions, paint) in the child's vicinity.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Major Life Activity Affected: Learning, and Possibly Social Skills- Provide appropriate staff training about ADHD.
- Place seat in close proximity to teacher; seat away from distractions.
- Provide the child with a peer helper for classwork and projects.
- School personnel should understand the child's potential need for excessive movement; giving the child an opportunity to stand and/or move while working.
- School personnel should understand the child's tendency to be inattentive; establish nonverbal cues between teacher and child to get his attention and increase on-task behavior.
- Post classroom rules and review on a regular basis.
- Reinforce the child when he displays appropriate behavior.
- Give a five-minute warning for a change in activity, so the child can begin to disengage from the task.
- Provide supervision during transition times (switching from one activity to another; moving from one class to another).
- Ask the child to restate directions.
- Assist the child with organizational strategies.
- Allow tests to be completed in several short testing sessions.
- Provide extended time to complete assignments and tests.
- Train appropriate school personnel to properly dispense medication and monitor for side effects (as needed).
Bipolar Disorder
Major Life Activity Affected: Learning- Provide appropriate training to staff on bipolar disorder.
- Implement a crisis intervention plan in case child is uncontrollable, impulsive, or dangerous.
- Immediately report any suicidal comments to the school psychologist, the school counselor, and the child's parents.
- Give the child advanced notice of transitions.
- Create strategies for handling unpredictable mood swings.
- Allow the child to complete difficult classwork at times when he is more alert.
- Provide extended time to complete assignments and tests.
- Monitor the child's understanding of directions.
- Break down assignments into manageable parts.
- Train appropriate school personnel to properly dispense medication and monitor for side effects (as needed).
Emotionally Disturbed
Major Life Activity Affected: Learning- Provide appropriate training to staff on emotional disturbance.
- Post classroom rules and review on a regular basis.
- Create effective behavior modification plans.
- The child's parents and teachers should work together to ensure that the behavioral interventions used at home and at school are monitored closely.
- Teachers must be consistent in setting behavioral expectations and following through on reinforcements/consequences.
- Create a behavior contract for the child.
- Ask the child to keep a daily journal to self-record behavior.
- Allow the child to participate in group counseling sessions with the school counselor or school psychologist.
- Train appropriate school personnel to properly dispense medication and monitor for side effects (as needed).
Epilepsy
Major Life Activity Affected: Learning- Provide appropriate training to staff on epilepsy.
- Train both staff and children on what to do in the event the child has a seizure.
- Observe for consistent triggers of seizures.
- Should seizures occur, document the characteristics of each seizure.
- Seat the child in an area where he will not be injured if a seizure occurs.
- Prepare an emergency plan should a seizure occur. For example: (1) protect the child from injury by clearing space around him; (2) ask other children to keep the area clear; (3) loosen tight clothing and protect the child's head from injury; (4) do not insert an object into the child's mouth; (5) if he is unconscious, place the child on his side to keep him from choking on vomit; and (6) stay with the child until he fully recovers.
- Do not allow him to be unsupervised, especially during physical education or field trips.
- Give the child time to make up any work he missed because of absence due to seizures.
- Train appropriate school personnel to properly dispense medication and monitor for side effects (as needed).
[Excerpted from A PARENT'S GUIDE TO SPECIAL EDUCATION: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child by Linda Wilmshurt, Ph.D. ABPP and Alan W. Brue, Ph.D., NCSP. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of The American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. All rights reserved. www.amacombooks.org.]
