“504” plans have been so much a part of the school landscape for many years that we forget that the “504” did not originate with schools. 504 is part of the ADA legislation. The guiding principle of 504 is that reasonable accommodations would help to “level the playing field” for those with disabilities in the workplace or school.
The operative word is “reasonable.”
Many parents will come to me with reports from a variety of other professionals, containing 10, 20 or even 30 boilerplate recommendations to be incorporated in the child’s 504 plan. Usually my eyes start to glaze over after reading past canned recommendation number 5 or so.
What do you think is happening to the teacher when she looks at these recommendations? Right – glazed over eyes. It’s a prescription for doing none of the accommodations.
Even though you feel very armed and ready with your doctor’s multiple recommendations, the fact is the school will not be able to do a vast majority of what is being suggested.
My advice would be that you simplify things. Come up with two or three (at the most) really helpful things that you think your child’s teacher can do to help your child along. Come up with “reasonable” accommodations that help to make the road a little smoother for your child
Anything requested beyond three recommendations, the school will just be checking off boxes on a 504 template for you to sign and for the school to ignore, until the time that the 504 is to be “revisited” a year later for signing and ignoring.