School/Special Education Misc

Parents will come to me loaded with terms that are only partially understood.

Let’s look at one of the common ones – “504’s.”

I will hear things like,

“We just need to get him a ‘504.’ We just want to get him the help that he needs so he can start reading better.”

Even if you are able to obtain a 504 Plan, that does not result in giving the child the “help that he needs.”

A 504 provides some accommodation, such as extended time, support with directions, sitting the child near the front of the room, but it does not provide any service or intervention.

504 Plans originated from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  The law provided workplace accommodations to those with a disability in an effort to help, “level the playing field.”

In effect, a 504 minimized handicapping conditions in the workplace.

Since the mid-1990s 504 legislation increasingly found its way into the schools.

The notion of the 504 is that the child identified by an outside professional as having a disability necessitated developing reasonable accommodations so that the child could function as free as possible of the handicapping barriers  in the mainstream setting.

In other words, the 504 provided the handicapped child with equal access to the mainstream.

The fact of the matter is, that the vast majority of 504 plans in the schools are written for children “diagnosed with ADHD.  In most states ADHD is not a classification in special education code. In other words, even if a physician or some other such professional has identified ADHD this does not generate an Individualized Education Plan (i.e., IEP) in special education.

(OK, I can feel your eyes rolling over already, so I will stop here and continue with Part II next week.)

Takeaway Point

504 Plans do not offer services. A 504 provides accommodations, not interventions.

Copyright, 2022 www.shutdownlearner.com

Questions or comments email Dr. Selznick:  rselznick615@gmail.com

Odn any given week parents will come in seeking my advice about their struggling child.  Invariably they bring in work samples from the child’s school work.

As they tell the stories and show me what’s being asked of their child, I can literally feel my “CM” (Cranky Meter) rising and I think to myself, “It’s a good thing I meditate.”

One of the things that makes me particularly cranky is the way mathematics is taught.

Having never been a particularly good mathematics student myself, I think I would be in a state of total panic the way children are asked to manage math.

Not sure when the reverence for word problems emerged, but it seems that children are almost exclusively taught math through math word problems.  I believe it’s linked to the theory promulgated about 20 or so years ago that math should always be enhancing “higher order thinking,” which is embodied in the word problems.

Let’s look at, Chris age 7, a second grader who is a given a worksheet with 10 problems like:

“Winnie counts the oranges she picks.  Winnie counted between 400 and 500 oranges.  The number of of oranges is an odd number.  The number of oranges is the sum of two of the numbers below.  (Show your work.”)

137                  258                  114                  164                  281

 After Chris muddled through the ten problems with no idea what he was doing, at the top of the page was a grade of  “56% –  F”.

Keeping in mind the fact that Christ doesn’t know what a percent is or what the % sign means or even what an  “F” represents, there’s also another  point to consider just using this problem as an example.

Within this particular problem above, Chris also had no idea what an “odd number” was or the meaning of the word “sum.”

These words meant nothing to him.

Beside the math word problems, Chris has  very limited  reading skills.  So, giving him one math word problem after another is doing nothing for his “higher-order thinking or his basic math skills.

Takeaway Point

My “CM” is ringing off the hook.

I need to meditate more.

Copyright, 2022 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or comments email Dr. Selznick:  rselznick615@gmail.com.

Probably not a week goes by where I don’t hear stories of parents frustrated that their struggling child is not receiving any services.  At least in New Jersey, this is often because of the child’s overall FSIQ (i.e., Full Scale Intelligence Quotient).

Without being told this directly, a child is often ineligible for services because the IQ is simply too low for there to be a big enough discrepancy between the IQ and the weak reading, spelling and writing skills.

Federal special education code within IDEA (Individuals with Disability Education Act) makes no reference to the FSIQ:

Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

(ii) Disorders not included. Specific learning disability does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Regardless, in many states there seems to be a notion that each child has a number stamped in his/her brain that determines whether a child will be seen as eligible  or not for services.

One can almost imagine a long line of struggling children who are going to be either offered services or not.

Each child’s number is reviewed:

“OK…kids…step forward…we need to check the number in your head.  Let’s see.  This one has a 92.  That score’s in the lower portion of the average range, the 32^nd percentile…there’s probably not going to be much help for you.  Next up!  Here’s a 103.  That’s a little higher in the average range.  Maybe you’ll get something if your reading is bad enough.  Uh, oh, here comes a tough one, an 85 – that’s the 15^th percentile. Sorry, not likely to be much help for you.  Oh good, here comes a 115, the 85^th percentile.   You’re really smart.  I bet you’ll get help.”

Even though parents are not told this as bluntly or directly, the message for those on the lower side of the curve is, “We’re sorry, but state regulations are such that there has to be this very large discrepancy between the number that’s stamped in your child’s brain and his reading score. Otherwise, you’re just out of luck.”

In other words, a child is often held hostage to his/her IQ.

We need to face that no matter the number in the child’s head, struggling is struggling.

When a child is a weak swimmer struggling in in the deep end, we don’t just shrug and say, “oh well.”

We take the child to the shallow end and teach him how to swim.

Copyright, 2021 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or topics email Dr. Selznick.  Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com.

When children are assessed for special education typically they are given a test called the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – V (WISC –V).

Within the WISC-V there are seven subtests that comprise an overall score called the Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ).  The subtests tap different skill domains, such as verbal and spatial functioning, active working memory and processing speed.

Most of the time children with learning issues display a wide range of variability on these domains, often being well above average on one or two tasks, while well below average on others.

In order for children to be classified (that is receive an IEP), there needs to be a very significant discrepancy between the FSIQ and a composite score in an academic domain.

Some states have set a 22 point discrepancy in order to receive any help.

This 22 points standard is very tough to obtain.

Let’s take scenario #1 with 8 year old Brody, a child who is struggling in reading and spelling.  Upon being tested his FSIQ came up above average   (FSIQ = 110, 70^th %ile),  while reading came in well below average (Reading Composite = 82, 12^th %ile).

With this 28 point discrepancy, Brody was offered direct services to remediate his reading.  Everyone smiled around the table, shaking hands when his IEP was written and signed.

In scenario #2,  Ava, also age 8 and struggling with reading, had a broad range of variability in her intelligence test profile.  With verbal intelligence  above average,  other areas were below.  Putting the scores  together to derive an overall score, she came up in the lower portion of the average range (FSIQ = 93, 27^th %ile).

Even though Ava’s functioning in reading was at the exact same level as Brody’s (Reading Composite = 82, 12th %ile), Ava’s parents were told her 11 point discrepancy made her ineligible to receive any services.

There was nothing that would be done for her.

Case closed.

You can imagine how the mood was around the table.

There was no smiling or shaking of hands.

Copyright, 2021 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or topics email Dr. Selznick.  Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com.

Recently an email came to us from the Maroochydore High School in Queensland, Australia.  Included in the email was an audio phone message.

The school staff had voted unanimously to record the  message on the school’s  answering machine.

The message came about because the school implemented a policy requiring students to be responsible for their children’s absences and missing homework.

As it was explained, the school and teachers were being sued by parents  requesting  that their child’s failing grades be changed to passing grades, even though the children were absent 15-30 times (pre-coronavirus) during the semester and did not make up enough of the work from what  they had missed to get passing grades

Recognizing that humor can be tricky (one person’s funny is another person’s offense), the following transcription of the phone message is cautiously offered:

“Hello, you have reached the automated answering service of your school.  In order to assist you in connecting you to the right staff member, please listen to all of the following options before making your selection.”

•   To lie about why your child is absent, Press 1.
•   To make excuses for why your child did not do his homework, Press 2.
•   To complain about what we do, Press 3. 
•   To swear at staff members, Press 4.
•   To ask why you didn’t get information that has already been enclosed in your newsletter and several fliers that have been mailed to you, Press 5.
•   If you want us to raise your child, Press 6.
•   If you want to reach out, slap or hit someone, Press 7.
•   To request another teacher for the third time this year, Press 8.
•   To complain about bus transportation, Press 9. 
•   To complain about school lunches, Press 0.

If you realize the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his or her behavior, classwork and homework and it’s not your teachers’ fault for your child’s lack of effort, please hang up and have a nice day.”

 Takeaway Point

Pretty funny.

Hope you are laughing too.

This is a follow up to a recent blog post – “Back in the Zone (of No Zone): Back in the Zone (of No Zone).

Parents frequently talk to me about their frustration (insistence) that schools diagnose their child’s  dyslexia (or other learning disorders for that matter).

One of my favorite books in the field, “Dyslexia Advocate:  How to Advocate for a Child Within the Public School System,” by Dr. Kelli Sandman-Hurley, comments on this.

As she notes:

“School districts do not diagnose anything.  They don’t diagnose ADHD, autism, dyslexia, nothing.   It may seem as if they do because we tend to hear the terms autism and ADHD thrown around in meetings all the time, but they cannot diagnose those qualifying conditions either.  They can only determine eligibility under specific eligibility categories.  In the case of dyslexia, they will be looking at the specific learning disability (SLD category.”

Something that is a common occurrence will be a parent bringing testing to me that was conducted by the school special education team.   Numbers will jump out at me suggesting weaknesses, “red-flags” and even indicators of “dyslexia” or related learning disorders.

Yet, to the consternation of the parents quite often they are told that the child is not eligible for an IEP and will not be getting any services.

Each state and, to my knowledge, each school district interprets the federal code differently as to what leads to eligibility.

As Dr. Sandman-Hurley states:

“To qualify for special education services, the child must meet two requirements, which is the two-pronged approach to eligibility.  First, the child must have a disability and show the need for services.  In other words, just because a student has dyslexia (or any other disability) does not mean they automatically qualify for services.  Second, it must be shown that the child needs services in order to succeed in the general education classroom.”

In New Jersey, for example, there is an emphasis on the child’s Full Scale Intelligence Quotient or “FSIQ” in determining eligibility.  A statistically significant discrepancy must be shown between the FSIQ and the overall score in academic achievement (typically reading).

Infuriating and puzzling as this may be to parents, children showing signs of “dyslexia” or reading/learning disabilities often  do not have such a discrepancy in their assessment, and therefore they will not be receiving services.

Even if the child is found to be eligible for services, rarely is the child given what is called “direct instruction with multisensory methodologies,” which research and clinical experience show to be the most effective in remediating the deficiencies.

More commonly, the child is given, “In-Class Support,” which is much harder to define than direct instruction.  In-Class Support is the equivalent of having an adult in the deep end of the pool to keep an eye on the weak swimmers to make sure they don’t drown.

This is not teaching the child to swim.

My best advice to parents in this situation is to “bite the bullet” and seek services outside of the school.  While it may not be ideal, more and more providers of these methods are starting to report offering such instruction on-line with reasonable effectiveness.

This recommendation puts you more in the driver’s seat.  You can choose to take an effective action step, rather than remain in the  passive  position of hoping that the school will step-up.

Takeaway Point

Schools don’t diagnose.  They determine eligibility for an IEP.  Even if you obtain an IEP, it does not mean your child will receive direct instruction.

Take effective action on your own.

When a children have a learning disability like dyslexia, typically this impacts their reading fluency, spelling and writing.  For those who have been “diagnosed” as ADHD/ADD their central features are distractability, inattentiveness and impulsivity.

Quite often children have combined features from both of these syndromes.

As I noted in recent blogs (see recent posts on “504 & You” and “Accommodations ‘R’ Us” (Recent Blog Posts,) a top accommodation is to give such children “extended time.”

Most of the kids I see have no interest in “extended time,” even though behind the scenes there is much negotiation taking place between parents and schools for the child to receive this accommodation.

I emphasize again, I am not against extended time, but am against  the “rubber stamping” of extended time as a top “go-to” accommodation.

If the child works painfully slowly and finds him or herself unable to complete tasks within allotted time, then extended time is an appropriate accommodation.

For distractible and impulsive children who also struggle with reading (spelling and writing), such an accommodation has virtually no impact.  There is no “leveling of the playing field,” which is the central concept guiding the implementation of a 504 Plan in the first place.

Assume that for the children with the combination of reading problems and ADHD issues, has difficulty with managing large, multisyllabic words, following directions and staying on task.

For such a child giving time is not the issue.  Helping with directions would be a top, “level-the- playing- field” accommodation.

Further, the teacher can preview some of the tougher words prior to the child reading.  (“Let me help you with some of the words that are difficult.”)

How do you avoid “rubber stamp” accommodations?

Very simply, you ask a basic question such as, “What does he/or she need that would help level the playing field?”

Asking that question of the clinician who conducted the assessment or the school assessment team is essential.

The team and the clinician  should be able to come up with three or four good accommodations specifically addressing the child’s needs and identified deficits.

If an accommodation doesn’t make sense to you, push back a little and ask for justification and an explanation.  Do not accept recommendations of accommodations that do not match the child’s needs.

Takeaway Point

Be on guard for “rubber-stamped” accommodations.  Continually ask yourself and your team (both in and out of school) what does the child need?  What would help him/her to be on more equal footing with the others in class who do not have this identified disability?

Keep  working together as a team to come up with the individual accommodations that make sense and that address the areas of identified need.

Copyright, 2020 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or topics email Dr. Selznick.  Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com

To purchase a signed copy of  “What To Do About Dyslexia: 25 Essential Concepts” & Dr. Selznick’s other books and to receive blog updates go to https://shutdownlearner.com.

(***  Please note: Dr. Richard Selznick is a psychologist, clinician and author of four books.  His blog posts represent his opinions and perspectives based on his years of interacting with struggling children, parents and schools. )

Recently, we talked about the mythologies associated with the 504 Plan, trying to put some of these to rest (https://shutdownlearner.com/504-you/)

This week we extend the discussion by talking about the realities of accommodations and modifications.

Keep in mind the overriding purpose of a 504 Plan is to “level the playing field,” with the premise that a child/person with a disability or a handicapping conditions is playing on a fundamentally unfair field, in comparison to those who do not have such a disability or handicap.

In this week’s and next week’s post we dig deeper into the issues associated with the 504.

Being a bit of a contrarian in style (If you’re a follower of this blog, you know what I mean), I have pushed back with both parents and schools on some of the common practices when it comes to the 504.

From my perspective, there’s a certain “knee-jerk” quality to the way accommodations are developed.

The classic example of this is the standard accommodation of “extended time” (typically, time and a half or double time extension).

Perhaps for kids from about 10^th grade going into college, this accommodation of extended time is seen as valuable, but to the vast majority of children in elementary and middle school, the last thing that they want is more time on a task/test that they already detest.

(In fact, they would be dancing for joy, if you said something to them like, “Sweetheart, guess what?  Because you tend to be very distracted in school and can be very impulsive, the school has come up with a plan where you can be finished in half the amount of time that the test normally takes.  So, if the test has 20 items and takes about 40 minutes, they are going to cut it down in half for you.  You can be done in  20 minutes.”)

The point is not that extended time is a bad accommodation, but that for most of the kids of concern, especially in their younger years, the accommodation has no legitimate impact in that they neither want the extra time or take advantage of it when it is given to them.  (Of course, there are exceptions that do.)

For the most part, they want less time, not more.

We will continue this discussion of accommodations in next week’s blog, but for the time being, write down a list of no more than five items that you think would represent specific and easily implemented accommodations that would assist your child in comparison to those who do not have this handicap or disability.

Such an exercise will get you started on developing meaningful accommodations that help to “level the playing field.

Copyright, 2020 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or topics email Dr. Selznick.  Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com

To purchase a signed copy of  “What To Do About Dyslexia: 25 Essential Concepts” & Dr. Selznick’s other books and to receive blog updates go to https://shutdownlearner.com.

(***  Please note: Dr. Richard Selznick is a psychologist, clinician and author of four books.  His blog posts represent his opinions and perspectives based on his years of interacting with struggling children, parents and schools. )

The  advice in the blogs and in practice is governed by one overriding principle – “If this were my child, what would I do?”   The goal of the blogs and the website is to provide you with straight-forward, down-to-earth, no-nonsense advice and perspective to help cut through all of the confusion that exists in the field.)

Parents will come to me seeking a 504 Plan for their child.

It is my sense that the 504 Plan, while now part of casual language, is not fully understood and is fraught with a great deal of “on-the-street” mythology.

You know how it goes, your friend or neighbor mentions she recently got a 504 Plan for her child and it is working wonders. Then you start thinking about how to get one for your child.  The neighbor makes some reference to her pediatrician writing something on a prescription pad about a 504 Plan after perhaps five minutes interacting with the child.

Your anxiety quickly elevates as you reflect on the fact that your pediatrician looked at you a bit quizzically when you asked her about obtaining a 504 for your child.

One of the “on-the-street” mythologies is that a 504 Plan is school-based, that is it originated from school regulation and procedures.

Let’s put that one to rest.  The 504 is not a school-based mandate, but it is a civil rights law.

How does that come in to play in the classroom?

As noted in the guidebook,  “Section 504: A Legal Guide for Educators,” it was explained that “Civil rights  laws are designed to promote fairness and equal treatment. Put another way, civil rights laws are meant to ‘level the playing field.’”

In explaining a civil rights law like the 504, the guide went further to encourage us to think about a football field.  Playing a game in which all of the players were not on an equal footing would be fundamentally unfair.  “Everyone should be playing on the same ground,” they stated.  “We would not expect that one football team have a smooth, grassy field and the other team have a field that has a ditch running through it and the rest of the field is full of holes and large rocks.”

For children , adolescents and college-age students, the concept is that those with identified disabilities are playing on a field that is much rougher than the one for children who do not have such disabilities.

As we go forward with talking about the realities of 504 and accommodations, I encourage you to keep reflecting on this image of “leveling the playing field” as a guide to for you as to how to proceed.  In practical terms, what does your child need to help level the playing field?

One last point.  In order to obtain a 504, it must be shown that:

• “The students has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities and has a record of such impairments.”

Not being a lawyer, as I read that I do scratch my head a bit with the phrase “substantially limits one or more major life activities” and wonder what that means in reality for children on a day-to-day basis.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will keep exploring the practicalities of accommodations and modifications to try and cut through some of the common “on-the-street” talk.

Copyright, 2020 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or topics email Dr. Selznick.  Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com

To purchase a signed copy of  “What To Do About Dyslexia: 25 Essential Concepts” & Dr. Selznick’s other books and to receive blog updates go to https://shutdownlearner.com.

(***  Please note: Dr. Richard Selznick is a psychologist, clinician and author of four books.  His blog posts represent his opinions and perspectives based on his years of interacting with struggling children, parents and schools.   The goal of the blogs and the website is to provide you with straight-forward, down-to-earth, no-nonsense advice and perspective to help cut through all of the confusion that exists in the field.)

Let’s say I want to improve my tennis game, so I go to a pro to have him size up my skills.   Watching me serve, hit a few forehands, some back hands and a few at the net, he comes up with his recommendations.

“First I want you to go the gym and go on the treadmill.  While you’re there see if someone can help you with balance beam exercises.  Then you should go to a yoga teacher and learn how to center yourself.  All that should improve your tennis.”

Huh???

I sometimes feel that way when I hear the myriad of stories from the front when it comes to children and their struggling.

Things like the following are commonly relayed:

• “The school is focusing on my child’s comprehension, even though he’s been shown to have significant issues with word identification and decoding.”
• “They are emphasizing three paragraph essays, but she has no idea how to write a sentence or even what is a sentence.”
• “Every day he gets 10 math word problems to improve his math.  Only problem is he really can’t read them and has no idea how to do basic addition and subtraction.”
• “We put him on medication and maybe that will help him get organized.” (ADHD medication helps with focusing.  That’s it.)
• “We know she has poor social skills.  A counselor is recommending a video game to improve these.”

Recommendations should emerge from a sensible assessment of a child’s strengths and weaknesses.   A recommendation should closely match the identified deficiency and it needs to pass the common-sense, “smell test.”

If the recommendation makes no sense to you, then you need to question  and, ultimately, challenge it. If you are shaking your head in bewilderment, then there is probably something off.

“Wait, why are we focusing on comprehension, when his deficits are in word decoding?”

“How can she do math word problems, when she can’t read or understand them?”

“If my child doesn’t know how to write a sentence, isn’t it too much to expect a three paragraph essay on his school trip.”

More important than the “diagnosis,” an assessment should help you to prioritize  and guide you in good “next-step” thinking.

With sensible recommendations guiding “next-step”  thinking, you won’t be having your child walking on a balance-beam to help him with his forehand.

Copyright, 2020 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or topics email Dr. Selznick.  Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com

To purchase a signed copy of  “What To Do About Dyslexia: 25 Essential Concepts” & Dr. Selznick’s other books and to receive blog updates go to https://shutdownlearner.com.

(***  Please note: Dr. Richard Selznick is a psychologist, clinician and author of four books.  His blog posts represent his opinions and perspectives based on his years of interacting with struggling children, parents and schools.  He reminds readers that he is neither a scientist, nor a researcher.  The  advice in the blogs and in practice is governed by one overriding principle – “If this were my child, what would I do?”   The goal of the blogs and the website is to provide you with straight-forward, down-to-earth, no-nonsense advice and perspective to help cut through all of the confusion that exists in the field.)