MOOKs: High school and 504

[sju]

My oldest is a freshman this year. He has a 504 due to ADHD and one accommodation is extra time.  Today I was reading the syllabus for one of his honors classes. It says that for those with 504, whenever the student needs extra time for a test, they will need to go in immediately before or stay immediately after class.  They have to miss other classes.  Students and parents are responsible of informing other teachers that the student is going to miss class.  Is this normal in HS? The middle school would not require him to miss other classes.  They would ask him to come before school or he could finish the next day depending on what the work was.

 Another thing I noticed is that assignments normally due at 10pm, are due at 2 AM!! for students with accommodations. They have to be at school by 7am so that’s would not work for DS. Hopefully he can get stuff done early so we will not have an issue.

[jennistarr1]

Maybe not helpful but I work with this at the college level, where classes aren't always back to back, when they are they use a testing center. But in highschool, I don't see any way around it...except at least all teachers are aware of 504

In terms of the assignments, I really think sticking with 10 pm needs to be the norm. On a rare occasion, I guess I could allowing them to stay until midnight to finish. But executive functioning and procrastinating is part of his symptoms, then it will be 2 am every time and that will even be a struggle.

At our college, we don't approve this as a blanket accommodation. When we do, it's on a single assignment and when symptoms of a disability truly prevent a student from completing, like something episodic rather than chronic. Obviously I don't know what other schools do

[mccallister84]

I would push back hard against him missing other classes. That just seems like you’d constantly being playing catch up. And what happens when he has two exams back to back? I’m sure they want it to be that way because one kid at one point or another used the gap between starting and finishing the test to look up answers or otherwise cheat, but there are solutions to that - such as chunking the test.

The timed deadline is definitely a focus on the “letter of the law” rather than the spirit. How much I would fight that would depend upon how much my child needed that extended time for out of school assignments.

[orval]

My ds is about to start high school. While we haven't been through it yet,his accommodations allow for extra time. We were told he can take the tests in learning support or put a star in the corner of the test they didn't finish by the end of class and the teacher will know they need to finish later, usually in learning support. I am not sure how this works in reality though.

[sju]

Thanks for the responses. I am going to have to monitor closely. He doesn’t use the accommodations all the time but he still definitely needs them sometimes. Last year he was in 100% virtual school so it was different. Prior to that, he would get home and spend most of the evening on homework so he mostly submits everything on time. He only has one extracurricular, one hour, once a week. The testing makes me nervous in the case he needs time. He was assigned an AP class right after this one and I don’t want him to miss it.

[expectantsteelerfan]

As a former teacher and the parent of a child with ADHD and a 504, I can sorta see both sides. For many classes, as soon as students walk out the door, they are talking about the test, going over questions, sharing info. with each other, etc. So I could see giving a student extra time that ISN'T right before or after the test giving them an unfair advantage and being a cheating threat. But I also understand the desire to not miss instruction in another class.

In your case, I would probably wait to see if it's an actual issue with this class. It's only 1 class with this policy, right? What does he have before/after it? Is this a class he's likely to need more time in? And if tests aren't that often, I would probably just deal with him missing part of another class while finishing a test if he needs to. But if it does become an issue, I would approach the teacher with WHY it's an issue and ask if there are any other alternatives they can think of that wouldn't involve him missing another class (like taking the test entirely after school so it's all taken in 1 setting but he has as much time as he needs).

[stemmie]

That isn't all that unusual an overall strategy.

The thinking behind it, especially for a kid in honors and AP courses and likely college-bound, is to get them used to being their own advocate and used to coming up with their own strategies to manage their time (a big issue for most of the ADHDers I know).

Our high school has twice weekly after school clinic hours where kids can complete work for missed classes, get help, make up missed tests so this wasn't an issue for us.

[imojoebunny]

My DD has extra time for dyslexia (1.5X), which is most necessary in Math, since she has to slowly and carefully read test problems to avoid missing key words that affect meaning, and also, has difficulty with transcribing numbers, especially those without context, from paper to computer, requiring extra effort to double check. It is easy to miss a "not" or a contraction, and have it completely change the problem. She was virtual in 9th grade, but she did get extra time, during the school day, like advisement period or lunch. In 8th grade, she had to work out the extra time with the teacher, but I can see how some classes, it would be necessary to finish the test in one sitting. They usually do not have test every week in high school, so it would probably a fairly small number of times the change was needed.

I would have the child do the negotiating and navigating. I know it is hard for kids with ADHD to do this, but self-advocacy is the most critical skill they need to develop at this age. Here we can request a 504 meeting with all (or at least most) teachers, to go over what accommodations are needed and how to implement them. I have found that these meetings usually clear up my concerns and there is rational for how things are implemented, but not always, and we have been able to request some changes for specific classes.

[erbear]

I’m a teacher.

No, that’s not normal and possibly illegal. I’d clarify the policy with the teacher and if that is indeed the plan, I’d go to the principal or special ed director. That’s nonsense that they should be missing another class for something they are entitled to by law.

[sporklemotion]

I’m a teacher.

The 2 am thing is bullshit. That is not a reasonable accommodation.

The extra time thing doesn’t surprise me. I might suggest he talk to the teacher to see if there is another solution. For example, if I have parts of a rest that I don’t want kids to come back to (an objective portion that they could look up and change), I will usually tell them that they need to finish that part within the period and allow them to do or finish open responses or essays after class. But my tests are usually not primarily objective, and using a whole class for that part would be more than time and a half.

One thing that has been an issue for me in the class, particularly with kids with executive functioning challenges or ADHD, is that they don’t always remember to come back within a reasonable time frame (I.e. a week or two), or they struggle to find a time after school when they can come in. So the test sits unfinished for a long time, which causes problems for them and for me. So I would make sure that your son has a good system or strategy to avoid this, if he doesn’t already.

[vamoose]

I think a lot of these things just get logistically more difficult in high school. For homework, for example, the teacher May review the previous day’s homework in class the next day, so giving a full extra day might be problematic.

I would make a note to check in with your child after the first week or two and see if the way these accommodations are structured are working out. If not, your child will have a better understanding of how the class runs and may be able to come up with alternatives to present to the teacher.

[Blue Moon]

I can offer an opinion as a high school teacher. We would discourage a student from missing another class to complete work from a previous class. Usually logistics make this impossible anyway- when the bell rings I as the teacher have a new class to be responsible for anyway.

For my students with 504s, I have a couple of strategies. I usually offer a choice- for the student to return during their lunch period to have the extra time (of course they may bring their food) or they may return either before or after school on the days I designate for extra time/makeups 2x a week. Depending on the need, I have also assigned parts of the assignment to a student in advance to be completed at home once I can anticipate the student’s typical work habits. For example, I give a weekly vocabulary test that includes a writing portion. Some of my 504 students arrive in class with their writing portion already completed and then I just include it with the rest of their test. That way the extra time doesn’t inconvenience the student’s own schedule, with job or extra curricular obligations after school for most.