Q re Section 504 and students w/ chronic medical conditions

[PatJ]

Hello,

Has anyone had any experience in asking your child's school administrators about developing a 504 Plan, if your son or daughter has experienced excessive absences due to IBS, GERD, or 'possible' CD?

Thanks.

Pat

[maria1223]

I have to talk to my daughters school about her missing time at school. she has IBS & alot of gas in both ends. Plus she has some type of allergy to somthing we can't find out what it is, been to so many Dr's. Now she has to go to a childern's hospital to see an Immuonolgist she get's theses hives that are like welt's. she has been on so many steroids & allergy meds & gained like 100 lbs. she will be 18 in 5 months. I think that there is a law that says that the school has to work with the parents if your child has a medical reason from your DR. that states they can't always be in school. I remember that yrs. ago when my daughter was young she could hardly walk because her IBS was so bad the school tried to make me take her to school in all that pain. I told them where to go. I got a hospital note & a Dr. note stating that she had this. the school than started sending school work home for her. I finally got her home schooled with a teacher that came to the house after school for 3 hrs. from the age of 9 til she was 15 1/2 she did not attend regualr school. I'm glad to say that she now attends school again. But she has a Dr. note stating she can only wear slippers & has to have a water bottle with her in school because of the hives & the meds that she is now taking. the school does not like it very much. ecspecially the nurse I had a very few choice words for her. she said my daughter is not special that she has to follow the rules of the school & be in unifrom everyday.
I also have to talk to my daughter's school about my daughter she was just put on a G/F diet they have to have or make kids with food allergies something to eat. That is another problem that I'm having with her school.
I'm glad that someone else knows what I went through & I could vent.

GOOD LUCK as I need it too I'm a fighter & I will not back down

[Guest]

Maria,

My heart goes out to your daughter for all that she has been through for so many years--and to you, too, for having had to watch her suffer. I think that there is no greater pain for parents than to see our children hurting and not be able to "make it go away."

My 15-year-old son has been diagnosed with IBS, GERD, and possible celiac disease. (We just found out on Friday that he has tested positive for a gene associated with CD.) He has missed approximately 35 days of school this year and has gone in late, missing his first few classes, on many other days.

Because the year is winding down, my son's teachers and school administrators have been coming down hard on him to make up his missed work. The guidance counselor actually said that he should be in school "unless he is vomiting." As far as pain is concerned, she said that "if he can sit up in bed at home, he can sit in class"; and even with respect to his bouts of diarrhea, she said that she can give him a pass "to use the nurse's bathroom." Easy for her to say.

There has been no plan in place to provide my son with any structured help in getting caught up on the work he missed. He is very bright, but he is not so brilliant that he can "teach himself" all of the material that he was absent for. The administrators just expect him to make up all tests, quizzes and other assignments, and to do well in them. (We just found out a week ago that supposedly our son has been "practically failing" everything that he has taken to date. Yet the teachers have not given him any of his papers back nor indicated to him that he was having any problems. They just keep on giving him more and more work to make up.)

As an "incentive" to get him to make up all of his work, the principal decided five weeks ago to "ban" my son from his extracurricular activities. He enjoys theater and improv activities--he wants to major in theater arts in college. The stress of not being able to participate in these activities, coupled with the anxiety of trying to rush through his make-up work, are making him feel even sicker, and he is showing signs of being depressed. (He has an appt. with a psychologist this afternoon.)

When I last spoke with the guidance counselor on Thursday, I pleaded with her to let my son return to his outside activities, but she wouldn't budge. Oh, and when the extracurriculars ban started, I gave her and the assistant principal a letter from his gastroenterologist indicating that in his opinion, it would be beneficial to my son to continue with those activities. It made no difference. They seem to think that he can turn his flare-ups on and off like a switch, suggesting that if he "really wanted to" he could be in school more regularly.

My mother was the one who recently found out about Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. (My son's school has never mentioned it, which I have come to learn is not uncommon.) It addresses the needs of employees and students with chronic medical conditions. Here are a few links with more info:

http://www.ed.gov/policy/rights/reg/ocr/edlite-34cfr104.html

http://www.adda-sr.org/504.htm

http://www.usu.edu/mprrc/infoserv/pubs/General504ParentEducatorBook.pdf

http://www.copaa.org/resources/index.html

I would like to explore the ins and outs of implementing a 504 Plan for my son for next year. His school's response to his needs this year was inadequate at best and punitive at worst. He is not going to have to go through a yeaer like this one again, if I have anything to say about it. Of course, if my son does have CD, then I am praying that a gluten-free diet will vastly improve his symptoms and, consequently, his attendance in school. In fact, even if CD is not "officially" confirmed, I'm going to put him on a trial of a g/f diet, anyway.

In discussing your daughter's situation, you mentioned a "uniform" at one point. Does she attend a private or parochial school? If so, I don't know whether Section 504 applies. I guess it depends on what kind of funding the school receives; my understanding is that if it receives any federal funding, then they are subject to Section 504 mandates.

I hope and pray that the immunologist will be able to determine what is still making your daughter so sick. This has gone on way too long.

I will definitely keep you posted about my continued interactions with my son's school. In fact, I am going to be contacting the guidance counselor again tomorrow, because there is a special school event taking place Friday night that my son wants to participate in, and the rehearsal is after school tomorrow. (Our district's schools have been on break since last Friday, reopening tomorrow.) If she continues to give me the run-around, then I will be going to school in person to see the principal--who, by the way, has yet to meet with me or my husband, though he has felt free to make decisions affecting our son's life.

Hang in there, Maria.

Hugs,
Pat

[PatJ]

Sorry.... I forgot to log in before posting my message above. I didn't mean to be anonymous!

Pat

[Maria1223]

Pat thank u for the info. I have alot to read.