Talk to me about the paper trail/a 504 while homeschooling

[FairProspects]

We have been homeschooling through a virtual academy this year, and so would be eligible for a 504 plan after the neuropsych testing. I would like to homeschool independently next year, but am torn and now considering leaving ds in the VA for just language arts so that I can establish the 504 and paper trail for testing purposes.

 

I've heard that the College Board and other entities like to see a paper trail of accommodations for every year that the student is in school and spanning back years, so how does this work with homeschooling? Would I be hurting ds by homeschooling independently instead of leaving him in the virtual school to get a 504? Should I consider a VA just for the purposes of having a 504 as documentation for the future?

[Tokyomarie]

I don't think it's absolutely necessary to keep a relationship with an outside agency. You'll have your neuropsych report to establish an early diagnosis. If you do any outside therapies, those records will be available. As for establishing the accommodations you're providing at home, it would be helpful to write up your own "report of progress" by quarter or semester and keeping it in a portfolio. You could create your own Word or Excel file for doing this with each term so the format stays the same and official-looking. Any accommodations you've given- including ones that naturally go along with homeschooling, such as frequent breaks or scribing for a young child, should be listed. Each term, print out a hard copy, sign & date it, and place it in a binder with your other reports.

 

Whenever you do regular standardized testing, record any accommodations used.

 

I have heard of homeschoolers who have not used outside agencies getting accommodations for the College Board tests with this type of documentation.

[peacefully]

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[Dmmetler]

I'd actually suggest calling a local college's Services for Students with Disabilities office-they deal with organizations like the College board all the time, and also with vocational rehab programs and job placement, and since they don't do any evaluation themselves, they work with outside paperwork, whether it was evals/IEPs done by schools, evals done by Voc. rehab, or private pay ones all the time.

 

I don't know if they'd work with non-enrolled individuals, but they might have ideas of where you should look.

 

Another similar suggestion-if you have a center for independent living, ask there as well-I know the one I've worked with has a program designed for families with young children with disabilities that is designed to help the parents navigate agencies and paperwork so that the child CAN be independent as an adult-and part of independent living for the child capable of college/professional life is navigating college boards and college admissions.

[EKS]

I found that, at least in our district, getting a 504 plan was ridiculously easy. They accepted outside testing. Both of my kids are 2E. On the other hand, getting an IEP for my older son (which requires the district to actually *do* something that costs money) was impossible. And in retrospect, that is probably just as well.

 

I specifically enrolled my older son in a public "homeschool" program to establish a paper trail, but I was able to do so without compromising his education (I could use whatever curriculum materials I wanted).

 

What the College Board wants to see is that the student was diagnosed with the thing that is causing him to require accommodations long before accommodations are requested. (I believe that a few years back they were having people get "diagnosed" specifically so they could get accommodations for the SAT.) They also want evidence that the student not only was eligible for accommodations, but actually used them regularly.

 

I have heard from the people who did my son's most recent evaluation, the one we did specifically to submit to the College Board, is that homeschoolers tend to get rejected the first time around when requesting accommodations, which means they have to appeal. They were surprised that my son was granted accommodations with the initial request. These evaluators are very pro-homeschooling, so they weren't just saying that and they have extensive experience with the College Board accommodation process, so I believe them about the difficulties.

[FairProspects]

I specifically enrolled my older son in a public "homeschool" program to establish a paper trail, but I was able to do so without compromising his education (I could use whatever curriculum materials I wanted).

 

What the College Board wants to see is that the student was diagnosed with the thing that is causing him to require accommodations long before accommodations are requested. (I believe that a few years back they were having people get "diagnosed" specifically so they could get accommodations for the SAT.) They also want evidence that the student not only was eligible for accommodations, but actually used them regularly.

 

I have heard from the people who did my son's most recent evaluation, the one we did specifically to submit to the College Board, is that homeschoolers tend to get rejected the first time around when requesting accommodations, which means they have to appeal. They were surprised that my son was granted accommodations with the initial request. These evaluators are very pro-homeschooling, so they weren't just saying that and they have extensive experience with the College Board accommodation process, so I believe them about the difficulties.

 

Do you think you were granted SAT accommodations because of your paper trail and evidence of having used these accommodations? If so, that would suggest I really should consider using the VA to start a paper trail.

 

Also, I've heard that to qualify for extended time, the College Board wants to see processing scores in the single digits. Ds's processing scores are in the 30% range, so does that mean it is less of a concern since he would be unlikely to be granted accommodations anyway?

 

Why does this process have to be so complicated? And I can't believe I have to make decisions about this so far in advance!

[EKS]

Do you think you were granted SAT accommodations because of your paper trail and evidence of having used these accommodations? If so, that would suggest I really should consider using the VA to start a paper trail.

 

Also, I've heard that to qualify for extended time, the College Board wants to see processing scores in the single digits. Ds's processing scores are in the 30% range, so does that mean it is less of a concern since he would be unlikely to be granted accommodations anyway?

 

Why does this process have to be so complicated? And I can't believe I have to make decisions about this so far in advance!

 

I think it was everything combined, the recent evaluation combined with a diagnosis history as well as formally recognized accommodations that were used in a formal context (standardized testing in our case). We had a strong report from my son's evaluators that also summarized his diagnosis and educational history.

 

The thing about the paper trail is that you can't go back and create it after the fact.

 

But the processing speed thing is apparently an issue according to my son's evaluators. His WISC IV processing speed was at the 16th percentile (down from a high of 42 when he was 9yo). But his WJ-Cognitive processing speed score was at the 1st percentile, which the evaluators told me was "great" for accommodations. From what I understand, for kids with processing speed issues, their scores tend to go down as they age because they aren't keeping pace with average kids. The "good" news is that your son's scores might go down as he ages.

 

Personally, I think a lot of problems with high stakes testing could be alleviated if they were to give unlimited time (within reason) to everyone. That way the scores would reflect what the kid knows, not how fast he is.

Edited April 6, 2012 by EKS

[RamonaQ]

 

Personally, I think a lot of problems with high stakes testing could be alleviated if they were to give unlimited time (within reason) to everyone. That way the scores would reflect what the kid knows, not how fast he is.

 

:iagree:I couldn't agree more.:iagree:

 

To OP: I think at some point you will want to have your son do some sort of standardized tests USING accommodations. Having met with area schools for 504 meetings, it is clear to me that "agencies" want to make sure that accomodations are used because the child really needs them to do the work, not to excuse for other factors (poor work ethic, attempting to get unfair advantages, etc...), which, sorry to say, has been the case in some situations and has made this whole area so much more sticky.

[Scotia]

I believe the paper trail is critical to receiving testing accommodations. You don't necessarily need to submit it all but referring to documentation that you can submit in your request is critical.

 

My DD was originally spot tested in second grade for visual convergence issues, then went through the full battery of neurological testing in third (WISC-IV, Woodcock Johnson, Beery, Visual-Motor integration and academic assessment). She went through a similar set of tests in sixth grade. All testing was performed by the same neuro-pyschologist. Thus in the reports the neuro-pyschologist referred back to earlier tests and results, reinforcing her findings and noting changes for the better or worse. She also made suggestions for accommodations in her reports.

 

IEP/504 plans are updated annually. So I could have submitted nine years of paperwork when I applied for accommodations, instead I included the most recent 504 plan, an assistive technology assessment (to support computer use for essays) and the latest testing only (four years ago, sixth grade - College board requires it be within the past five years of the request for learning disabilities, more recent for psychiatric disabilities). I referred to the earlier test results and IEP/504 plans in my cover letter, noting I would be happy to fax all of them to the representative handling my DD file if they needed them.

 

In my cover letter I noted the accommodations that were critical for her, referenced the disabilities linked to them and pointed to the accommodations she's received since her early testing - one short concise paragraph for each accommodation.

 

Our request for accommodations was granted the first time and within a month of the request. I am confident it is because of the paper trail.

[rafiki]

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[peacefully]

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[Tokyomarie]

Okay, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time today poring over Wrightslaw, my state's department of education, the College Board, and several LD association websites. I think I'm caught up now. From what I'm reading (on those sites and from Scotia and EKS's experiences), I'm concluding that getting a 504 plan might be worth hooking up with a PS district in order to ease the process of getting those testing accommodations.

 

This topic is coming up at an interesting time for me. I am currently independent, but I may be enrolling my kids in a homeschooling charter next year, so I have a similar decision to make as FairProspects. I've been torn, because homeschooling independently has given me a lot of latitude to provide a highly individualized course of study for my ds, and he's thriving. But he needs more group learning situations than our little area provides, and now I'm thinking about this paper trail issue...

 

And the opportunities for doing somethng like this probably vary. In many states, there is likely not an opportunity for homeschoolers to get a school district written 504 because if you are homeschooling there is no contact with the district other than perhaps psychoeducational eval if the parent requests it (because evaluation is a federal mandate). In states where SpEd services of any kind are not available to homeschoolers, it's less likely that they would get involved with writing an IEP or 504. Basic point is that the specifics probably vary by state, so be sure to check your own state and district regs.

 

In most states there isn't a public school at home option that allows families some latitude in choosing curriculum- such as CA and a few other states. The only ps at home options are virtual charters, which may not be a good choice for a lot of kids with special needs.

[FairProspects]

Okay, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time today poring over Wrightslaw, my state's department of education, the College Board, and several LD association websites. I think I'm caught up now. From what I'm reading (on those sites and from Scotia and EKS's experiences), I'm concluding that getting a 504 plan might be worth hooking up with a PS district in order to ease the process of getting those testing accommodations.

 

This topic is coming up at an interesting time for me. I am currently independent, but I may be enrolling my kids in a homeschooling charter next year, so I have a similar decision to make as FairProspects. I've been torn, because homeschooling independently has given me a lot of latitude to provide a highly individualized course of study for my ds, and he's thriving. But he needs more group learning situations than our little area provides, and now I'm thinking about this paper trail issue...

 

I think I'm with you on this. We are lucky to live in a state that has public virtual academies where I can enroll for 1 subject or 6, and choose my own curriculum. I wouldn't have to sacrifice anything educationally other than my time for a once a week phone/email check in, and ds would get the benefit of a 504 plan and paper trail. It is frustrating that the testing game has to be played this way, and that not all states have equal options, but it is what it is, and after talking with dh it looks like we will stay with the VA for my older at least part-time.

[Finnella]

I think it's going to depend on the ps. I only started homeschooling last year, when my DS was in the middle of a disastrous 6th grade. In 3rd through 5th grades, my DS had good 504 plans.

 

Then we changed to middle school. The teachers said repeatedly that "all kids this age are like this" and "we do that for all the kids." His 504 was gutted. He was so confused that he sometimes didn't know which class he was in (was that academic enrichment or language arts?), and he ended up with over 50% fewer accommodations.

 

So it's not just getting one, it's getting one that actually addresses your child's needs. Having done the process with three different ps, the process can be much more discretionary than it should be.