504 For Freshman In High School

[Gluten Free Girls]

I am a Mom to a 14 year old daughter who has Celiac Disease.  She was diagnosed two years ago along with her little sister as well as myself.  Last year during her 8th grade year, we made a 504 plan.  That plan has carried over to her high school and we have a meeting coming up to address the specifics and make any changes if needed.  I would love to hear from other parents that have 504 plans for their high school aged children, and find out what accommodations you include in your plans.  I simply don't know what I don't know!  Thank you!

Rookie high school Mom!!!    

[nvsmom]

I don't have kids in public school, but for high school I think all she would need is an understanding that if she says she needs to use the bathroom, she should be allowed to leave immediately - if she had "D" problems in the past. I'm assuming that she will bring her own lunches? As long as she isn't into cafeteria food, I can't see much of a need for accomodations (I was a high school science teacher).

 

I wish her luck in her freshman year! 

[Adalaide]

Mind that my kids don't have celiac. But anyway, they told me that the only difference between high school and middle school was the classes they took and the amount of homework they got. Nothing was really different from middle school. But, you'll have to go over everything of course with new people. If the old plan worked, I don't see why it wouldn't continue to work.

[mommy2krj]

I guess it would all depend on the school. I won't go into my experiences because...well....they're depressing and they didn't concern food issues at all.

 

I'm kind of wondering this all myself. We're new to Celiac and what it means with school as it's my 1st grader that has it. On top of that, he's in a new school in a new school district. So, I'm kind of relearning all the ropes to begin with.

 

I will be checking with the teacher and the nurse and making sure he has free access to the bathroom when it's needed and making sure no one gives him food that he can't have. We pack lunches anyway as I don't like the food the school serves and he doesn't really either so I don't *think* this will be a big issue.

High school is scary for that first week....then you get used to it. There were a bunch of things that I wasn't fully aware of but they were all upperclassmen things so you have a little bit. The graduation part is where I ended up lost....but probably just because I simply wasn't ready for my baby girl to graduate from high school!!!!

[Gluten Free Girls]

Thank you to everyone for their thoughts!  We definitely send lunches from home for both my girls so our 504's don't involve cafeteria's at all.  For my 3rd grader we included frequent hand washing with soap and water after computer lab, PE, music, science lab....pretty much every time she returns to her classroom.  She has Clorox wipes to clean off her desk after any art projects. She has a routine to follow if she experiences anxiety because she has an anxiety disorder.  We included the accommodation of having a water bottle at her desk and instruction that she is not to use the water fountains.  Communication from the teacher to make us aware of any snack or birthday celebration is included along with an extra set of text books for absences.  Basically it's little things and to protect her from frequent or prolonged absences.  For my freshman in high school, I just want to make sure she is protected from absences and has a set framework for make-up work and testing.  I just hope I'm not forgetting anything!  Luckily my freshman is a type A perfectionist so she does really well and now that we are wrapping up the third week of school, she's over the hump in the sense of knowing where to go and what to do and how to manage the homework load.  I just want her to be protected from the attendance rules.  Our school district threatens to take away driving privileges.

[nvsmom]

I just want her to be protected from the attendance rules.  Our school district threatens to take away driving privileges.

 

Wow! I'm still thankful that the attendance system wasn't computerized when I was in school or it would have been no car for us!  LOL  

[mamaw]

Many schools make middle or high school students take home ec or cooking class where they prepare the food & then eat it... Both guys & girls must take semester for two grades of this....We opted to take it the first semester when school began , first period in the morning... that way the room was very clean & they gave a small space away from the wheat flour flour to make gluten-free..... another student was picked to help make the gluten-free food...as they worked in two's.... We were also given the recipes for what the class would be making over the summer to practice. Funny thing is the teacher said I want to be exactly as I wrote them.. WHAT? we just told her celiac no wheat/white flour!!!!! So it took awhile to make her understand we had to alter the recipe to make it gluten-free.. Turns out the gluten-free recipe was as good or even better than the reg. one.... we provided the ingredients for the class for the gluten-free... I didn't trust the teacher to purchase the ingredients to make the recipe work...