504 Plan

[africanqueen99]

Anybody that has one - please chime in and tell me if I'm missing anything or asking for accommodations that are not necessary.

 

Thanks!

 

***

 

504 PLAN

X (DOB: she is currently 7/2nd grade)

Diagnosis: Celiac Disease

 

WHAT IS CELIAC DISEASE?

Celiac disease is a hereditary autoimmune disease that damages the villi of the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.  Celiac disease is triggered by consumption of the protein called gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, malt, rye and most oats.  When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the finger-like villi of the small intestine. When the villi become damaged, the body is unable to absorb nutrients into the bloodstream.

 

TREATMENT:

The only treatment for celiac disease is a 100%, life-long gluten-free diet, which means avoiding all forms of wheat, barley, malt, rye and most oats.  Gluten containing crumbs can cause a severe reaction.

 

GOALS OF THIS 504 PLAN:

1. Adhering to all aspects of the 504 Plan to avoid gluten.

2. Assisting X to maintain a safe environment through preventative measures.

3. Recognizing the signs of a reaction and treating it promptly in all school contexts.

4. Striking a balance between safety and social normalcy, providing the same opportunities and conditions as X’s peers, and offering encouragement to the child.

5. Encouraging open and on-going communication among adults about food intolerance issues and doing so discretely and in the appropriate forum.

 

TRAINING:

All staff members coming in contact with X should be trained regarding: What is celiac disease?, treatment of disease, importance of not giving any food and keeping a safe environment, and allowing student unrestricted access to the bathroom.

 

 

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT (including classrooms for specials)

• X should be allowed bathroom privileges without restriction.  She will follow typical protocol of bathroom requests when it is not an emergency.

• Teacher will communicate with parents about upcoming projects which may require alternative foods or materials.

• X must be careful with use of the following materials for classroom projects or completely avoid their use: play dough, paper mache, cereals and other gluten containing food, pasta, flour, paste, envelopes and stamp adhesives.  Hands and surfaces must be completely washed after the use of these materials. Parents will provide a list of alternative materials if the class plans to use any of these materials.

• Parents and teacher will work together to monitor classroom events that include the use of food.

• Alternative food treats for students’ birthdays will be left at school in the teacher’s care.

• Parents will provide teacher a list of safe, gluten free candy to use for rewards, activities, etc.

• X should be allowed access to soap and water to wash hands after touching gluten, before lunch/treat opportunities and after time on the playground (hand sanitizer and/or hand wipes are not acceptable options in removing gluten).

• X’s desk should be wiped down with Clorox wipes following gluten touching it.

• If X has a gluten attack and needs to be absent from school it will not be held against her overall missed days and homework will be sent home to be completed.

 

LUNCH/SNACKS

• All lunch and snacks will be provided from home.  X is not to eat any food provided from the cafeteria.

• X’s assigned cafeteria table should be wiped down with a clean cloth before her class arrives.

• Parents will leave two boxed, shelf-stable, lunches at school to be used in an emergency.

 

CONTACT

• In case X ingests any gluten or shows sign of contact with gluten, parents should be notified that day by phone or email.

                            

[shadowicewolf]

What about missed days due to being too sick?

[africanqueen99]

I have:

"If X has a gluten attack and needs to be absent from school it will not be held against her overall missed days and homework will be sent home to be completed."

 

Do you think there is a better way to word it?  I'm open to changing things around.

[cyclinglady]

I agree with Shadow.

 

Plan for the future.  When they get to the upper grades, your daughter might get a kooky teacher who penalizes your child for absences by slamming them with extra homework or requiring them to make up all work when the curriculum/homework is already too rigorous.  We experienced this last year -- I kid you not!

[dilettantesteph]

At my child's school, we are required to relinquish HIPAA rights in order to obtain a 504 plan.  I didn't like that idea.  Do you have to relinquish HIPAA rights?

 

The work load is a definite issue.  At my child's school, they give one day to make up each day sick.  It is a problem when on return to school, they have to double an already difficult work load.  This is even worse when they aren't all the way better yet, but just need to return to school to prevent getting even further behind.  Maybe you need to ask for twice the usual make up time up front to allow for a more complete recovery before crunch time.

 

Another problem is that when my son is too sick to attend school, he is also too sick to do schoolwork at home.  Your 504 plan seems to assume an ability to do work at home that may not be a reality.  That has been an issue for us.  The teachers expect him to come back to school with any work sent home completed.  Sometimes he needs further explanation and sometimes he wasn't well enough.

 

Does your child react to flour in the air?  Will your child be in a classroom where cooking with flour is occurring or has occurred?  There are gluten-free versions which could be substituted.

 

How old is your child?  During the teen years your child might not always communicate with you completely.  You may want to ask the school nurse to keep you informed if your child is lying down in the nurses office rather than attending class.

 

It sounds like you are being good parent carefully setting this all up.

[massagemamaof3]

Thank you for these ideas! I just got off the phone with the school nurse, she is very informed on Celiac since there are a few other students that have it. She was the one the suggested the 504 to me and said that it will be very helpful when my dd goes to jr high next year. The flour cooking issues and bathroom issues will be the big ones for us since they are very limited once they get up into the higher grades. I will be using this as a go to when I have to do mine!

[africanqueen99]

dilettantesteph - This is the first I've heard of giving up HIPAA rights.  I will sign a form that allows them access to speak with her GI, but it seems pretty basic.  Hmm.  That's interesting.

 

My daughter is 7 (2nd grade) so workload isn't an issue yet, but that makes a lot of sense.  I need to consider longer term to this document.

 

She's nowhere near cooking classes yet.

 

I presume that there would be an annual meeting with the staff at the school to update and modify as she ages.  Is that your experience?

[StephanieL]

I would NOT ever give my kids school permission to speak to any of his healthcare providers. They don't need access to them for a504 plan and it can really backfire. Many Dr's understand the disease itself but do not understand how to live with it much less the ins and outs of dealing with it at school. They ideas they have May not be what your kiddo needs and I have seen things go really wrong for parents when the schools have access to the Dr's.

[dilettantesteph]

I would NOT ever give my kids school permission to speak to any of his healthcare providers. They don't need access to them for a504 plan and it can really backfire. Many Dr's understand the disease itself but do not understand how to live with it much less the ins and outs of dealing with it at school. They ideas they have May not be what your kiddo needs and I have seen things go really wrong for parents when the schools have access to the Dr's.

 

Thank you for confirming my opinion.  It is hard to find a doctor who is really knowledgeable about celiac disease and who keeps up reading the latest studies.  They want me to hand over my child's school care to some district doctor who I've never met.  What assurance do I have that she knows anything about necessary precautions for celiac disease?  My son's doctor has already had problems with district physicians misusing her words.  If it means not having a 504 plan, I guess that's what we have to do.

[StephanieL]

A diagnosis from the Dr. is all you need for a 504 plan. They do not need anything more than that and if they say they do you should talk to her OCR about it. Your child qualifies for a 504 and if the school is refusing, as long as it's a public school or they recieve any public funding, they can get in BIG trouble if they don't provide one!

Sounds like your Dr. is savvy to NOT speak to the school. Have you sent a writer request for he 504? They have 30 days to have an eligibility meeting at which time you can supply documentation from you child's Dr. about the diagnosis. Perhaps you've done all this so I'll stop talking your ear off

All his to say, unless the school is paying for your child's medical treatment, they have no need to speak to your Dr. directly!

[africanqueen99]

Stephanie - thank you so much for providing input. I seriously hadn't given much thought to allowing communication between the school and the GI. You're right - they don't need that! I like our doctor, but she doesn't know the ins and outs of MY kids.

I was supposed to meet with the 504 committee last week, but we had a snow day. I'm glad that it provided me an opportunity to really reconsider my initial thoughts.

[dilettantesteph]

My school district's policy is that you have to sign the HIPAA form to get the 504 plan.  It seems to be legal within our state's laws.

[frieze]

what is their reasoning?  I would certainly put limits on what can be released, ie only that which concerns the disease process in question , and only after you have been notified.

[StephanieL]

I would ask for that in writing. 504 if a federal thing so I really don't think they can ask for a HIPPA release.

[dilettantesteph]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[seezee]

Another thought. I think often some adults tend to over-react. I'd add something about maintaining X's privacy and not singling her out. We had some phrase like that in our 504. When my daughter was younger teachers would sometimes send her to sit off in a corner or announce to the class that Y's mom brought pizza but because A has celiac and it's not gluten free we can't eat it.

 

Also, the Children Hospital Boston has a pretty good page on this:

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

and they have a school packet here with other resources.

 

Open Original Shared Link

[africanqueen99]

Thanks again for all your help while putting this together.  We met today to put together the plan.  And, I just have to brag, I love my daughter's school!  The Principal started with how much they care about the kids and that they always work with parents - even without a 504, but he's always happy to have the plan in place.

 

Everything went without a hitch.  We were all in agreement that the plan was needed, that the accommodations were necessary and the group (substitute nurse, principal, counselor, head of medical services for district) thought of some things I hadn't considered.

 

I'm so happy to know that they really do focus on keeping my kid safe during the hours they have her!

 

Thank you for walking me through this process.

[StephanieL]

Awesome job Mom!  Sounds like you have a great working relationship with the school which I have found to be the most important thing!

[Cara in Boston]

When I was researching what to include in our 504 plan I came across several examples that included a "shelter-in-place" plan.  Most schools have one for emergency situations, but they wouldn't necessarily include food that would be safe for your child.  I didn't think too much about it (frankly, it sounded a bit excessive to me and I didn't want to look like a crazy lady) but the recent incidents in Atlanta have changed my mind.

 

I am amending our plan to include a "shelter-in-place" plan.  I am sending in 6 shelf-stable meals (GoPicnic snack meals from Target) and the plan will list where they are located in case of an emergency where students need to stay at school for an extended period of time. 

[africanqueen99]

^^^ Yep!  They're keeping Go Picnics for me in the nurse's office.  We live in a large district that has one facility that makes the food and delivers daily.  If the Atlanta event happened NONE of the kids would be eating (except my kid and her special food!).  This elementary is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood and I have no doubt that people would bring food to the kids.

 

Anyway, the plan is mostly in place in case I ever forget to pack her lunch.  We do keep Go Picnics in the house at any given moment in case the morning is chaos and I run out of time.