504 Plan

[Amyleigh0007]

I am furious over something that happened at school and I need to vent/get advice from others who know what I am talking about. My son is on the student council and today was their last meeting of the school year. My son was very proud to have been elected and he went to each and every meeting and took his duties seriously. Unfortunately, today's meeting was held at a local pizza place. They were told by the sponsors (teachers) that they had worked hard all year and this was their reward. My son can not eat anything on the menu. I told him he could either bring his own food or just go and not eat. He did not want to go and watch all the other children eat pizza in front of him. I don't blame him. He did not get to attend the last student council meeting and was heartbroken. It is unfair that the sponsors chose a restaurant that had nothing gluten free to offer my son. They are well aware of his diet restrictions and I even teach in the same school! They could have come to me and asked if this restaurant was okay!! I approached them and told them how disappointed my son was about not being able to attend the meeting and all they said was, "We are sorry." I feel like if he has a 504 plan in place that something like this will not happen again. Is this something a 504 plan can help him with? I am not too familiar with 504 plans and if someone is knowledgeable about them I would like to know more. I emailed the director of special services of my school district and said I was interested in one for my son and if we end up having a meeting I would like to go into it an informed parent.

[taweavmo3]

I don't know anything about 504 plans, but I'm having school issues as well. My dd is younger, she's in 1st grade, and I just found out today that everything I gave the school in August never made it into her file. I got a call this morning from the lunch lady, saying that the speech therapist wanted to give the kids an ice cream for their last day of speech, and she didn't understand why Emmie was saying she couldn't have it. I explained, and said she is not to eat anything unless I approve it and can look at the ingredients.

We have met with this speech therapist before, explained the food issues in detail at her previous ARD meeting. Then later today, I found out they didn't give her ice cream, they gave her fruit cocktail instead. Apparently, the phrase "do not feed my child" isn't clear enough to understand. We were furious, not over the fruit itself b/c I'm sure it was fine, but just the issue that people who have been told repeatedly of her food issues, and had spoken with me just minutes before, still gave her food.

I'm sure we were the talk of the school today, lol, b/c we raised such a stink. But at the end of the day, the only person we got an apology from was my dd's teacher, who wasn't even there, and has really been excellent this year. The lunch lady got an attitude with me, making it seem like I was lying about sending forms in, and we never did hear from the speech therapist. ARGH!

Sorry, didn't mean to rant on your post! I've read that 504's get more attention, and offer more protection for the kids. I think we need one as well! Good luck, I feel awful for your little boy. I don't know why it seems so impossible for some people to show compassion and consideration these days, but it is! Let us know if you find anything more out.

[frecOregon]

I'm an elementary teacher and I have celiac. I've only had a few kids on 504 plans (eg for diabetes) but I think it might help. 504 plans just mean getting your child on an IEP for a health reason--it's called other health impaired. It would at least give all the people involved with your son time (since you're a teacher you know how rare that is) to sit down together with you and think out all the implications of his disease. They'd have to write it all out for your approval. At least you could plan out routine food problems like birthdays and tell everybody, all at once, how serious the consequences would be if he ate any gluten. And everyone who works with him would get copies. I'm not sure it would solve everything; people are always behind and in a rush and incredibly ignorant about food ingredients. IF they even thought about him and the school council party they probably thought oh surely there's lots to eat there. I have so many people say they didn't realize pizza, or cookies, or crackers have wheat in them. Hello?

A 504 might be especially good for taweavmo--your daughter is still pretty young and can't read ingredient labels well enough yet. I read labels for two little second grade celiacs at my school, but the fifth grade one knows as much as I do.

[taweavmo3]

I'm an elementary teacher and I have celiac. I've only had a few kids on 504 plans (eg for diabetes) but I think it might help. 504 plans just mean getting your child on an IEP for a health reason--it's called other health impaired. It would at least give all the people involved with your son time (since you're a teacher you know how rare that is) to sit down together with you and think out all the implications of his disease. They'd have to write it all out for your approval. At least you could plan out routine food problems like birthdays and tell everybody, all at once, how serious the consequences would be if he ate any gluten. And everyone who works with him would get copies. I'm not sure it would solve everything; people are always behind and in a rush and incredibly ignorant about food ingredients. IF they even thought about him and the school council party they probably thought oh surely there's lots to eat there. I have so many people say they didn't realize pizza, or cookies, or crackers have wheat in them. Hello?

A 504 might be especially good for taweavmo--your daughter is still pretty young and can't read ingredient labels well enough yet. I read labels for two little second grade celiacs at my school, but the fifth grade one knows as much as I do.

Just out of curiosity.......working with elementary kids, do you find it hard to keep from getting glutened? I just ask b/c I am up at the school quite a bit, and at lunch time, I swear I can see the crumbs a flyin', lol. Yesterday, the little girl sitting next to my dd was smushing her cookies in her mouth all at once...then at one point, she started throwing them across the table. It was just crumbs and more crumbs everywhere, lol. It was making me so nervous, it isn't always quite so bad, it just depends on who she sits next to that day.

It just seems like elementary school is an especially hard place to avoid the gluten minefield!

[HouseKat]

I feel like if he has a 504 plan in place that something like this will not happen again. Is this something a 504 plan can help him with? I am not too familiar with 504 plans and if someone is knowledgeable about them I would like to know more. I emailed the director of special services of my school district and said I was interested in one for my son and if we end up having a meeting I would like to go into it an informed parent.

Here is some good information and links about 504 plans:

Open Original Shared Link

Some guidance for the school cafeteria staff:

Open Original Shared Link

Kate

[Yellow Rose]

I had a child with JRA and worked for the school dist in the special ed dept. We 504 her and this is how it works.

You need to request a 504 meeting in writing. The school has 30 days to have the meeting. You will need to have a Dr. note stating that your child has Celiac and at the meeting you will need to ask that the child be placed in 504 as other health impaired. Bring as much info as possible to leave with the staff and ask that everyone get copies. When your child gets sick you need to send notes to school and be sure to state that the illness was due to Celiac on the note. This allows the child to have absences that do not count against them as long as the illness is due to the Celiac. Keep copies of every note that you send. They often get lost and then you are required to produce your copy so that you don't get hauled into court for too many absences. At the meeting ask for the teachers e-mail addresses. I would e-mail all of my dd teachers when she would be absent and they sent work over to her via computer. Teachers want to help if possible and will encourage your child while they are sick. Keeping them informed will help in the long run. If your child gets sick often you can request a set of books to keep at home so work can be done while they are out. Make copies of all the work as well and as the child gets older work gets dropped off at the office and passed around to the proper teachers. We had to redo many papers until we got wise to this part. 504ing a child can be a life saver and is your best friend. Brain fog that we get allows the teachers to modify how your child learns and tests but not without 504. You were asking about the meetings for your child. It seems to me that if the meetings are school sponsored then the school must take responsibility for following through with health issues. For instance if the child had a peanut allergy that stopped its breathing the school couldn't serve that child a peanut butter sandwich and get away with it if they knew about it so how would your child be any different. The problem is making sure that everyone involved is informed and sensitive to this issue. Don't be afraid to go higher up the chain of command if you are not getting the response you need. That includes calling your local region supervisor who is in charge of making sure everyone in the district understands the problem. You can also ask for sensativity training as well.