How to get help for your child in school
As you enter the rhythm of the school year, you may start to find your child a little out of rhythm. You may hear your child complaining that school is too hard, or just down right boring. During parent-teacher conferences you might get reports that your child is slightly behind target, or causing lots of noise, or is easily distracted. This might get you thinking, what can I do to help my child become more successful at school. And yet, often times the school can provide additional support for your kid. But knowing how to ask, and what to ask for can feel like a mystery.
Well, here I am to break down three levels of resources that can help your child be more successful at school, provided by the school. These three levels are Student Success Team (SST), 504 Plans, and Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
Student Success Team (SST)
An SST is a great first step in the direction of receiving school supports. Teacher or parents can request an SST, and often time they are requested because your child isn’t achieving expected academic milestones. SST’s are simply meetings to track areas your child may need support. This can be with reading, writing, or math. Often times the teacher provides some interventions or slight modifications to the school work to see if that improves academics. Approximately 6-8 weeks later the team reconvenes to target the problem, track progress made, identify other challenges, and so on. This can be the problem-solving stage to begin finding the root to why your child isn’t doing well at school.
504 Plans
504 Plans are plans that provide specific accommodations for your child that has a disability with a medical or clinical diagnosis. Some diagnoses are, but not limited to, diabetes, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, ADHD, anxiety, autism spectrum disorder. Again, children need to have a diagnosis provided by a licensed provider that you present to the school. Your licensed provider may suggest certain accommodations that might be helpful or necessary. However, it’s up to you, teachers, administrators, and your child to determine the various accommodations. This can be daunting as a parent because you might not know what you can request for! Administrators might not feel forthcoming about what they can provide, and teacher may be unfamiliar with the specific needs of your child. If this feels like your situation, school consultation may be what you need. And I’m happy to help.
Individualized Education Plan
Individual Educations Plans are specific accommodations with individualized education supports such as a person aiding your child in academic instruction, your child receiving instructions in a small group, and your child attending a specialized classroom for children similar to them. These can be wonderful interventions, and you must qualify in order to receive this level of intervention. In order to see if you qualify you must request and IEP evaluation, and writing a letter is a great way to begin. Here is an example of a letter you can write to request the initial evaluation to see if your child qualifies. After you make your request, the school will connect with you within 30 days, and you’ll receive your results for qualification within 60 days of the school beginning the evaluation. You may wonder, how does my child qualify? Or why didn’t my child qualify even though they are performing so poorly at school? Children must fall into at least one of several categories to qualify such as having a learning disability (i.e., dyslexia), emotional disturbance, or other health impairment. This can get very complicated, and if you have already pursued an IEP and need help understanding it, an academic consultation may be helpful for you.