Eligibility and appropriate placement, special services and special education, transition, FAPE and LRE, behavior plans and manifestation determinations. Section 504 is not just a prescription for accommodations and modifications but protection for the civil and constitutional rights of students with disabilities. Section 504 also applies to those students served by an IEP.
School attorneys and their supporters are actively engaged in teaching administrators, teachers, and principals about limiting the access to Section 504 rights by students with disabilities and their parents. It has become a subjective selection process, whereby inexperienced and unknowledgeable individuals are making decisions about the civil rights of students with disabilities. Severe curtailment of these rights leaves students with an inability to access the curriculum and to receive educational benefit, in other words a potential denial of FAPE.
Those who advocate for students with disabilities, the students themselves, as well as counselors, teachers and parents, need to understand this powerful legislation, especially since it follows students into postsecondary education and employment. And with the reauthorization of IDEA and the focus on limiting access/eligibility to Section 504 we will see many of our students left floundering in the educational system. Students poorly equipped with self-advocacy skills, understanding how they learn, understanding how to leverage their strengths, and acquiring and maintaining employment.
Participants will get a
strong overview of Section 504, its meaning, and its application. Learn the
several key strategies for 504 plans and IEPs. Participants will understand
how to use Section 504 language to preserve the civil and constitutional protections
afforded to students with disabilities that impact learning and other major
life activities in their K-12 education.