IEP or 504?

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure this has come up in the past and I'm new to this group, but here goes.

My son formally received the AS diagnosis last month (even though we suspected

for 3 years). I have petitioned our school district for an IEP for him so that

he can get OT and some counseling to work on social skills. In the past, they

promised these things for him even without a diagnosis or IEP and never followed

through. Now the district came to me yesterday and said they would prefer and

504 plan for my son. They told me that it would be likely that at the CSE

meeting that they would refuse to give him an IEP and refer us to the committee

that handles the 504 plans. Can they refuse a child an IEP with AS?

Also she (the school psychologist) said that IEP's make the student feel

" stupid " (her wording) and that when you have a child with already low self

esteem being in special education makes this worse.

We have another son with an IEP and we've never made a big deal out of it, so I

don't believe he feels " stupid " . All I know is that I want the district to be

held accountable for giving him the services that he needs and if getting an IEP

ensures this, then that's what we want.

She also couldn't explain much between the difference between an IEP and the 504

plans and my husband and I are feeling very overwhelmed. They are trying to rush

the process because they don't want to have to have a meeting over the summer.

Can someone please help and give us some input?

Thanks so much!

Jenn