504 Plans vs IEPs
Students
with disabilities should have access to a free education that meets their needs
and 504 Plans and Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) help ensure students
receive appropriate services. 504 plans fall under section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a civil rights law, and IEPs fall under IDEA which
is an educational law (Understanding Special Education, 2016). IEPs are for
students who qualify for special education because they have at least one of
the 13 categorized disabilities which include autism, blindness, deafness,
emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectually disabled, multiple
disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impaired, specific learning
disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual
impairment (Understanding Special Education, 2016). Students who do not qualify
for special education, such as those who have ADHD, but require some form(s) of
accommodations are eligible for a 504 plan (ADDitude, n.d.). The services and
accommodations students receive under these plans will provide them with a
chance to thrive in a learning environment.
As you can
see in my Venn Diagram above which I created through Canva, there are
noticeable differences, but also some similarities with the two plans. The
ultimate goal is providing free educational services to students in grades
K-12. IEPs are created by an IEP team which include a child’s parent, general
education teacher, special education teacher, school psychologist, and district
representative (Understood, n.d.). The team for 504 plan creation is not as
extensive as the IEP team, but still require a parent and teachers along with
the principal. The plans are reviewed every year, IEPs more so than 504 plans,
and then are re-evaluted every 3 years to determine if services and/or
accommodations are still needed (Understood, n.d.). On a teacher standpoint, it
is crucial to abide by the plans to ensure students can reach their learning
goals in a fair environment.
References:
ADDitude
(n.d.). Everything you need to know about
IDEA, IEPs, and section 504 plans. Retrieved from
Understood
(n.d.). IEPs and 504 plans. Retrieved
from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-services/504-plan/the-difference-between-ieps-and-504-plans.
Understanding
Special Education (2016). Understanding
the 13 categories of special education. Retrieved from https://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/13-categories-of-special-education.html.
Rechelle,
ReplyDeleteExcellent job crafting a venn diagram showing the differences/similarities of 504's and IEP's. You make a lot of great points, especially when saying that "on a teacher standpoint, it is crucial to abide by the plans to ensure students can reach their learning goals in a fair environment". These plans are so important for each and every student to excel in your classroom, so it is crucial that teachers refer back to the provided 504's and IEP's early and often.
Rechelle,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated how your Venn diagram broke the similarities and differences down to make them easily understandable and to the point. Like you mentioned, 504s are usually the next step after a child does not qualify for an IEP and I think that does them justice in itself. By doing so it guarantees that just because a student who may be struggling does not get an IEP, that there are still those working to ensure the child gets the education they are entitled to and deserve.
Hi Rechelle!
ReplyDeleteYour diagram is great and the concise points capture all of the important information that I researched as well. This is a really informative diagram and I think you did a fantastic job at summarizing! I can definitely speak to your last sentence about how general education teachers must use the plans to best meet the needs of the student. One thing that helped me with my enormous amount of IEP/504 students in my classes of 30+ students is creating a check box sheet with all the names on the left and the different accommodations along the top with check marks for each student's listed accommodations. I made this sort of "cheat sheet" to refer back to until I could really memorize and learn each student. This is definitely helpful in test administrations where I needed to know which students had accommodations like calculators or extra time.
Rechelle,
ReplyDeleteYour diagram is great for showing the similarities and differences between the IEP and 504 plans. It is very simple, but concise. I think you did a great job of summarizing each of the plans without going overboard with the huge amounts of details. I think the best thing to remember between these two plans is, if a student does not qualify for an IEP, they may be able to get a 504 plan to get the accommodations they need.