A school must be convinced that your child is suffering from an impairment that is substantially limiting a “major life activity” for your child. Key Tip: Schools are not legally required to evaluate your child based upon your request alone. Your first step is to meet with your child’s teacher and an administrator so you can request a 504 Evaluation. Schools typically determine services on a case-by-case basis when a disability isn’t permanent. In the 2008 ADA Amendments Act, Congress deemed a “transitory impairment” one that does or is anticipated to last less than six months. Today, school districts can no longer consider “mitigating measures” as part of their 504 evaluations.Īn extended illness that keeps your child out of school for anything longer than a week (again, not including ailments such as the flu) will almost certainly enable your child to receive some sort of accommodation. Districts sometimes argued that such measures solved the problem, and thus no further accommodation was required. Key Fact: Before 2009, school districts could determine that “mitigating measures” that a child used to aid her impairment (such as an oxygen tank) disqualified her from Section 504. What is important is whether or not the illness “causes a substantial limitation on the student’s ability to learn or complete another major life activity.” Major life activities are defined by the law rather broadly and include: eating, sleeping, standing, lifting, reading, concentrating, thinking, and communicating, as well as experiencing normal immune system function and cell growth. In the eyes of the law, the type of illness from which your child suffers is not particularly important. As a federal law, it extends to students at all schools that receive federal funding (private schools, while possibly exempt from Section 504, are still governed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which enforces the same standards). Section 504 governs all school-aged children - even into college, though it operates differently at the postsecondary level. That accommodation is governed by federal law, specifically Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (amended in 2008). If your child suffers from an extended illness, and if that illness is impairing her normal education, then what your child requires is some level of accommodation from the school. What if your child is beset with a long-term illness, however? Read on to find out what you can do to facilitate and safeguard your child’s education. They can assign appropriate homework to keep your child up to date. If your child is out sick for a short period of time and will recover fully, your best bet is to contact the school and your child’s teachers. Let’s make a distinction at the start: There is a great deal of difference between how schools approach a week or two of absence from an illness like the flu, and how schools approach a chronic illness that keeps a child out of class for months (at a time or cumulatively). If your child is ill at home (or in the hospital) for any great length of time, you’ll probably soon start to worry about your child’s education. A chronic illness can be trying for an adult for a child, it’s both heartbreaking and anxiety-inducing. Few challenges are as difficult as an illness that lingers or, in some cases, may never go away.
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