AndreaM., sorry, another Canadian just popping in here. I see that you're not really getting what you're asking for in this thread. I'd like to suggest why. If you look at Rilira's 504 Plan, the 26 points, she has really taken care of every single thing and I don't think you will find anyone posting that has a better, more defined 504 Plan for their child.
If I was American and wanting to know where to start, I would simply take the 26 points that Rilira outlined and present them to my child's school. End of story.
Morgansmom has offered to send you a copy of her school plan for her daughter, even though it is a Canadian plan. I would like to say that I have seen it. It is very similar to my son's, but Morgansmom has also fine tuned it really well and has gotten wonderful safety measures implemented for her child.
I went with a blanket school board policy which ensured a "peanut free" classroom for my son. After reading Rilira's 504 Plan, I was ashamed of myself. I am actually supposed to contact Morgansmom with a copy of my school board policy's plan so she can fine tooth comb it for me.
What I'm trying to say, is, if someone is offering you the very best of what is out there (or on here) as far as 504 Plans, then simply take that. I wouldn't worry about comparing the 504 Plans of each and every PA parent here who has one. Some of them may have thought of all of the points that Rilira did, some may not have.
I know this can all seem terribly overwhelming and obviously, even though my son is in his second year of school (SK), I am still working on this. As I said, I simply accepted a blanket school board policy. I don't have nearly as many safety measures in my policy as Rilira has in her 504 Plan for her daughter or as Morgansmom has for her daughter. And yet, Morgansmom's school board's policy is very similar to mine. That's why I need her to look it over for me.
I know that you probably want to do the work for yourself, but if there is a really good plan already here, why not simply use it and thank the person who wrote it and did the work on your behalf?
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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I'm sorry. The only other way I can see you getting a "proper" answer to what you're asking is actually going through Rilira's plan, point by 26 point, and asking other PA parents to respond to that. For example, Point 1 - outline what Point 1 is - do you feel you need this - why? why not?
This would be terribly time and board consuming. I also believe it wouldn't accomplish anything because then you do have comfort zones, etc. coming into it.
You had mentioned that you had an initial 504 Plan written up. How does it compare to Rilira's? Did you adjust Rilira's to meet your comfort zones?
The whole thing again I'm trying to say is that you may not see everything that you need to see. For example, I never thought about my son using drinking fountains at school.
His teacher actually had. I never thought about the soap not being safe. Thanks to Rilira's 504 Plan and reading thereof, I contacted the principal to find out if all cleaning supplies used in his classroom and the soap in the bathroom were "safe". They are.
Now, these are two examples of things that never even occurred to me to request for my son. I don't know why. I just didn't think about it. Well, Rilira had. She very graciously and painstakingly posted her 504 Plan on this board for all of us to access.
Also, because I believe her plan encompasses pretty well everything, I feel that's what you have to ask for for your child also. So, you don't mention the soap in your 504. What happens if the soap turns out not to be "safe"? The school could not be held accountable.
Please, don't worry about comfort zones and a certain school with certain teachers, routines, procedures. Take either Rilira's 504 Plan or Morgansmom's plan and run with it!
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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Cindy, thanks and that was my entire point!
You got it exactly but stopped a little too short. For example: I have a friend whose daughter is highly airborne PA and in the 4th grade. The mother is very active with her daughter's school and constantly updating the 504. Not too long ago a substitute teacher in an adjacent classroom did the peanut butter bird feeder activity with the classroom door open. A very conscientious 4th grader left the room prior to the PA child and had mind enough to slam the door shut and scream "peanuts" to protect her classmate. This PA child is "off the charts" and the exposure could have killed her. I believe the change to the 504 was to not allow peanut butter projects into the adjacent room.
My point is that a situation like this could arise the first day of first grade. This experienced mother never thought to add it to the 504 until the incident happened. Will I add this to my 504? Probably not because my daughter is not "off the charts". But there are others who may read this blurb and may say, "Geez, I never thought of that." It's not banning peanuts from the adjacent room but peanut butter projects. That can't be too difficult to get.
Rhila's plan was very good, I'll agree. What I meant by knowing routines, teachers, procedures, etc, was just to make a point that this was brand new to me...a child in school that is. Is Rhila's plan missing something? Again, it's excellent, but I bet if a bunch of people posted incidents like the above, you might find that Rhila's is missing something you just discovered was critical to yours that you never thought of.
On one hand I feel like I'm making too much of this but then I look at the 504 I'm working on and I say I can't be. As, I stated in a previous post, I know the 504 is a work in progress and will remain one throughout her school career. But why would I just cover the basics when there are others out there with more and different experiences that could help us have a safe school experience?
Am I misunderstanding you?
I will be taking Rhonda's advice and ordering the manual. I like the idea of having examples cited.
Thanks for your input.
Andrea