How do you know what accommodations to ask for in a 504 or IEP Meeting Part 1 – Independent versus School evaluations

Having an evaluation independent from what the school offers can come in very handy in getting what you want out of a 504 or IEP meeting. If the school evaluates your child, rather than an independent evaluator not affiliated with the school, the expertise level of the evaluator may not be what you want. Evaluations also tend to be briefer and less thorough with the school administering testing for learning differences. Additionally, and unfortunate for your child, the school may say that accommodations are not needed when they actually are. The school rarely tells a parent that more testing needs to be conducted in order to determine the cause of the learning problems. Another issue is that if you have the school evaluate your child, then the school becomes the authority on what your child needs. This can be a dicey situation to be in whenever you are seeking accommodations.