Definitions

Accommodations: are changes made to remove disability-related barriers so that students have equal access to learning and school activities and equal opportunity to participate and demonstrate skills and knowledge.  An accommodation  allows a student to complete the same assignment or test as other students, but with a change in the timing, formatting, setting, scheduling, response and/or presentation. This accommodation does not alter in any significant way what the test or assignment measures.

Section 504 Service Plan:  A document that details those accommodations, related aids, or services  identified for an individual learner.

Child Find: Districts have an obligation to identify, locate and evaluate children with disabilities, between the ages of 3 and 22, residing within the district.

Curricular Adaptations: Curricular adaptations are changes permissible in educational environments, which allow students equal opportunity to obtain access, results, benefits and levels of achievement.  These adaptations consist of both accommodations and modifications.

Extracurricular Activities: Section 504 requires districts to provide access to nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, including counseling services, sports and physical education, field trips, school-sponsored clubs and activities, school health services, after school activities, and school employment.

Evaluation: Section 504 requires the 504 Team to "draw upon information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, teacher recommendations, physical condition, social and cultural background, and adaptive behavior." [34 CFR 104.35 (c)].  The evaluation must be documented in a written report.

Free and Appropriate Education (FAPE):  Section 504 defines FAPE as "the provision of regular or Special Education and related aids and services that... are designed  to  meet  the  individual  educational  needs  of persons with disabilities as adequately  as the needs of persons without disabilities are  met  and... upon  adherence   to specified procedures."   Section  504 requires  districts  to  "provide  for  the  education  of  each  qualified handicapped  person  in  its jurisdiction  with  persons  who  are  not handicapped to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the handicapped person".  [34 CFR 104.34 (a)]

Individual with  a Disability: As defined by Section 504, is a person who

1. has  a physical  or  mental  impairment  that  substantially  limits  one  or more  major  life  activities;
2. has  a  record  of  such  impairment;  or 
3. is regarded as having such an impairment". [34 CFR 104.3(j)]  Students who meet the first definition are entitled to a FAPE.  Students who meet definitions 2 and/or 3 are not entitled to a FAPE, but are entitled to protection from discrimination. 

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA):   A federal funding statute that provides financial aid to states to ensure a free, appropriate public education to qualified students with disabilities.

Least Restrictive Environment: Section 504 requires qualified students to be placed "in the regular educational environment...unless it is demonstrated... that the education of the person in the regular environment with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily." [34 CFR 104.34(a)]

Major  Life  Activity: Major life activities, as defined in the Section 504 regulations include functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Additional examples of general activities that are major life activities, including eating, sleeping, standing, lifting, bending, reading, concentrating, thinking, and communicating.  Congress also provided a non-exhaustive list of examples of “major bodily functions” that are major life activities, such as the functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions.  The Section 504 regulatory provision is not exclusive, and an activity or function not specifically listed in the Section 504 regulatory provision can nonetheless be a major life activity.

Mental Impairment:  Section   504  defines  mental  impairment   as  "any mental or psychological  disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome,  emotional  or mental  illness,  and  specific  learning  disabilities." [34 CFR 104 (j)(1)]

MMitigating Measures: Mitigating measures are devices or practices that a person uses to correct or reduce the effects of that person's mental or physical impairment.  In determining whether a student has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits that student in a major life activity, the District must not consider the ameliorating effects of any mitigating measures that student is using.  Congress did not define the term “mitigating measures” but rather provided a non-exhaustive list of “mitigating measures” as follows: medication; medical supplies, equipment or appliances; low-vision devices (which do not include ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses); prosthetics (including limbs and devices); hearing aids and cochlear implants or other implantable hearing devices; mobility devices; oxygen therapy equipment and supplies; use of assistive technology; reasonable accommodations or auxiliary aids or services; and learned behavioral or adaptive neurological modifications.

 

the ameliorative effects of the mitigating measures of ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses shall be considered in determining if an impairment substantially limits a major life activity.  “Ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses” are lenses that are intended to fully correct visual acuity or eliminate refractive error, whereas “low-vision devices” (listed above) are devices that magnify, enhance, or otherwise augment a visual image.

 

Modifications:  Instructional   material   is fundamentally   or substantially altered or   grading is  altered.  The student ultimately will master similar material or a similar concept of the same concept/materials. A modification to an assignment, test, or other instructional material is an adjustment that substantially changes the standard, what the test or assignment is supposed to measure, or the grading being used.

Office for Civil Rights (OCR):   OCR is the federal agency overseeing  the implementation  of Section  504 and  is responsible for  investigating complaints, conducting compliance reviews, and providing technical assistance.

Physical Impairment:  Section 504 defines physical impairment as "any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological; musculoskeletal; special sense organs; cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive; genitourinary; hemic and lymphatic; skin or endocrine." [34 CFR 104 (j)(1)]

Procedural Safeguards: Parents of students enrolled in Special Education or receiving Section 504 services are provided certain rights.

Program Accessibility: Section 504 requires districts to ensure that programs and activities are accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities.

Qualified Disabled Person: Any individual who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially  limits one or major life activities. 

Educational Record: Educational records are those documents directly related to the student and that are maintained by the District. 

Response to Intervention (RtI): The RtI process helps schools to identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress and outcomes, provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions while in a general education environment.  Depending on the student’s responsiveness to those tiered interventions, RtI assists in identifying students with learning disabilities or other disabilities. RtI generally has three tiers of intervention. 

Section 504 of  the  Rehabilitation Act  of 1973: A federal civil right statute that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and provides otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities the right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

Section 504 Coordinator: Each school district is required to identify the district employee who is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the district's policies and practices as they relate to compliance with Section 504 regulations.

Section 504 Team: Section 504 requires that a group of persons, including persons knowledgeable about the child, the meaning of the evaluation data, and placement options, are responsible for determining Section 504 eligibility and services.

Services: Services may include regular or special education and related aids and services that are designed to meet individual educational needs of students with disabilities as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students.

Student Study Team (SST): A school site team may be made up of teachers, counselors, school psychologist, administrator, in addition to the student identified at-risk and the student's parents. The team convenes to assist/support the individual   learning needs of the student. The SST reviews student progress, recommends additional interventions and may provide evaluative procedures.