There are three prongs the 504 team must consider when determining eligibility for a 504 Plan.
The first prong is a diagnosed mental or physical impairment/disability. The diagnosis can come from a physician or the school can evaluate. Section 504 defines a person with a disability as any person who:
1) Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; or
2) Has a record of such an impairment; or
3) Be regarded as having such impairment. Generally, schools focus on the first one as the other two are most often seen in the work place.
The second prong to be considered by the school eligibility team is whether the impairment substantially limits a major life function. Examples of major life functions are: seeing, hearing, breathing, thinking, walking, caring for oneself, sleeping, learning, speaking, reading, concentrating, communicating, performing manual tasks, bending, lifting, major bodily functions (such as respiratory, digestive, immune system).
Substantially limits refers to the “condition, manner or duration” in which the student performs the identified major life activity with respect to “most people in the general population.”
When we consider this prong, we take out mitigating measures, such as medications, the use of assistive technology, psychological/behavioral therapy, or reasonable accommodations already in place.
The third prong to be considered is the need for a plan. The team puts the mitigating measures back into the equation and considers the students’ access needs.
A student may be eligible in the first two prongs, but may not be in need of accommodations beyond those available to the general school population (and, therefore, not need a 504 Plan). Some students will still have additional needs to access their education and be in need of a 504 Plan, while others may not have a need at that time as medication or common accommodations are able to assist them. The 504 team may reconvene at anytime if circumstances change to determine if the team needs to reconsider a 504 Plan for the student.
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