The 411 on the 504

This one is pretty important for any parent or a student reading these. When my parents would set things up with my teachers, they also put what's called a 504 into effect. This piece of paper gave me the right to extra time on assignments, tests, quizzes, and any accommodations needed to take tests in another room. I in no way used this as much as I really needed to.

I had so much pride that I didn't want anyone knowing this either. I would always hear it play out in my head-

"Why does Gabby get to go take her test somewhere else??"

"Where's Gabby's quiz??"

There was an incident I remember more than others. It was in 4th grade. We were correcting a quiz, we always passed them in some random order to each other. Our teacher was reading off the answers. We were on #9, then we were on #19. WTF?? I had blacked out for ten mother effing questions!!! I raised my hand, and softly said "Ms. Spaulding, can we go back to numbers 9-19?"

Immediately, the whole class room went "UUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH! Pay attention Gabby!!"

My teacher got them to shut up and was cool about going over them again. She was one of my favorites. Then after school, I would go home and cry about what happened. I was so embarrassed. I didn't want to go to school the next day but knew that wasn't an option.

Academically, I was a very good student in Elementary School and Jr. High. I just had to work three times as hard. Once I started High School and ventured to College, I struggled in various areas. Math was the big one. Testing was a struggle, I know it's meant to measure your knowledge and intelligence but frankly I just couldn't test! If you had a conversation with me you wouldn't understand how my test scores sucked. Overall in High School I was able to get very good grades but college was a whole other level. I won't jump ahead though.

The point of this post is that the little piece of paper was valid for me to use each year I was in school. I used it less than 10 times in my entire educational career. Just because I was stubborn and embarrassed.

There's so much more awareness and support surrounding epilepsy that I strongly encourage students to use it as much as you need to!! Our brains just process things differently and then we have medication(s) to add to the equation. It's your right and deserve to have any accommodations you need to get the most out of your education.

Here is the link that gives more information about the 504 Plan:

504 Link

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