Our child psychologists specialize in testing and ongoing therapy. They do psychological evaluations for children who are experiencing behavior or learning problems and who need special services from their schools, including gifted children. Some of his areas of expertise include attention deficit, hyperactive disorder, impulse control, autism/Aspergers, development delays.
Testing is important for proper school placement, both gifted and special needs. Many children need 6-8 hours for a comprehensive test, and for children with short attention spans, testing is more accurate when done over several weeks, allowing the child to develop a trusting relationship with the psychologist.
Our psychologists specialize in working with difficult children who have previously failed in therapy. They work with defiant adolescents and quickly have them talking and laughing, even when no other adult has been able to get through to them for many years. One area of expertise is adolescent cutting and/or suicidal ideas.
Section 504 is a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prohibits discrimination based upon disability. Section 504 is an anti-discrimination, civil rights statute that requires the needs of students with disabilities to be met as adequately as the needs of the non-disabled are met.
Section 504 states that: “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 706(8) of this title, shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…” [29 U.S.C. §794(a), 34 C.F.R. §104.4(a)].
Who is covered under Section 504?
To be covered under Section 504, a student must be “qualified ” (which roughly equates to being between 3 and 22 years of age, depending on the program, as well as state and federal law, and must have a disability) [34 C.F.R. §104.3(k)(2)].
If your child is having problems in school, he/she may need to be evaluated for a 504 plan that will provide special services within the classroom. These services can something as simple as sitting in the front row for a child who has vision or hearing problems. A child with attention problems may need a seat closer to the teacher, or in a quieter area of the room. By law, the schools are required to assess children who may need a 504 plan. The catch-22 here is that there is no time limit put on when the school is required to test your child. It could be 6 months, or even a year from now. In the meantime, your child is losing valuable time because he isn’t experiencing an optimal school environment. Without help, he may be experiencing frustration and failure to learn. She may become withdrawn or disruptive. Unnecessary failure and loss of self-esteem can be the outcome of delay. All children having school problems deserve, and need to have an assessment. Don’t let your child fail while you’re waiting for the schools to “do something.” Jeffrey Goidel PhD, Cheer Counseling, is presently taking appointments for 504 testing as early as January 2012. Hurry and call – he fills up quickly.