Jean

Posted on 11/07/09

I'm wondering if you can help me with a question. Last
spring, my teenage daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy
(complex partial seizures w/chance of tonic-clonic) and
missed a lot of days due to epilepsy and migraine
headaches. Although I've never presented a note about her
anxiety, she has suffered from anxiety since she was very
little. My daughter was put "under the umbrella of a 504"
and we were to finalize the 504 in the fall. This former
A/B student barely squeaked by in some of her classes.
During the summer, my daughter did well on her medication -
no seizures and only a few migraines as the new school year
approached. Unfortunately, she accidentally took her old
meds instead of her new meds. By the time we caught it and
were able to correct it, she had already missed a lot of
school. She got sinusitis on top of the migraines she got
from the meds mix-up and that was treated with an
antibiotic. During this time, the school counselor
recommended that my daughter switch to taking her two
classes that she needs to graduate on-line, so we did
that. We left it that she'd still attend audited and other
non-consequential classes all day on every other day and
only 1/4 of a day on alternate days. Unfortunately, she
didn't make it to those classes and she fell behind in her
online classes, because she then developed depression and
slept most of the day.

She hates taking online classes (says she feels lonely and
there is too much work) and she wants to return to taking
all of her classes at school. Her new psychologist said
she will support this if my daughter is sure it is what she
wants. The problem is that I don't know if we can get it.
My daughter said the school counselor has told her that she
has already missed too many days, she is too far behind in
on-campus credit classes to catch up, and the school
counselor says that she thinks my daughter shouldn't return
to campus (for her required classes) at all this year.

If my daughter (who is now 18) wants to switch her online
required classes back to on-campus, can she do so? Is the
law that the schools are required to give students an
education in our favor, or can they say they already *are*
giving her an education - just online and that they have
the right to choose how to educate her? The second quarter
just began a week ago and my daughter thinks she could
switch back to campus courses for that quarter and then go
back and make-up the missed online classes from the first
quarter. Does anyone know how we can help my daughter with
all of this? We're to meet with the counselor and admin.
this week and I'm afraid they're going to say they don't
want her to come back to school at all - and I'm not even
sure if a phone call from the psychologist will be enough
to change their minds. I'm afraid denial will plummet my
daughter further into depression. When I asked about
finalizing the 504, the counselor told me that it wasn't a
good time to do so, because she wouldn't have any idea of
what to ask for.

Do they *have* to let her transfer all of her classes back
to campus if we say we want that? Nobody knows whether or
not my daughter will still have problems or not. She has
managed to get up and go to school only two days this week,
and she rose at a respectable time again today. She just
began anti-depressant, anti-anxiety meds., too - and they
might be helping now. But do we have to show the school
over a long period of time that my daughter can make it to
her classes, or not?
-Jean

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