Hang with me for a second. I will sound weird.
1. How much do the 504 accommodations you request for eligible child typically cost? Estimates are fine especially if they are $0 but do remember to estimate on cost not just cash. Personnel, materials and the like have a value.
2. How much do you reckon the district(s) has/have spent fighting requested 504 accommodations for eligible child? Now, in comparison to how much implementing the requested 504 accommodations cost?
Guest replies are fine, sock accounts, whatev. Watching your butt is never a bad idea.
One last question, a two-parter. How many have utilized assistive technology as part of their 504 accommodation (particularly effective use implemented with fidelity)? How many of you either have, or would use service dogs as part of child's 504 plan if money were not a barrier to using a service dog?
In general.--The term `assistive technology device' means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability.
Please note the 2011 Revised ADA Requirements for Service Animals. The dog must perform tasks related to the disability. State laws may broaden the definition or requirement.
Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
This definition does not affect or limit the broader definition of “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act or the broader definition of “service animal” under the Air Carrier Access Act.
Some State and local laws also define service animal more broadly than the ADA does. Information about such laws can be obtained from the State attorney general’s office.
By the way I'm not advocating service dogs for allergies in schools or discouraging them. All I want to know is what have you done or what would you do if initial cost were not a factor. I'll circle back to why this is all important to kids w/LTFA 504 plans, OCR, DOJ and Title II but if I give too much info it might create a demand artifact in responses.