Frequent  Questions that Teachers or parents may have about 504 placement:        1.  What makes a student qualify under 504? A student is considered to have a disability if that person has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of the person's life activity….  In our setting that life activity is learning most of the time.  2.  What does it mean to be substantially limited? A student is unable to perform a major life activity that the average person in the general population can perform or is significantly restricted as to the condition, manner, or duration in which an individual can perform a particular life activity as compared to the condition, manner or duration under which the average person in the general population can perform that same major life activity.     3.      How do we determine substantial limitation?  Ask is the impairment mild or severe?    Does the impairment result in failure or the student's not achieving near expected levels?  Does it impact a major life activity?  How? 4.      How do I implement the accommodation plan for a student in my classroom? The accommodation plan is based on the need to access curriculum in a way that places the student on the same playing field as those students he may be compared to.  It is not reducing level of work, but for example, rather giving extra time for completion, allowing them ways to correct spelling errors before counting off,  if a child has spelling difficulty then they may be able to review their review cards just before testing so that they can go over any difficult spelling concepts…, then the errors can be graded.    They are still going to be made accountable to pass the TAAKS so anything that is going to be on that standardized testing should be first taught in the classroom setting then a student can be allowed to seek out further help with that concept by going to learning lab.  Testing in the Learning lab environment may or may not be applicable for the student.  If they are able and capable of testing without any accommodations they should do that.  If they have testing accommodations on their standardized testing they should be given the opportunity to test accordingly, they can choose to not use that accommodation, but it needs to be noted so that decisions in their re-qualification can be made on accommodations in the future. 5.      Can a student that is in 504 be in an advance course?    How do I provide accommodations for that student?  The answer is yes that student can participate in any activity that is allowed for the general public.  Accommodations that the student uses on a regular basis in the general classes can be applied to an advance course, but once the student begins an advanced class no additional accommodations can be added.  504 is not designed to give an advantage, just allow the student that have a disability to be on the same playing field.   It is like giving the student the correct equipment to play football.   The student may work really hard to perform at the level of their peers, but that does not necessarily mean that there is a substantial limitation.