Originally published by Dyslexia Directions.
The basic overview is that an IEP (individualized education plan) means that the student will usually be pulled out of their regular classroom to be taught a separate curriculum in a resource room with about 4-6 other students. They must qualify to get on an IEP based on assessments that the school psychologist will do to determine that the student is not succeeding with the regular curriculum that the other students are receiving.
A 504 plan is where the student stays in their classroom and gets the same curriculum as their peers, but with accommodations. For a dyslexic learner, some typical accommodations might include:
being allowed to use voice dictation to type their papers
using audiobooks to read their book
being able to have extra time to finish an assignment or test
To qualify for a 504 plan, a student must have a diagnosed disability or *assumed* to have a disability. This type of plan is much more flexible and usually fairly easy to get set up rather quickly.
To get more detailed information about this, please contact your child’s special education teacher or department at the local school.