Nonacademic and Extracurricular Activities
Parent Question: Nonacademic and Extracurricular activities
Participation in extracurricular opportunities provide important health and social benefits to all students. Some students, however, do not attend these extracurricular activities because parents are led to believe that special education services are not provided for these activities because they are not “academic” or within school hours.
🏈It could be 3rd grade flag football.
🏃♂️High School Cross Country.
🌟The after school recreational class run by the school PE teacher.
📚Interest in Joining chess club?
🎨Try an art class, or participate in school council?
🎭Or, does your child love drama, but has Dyslexia and cannot read the scripts?
The Federal regulations provide a list of nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, which include sports, counseling services, transportation, health services, recreational activities, or clubs / groups sponsored by the school. Further, the Massachusetts regulations state that all students receiving special education must have an equal opportunity to participate in non-academic and extracurricular programs of the school. When discussing these nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, your school must ensure that each child with a disability participates with nondisabled children in extracurricular services and activities to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of that child. And, the school must ensure that each child with a disability has the supplementary aids and services determined by the child's IEP Team to be appropriate and necessary for the child to participate in nonacademic settings. This means schools must provide your student with the help he or she needs to be involved in these activities, and these activities, as well as the supplementary aids and services, must be in your child’s IEP.
To note: because a student “qualifies” as a student with a disability does not mean that the student must be allowed to participate in any selective or competitive program offered by a school district. Schools may require a certain skill level or ability in order to participate in a competitive program. So long as the selection or competition criteria are not discriminatory, your child is required to tryout/audition like all students. Your student does, however, have the right to tryout with *needed* supports.
Meet with the IEP team, including any school staff involved in the after-school program, to discuss your child and the supports and services necessary for success. If an after-school or before-school program is run by the school, then all students must have access. If a student has an aide during school as specified in his or her IEP, the school must provide an aide for the extracurricular program. Do not let the school tell you that you child cannot attend a program unless *you* accompany your child. Likewise, do not let the school inform you their obligation is over when the school bell rings. Every student with a disability, and this means a student on an IEP OR a 504 plan, has the right to access not only the school curriculum, but has the right to equal opportunity to the non-academic and extracurricular programs of the school. �#FAPE #IEP #iepmeeting #dyslexia #autism #ADHD #extracurricularactivities #504plan #schoolsponsored #specialeducationadvocate #specialeducation #returntoschool See: 603 CMR §28.06(5); 34 CFR §104.37 (a)(1); 34 CFR § 300.117; 34 CFR § 300.107; 34 CFR § 300.42 https://www2.ed.gov/.../ocr/letters/colleague-201301-504.pdf