Anyone here who just had a 504 plan in school?

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I'm trying to decide whether I should get her on a 504 plan, or seek sped services for my daughter who was just diagnosed with PDD-NOS. My daughter is in her last year of preschool, and she's been doing wonderfully. Neuropsych doesn't feel I'd need to seek an eval through the school district for special education, but I was thinking about getting a 504 plan just so she could get some pragmatic speech, since there is a speech teacher in every classroom anyway (public preschool), and so she won't have to go through more tests via the school district (she's been tested to death). Her main issue is variable eye contact and stereotypical motor movements. The neuropsych said if it weren't for those two things, she would not have qualified PDD-NOS. She showed great social reciprocity in play, but it was decreased in conversation. She was sick that day as well, and didn't want to have any part of the testing. The neuropsych said she showed some symptoms of Aspergers, but she does not have any preoccupations, she initiates conversation...so on and so on. Neuropsych said if everything got better, and she continued to do well socially and academically, there's no need to retest her (once the PDD-NOS label goes away). If she starts showing more symptoms, I can have her retested.

Advice?

I actually recommended the 504 for my 13-year-old Asperger's kid (He is the kid that I mentor through Big Brothers program). The only difference is that he doesn't have to do all their "crap" social skills lessons with less than qualified "experts". This (in turn) saves his sanity and keeps him from having meltdowns all the time.

WIN/WIN

That's awesome! Thanks for your response.

Yes, I was a special education teacher. When I had my little girl, I resigned so I could stay home with her. I remember the 30 minutes a week social skills class that our team leader provided for some of the kids...really didn't amount to much in comparison to learning out in the real world or through private programs. When my daughter was born, I started considered homeschooling (which I never thought I'd consider) for the future. I'm still weighing that option, but not sure if this diagnosis should change things. I let the neuropsych know that I was considering it, and she thought it would be great for her academically, but thought socially it might be better to be in a classroom day after day with a set group of kids. I'm not sure. Maybe she's correct, but I just think about all the issues that some of my students had and it's hard for me not to want to homeschool. I wouldn't keep her locked away of course...I live in a big city, so there are lots of places that have designated days set aside just for homeschooled kids (Little Gym, swimming, music classes, art classes, social groups, museums). I'm still not sure though...maybe there is an advantage to being with the same kids day after day.