504, IEP or Health Plan: Path-Finder

Five questions about your child and your school day. A map fills in as you answer, so you can see what you have established and where the decision is heading. At the end you get the document that fits, who to send the request to, and a letter already filled in with your answers.

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The five questions

1. Does the school have a seizure diagnosis from your child's provider, in writing?
2. Is epilepsy affecting learning, or mainly safety and access?
3. Does the teaching itself need to change, or only the conditions around it?
4. Does your child need medication or a seizure response during the school day?
5. Is your child missing school?

Questions 2 and 3 decide which education plan the tool points you at. Question 4 decides what Minnesota's seizure law owes you on top of that. Questions 1 and 5 shape the letter.

What comes out

A Section 504 plan is the fit when learning is on track and what your child needs is the school day arranged safely around epilepsy. An IEP is the fit when the teaching itself has to change, which is special education under IDEA. When your answers point both ways, the tool tells you to ask for both in one letter and let the evaluation sort it out. If you are not sure yet, it says so and writes the evaluation request anyway.

Every result carries the same point about health documents. A seizure action plan under Minn. Stat. 121A.24 runs alongside whatever education plan you get, and it is not a substitute for one. A plan written by the school nurse tells staff what to do for the body. Only a 504 plan or an IEP makes a support legally enforceable as an education right.

The result screen also gives you the recipient, how to phrase the request, what to do if the district says no, and a list of what to bring to the meeting. Minnesota evaluation timelines are set in state rule and they change, so the tool asks the district for its deadline in writing rather than printing a number.

Full detail is in Your Child's Rights.

General information, not legal advice

Only your school's evaluation team can decide what your child is eligible for. For free legal help in Minnesota, contact the Minnesota Disability Law Center at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, 612-334-5970 or 1-800-292-4150. Confirm current Minnesota evaluation timelines at education.mn.gov.

About this tool

• One HTML file with inline SVG, so it works offline and on a phone.
• Learning objective: tell the three documents apart and leave with a written request ready to send.
• Source chapter: Your Child's Rights