Press Release: NEW BOOK ON SPECIAL EDUCATION LAW PUBLISHED

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Amazin Blue Press LLC is pleased to announce publication of its new title: SchoolKidsLawyer’s Step-By-Step Guide to Special Education Law: Workbook for Parents, Advocates and Lawyers by Robert C. Thurston, Esq. This 266 page book is a user-friendly guide to assist families of children with disabilities, complete with forms, helpful tips, and links. According to […]

Aggravation in trying to access student records

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As you may know if you have been reading my 2 Things: Special Education Law Tips Newsletter, there are laws which grant access rights to parents of their student’s educational records.  This is especially true when the student is a child with a disability.  Such rights are granted by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act […]

School District Lawyer Tactics May Violate Ethics Rules

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I am an attorney who represents children with disabilities and their families in special education matters. I am also a member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (“COPAA”, www.copaa.org), a national organization of special education lawyers and advocates with the same client base.  Recently, my colleagues and I have witnessed a substantial uptick in very […]

Top Ten Special Ed Law Tips

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Sometimes you just need some quick tips to help you through the maze that is special education law.  Fair enough.  Here are my Top Ten tips for parents and advocates: 1.  Put everything in writing!  Document every single thing you do as it will only help your child and help if you find yourself in a […]

How Common Core is Misguided!

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Since the U.S. Department of Education more or less mandated implementation of the ‘Common Core‘ education standards on a state level, I have seen numerous examples of how such suggested teaching method fails. As a small example, several states have opted out of the Common Core or backed away from some of the assessments associated […]

Ethics Rules You Might Not Know . . .

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I think many, too many, lawyers have forgotten what the ethics rules (“Rules of Professional Conduct”) really say. I encourage every lawyer (especially school district counsel) to go back and read their ethics rules (each state has their own, based on the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct) periodically. This will help them understand that […]

Your Tax Dollars Are Being Used to Deny Education to Disabled Kids

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Many of you probably don’t know there are laws that exist to protect the rights of disabled kids, but perhaps none more important than the special education laws.  I’m quite sure that even fewer of you know that your tax dollars are being used to deny those disabled kids their lawful education and thereby violating […]

What Every Parent Should Know About Mediation

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Since the 1980s, there has been a strong movement toward “alternate dispute resolution” of legal cases. Our court system is overloaded and, as a result, the U.S. Supreme Court has encouraged parties to try to resolve their battles somewhere other than in a courtroom. This is particularly true in special education matters. After parents are […]

Making a Complaint About Your Child’s Special Education

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Your child is not receiving the attention or services he or she needs in school. As a result, your child is doing poorly in school. You’re not even sure of the cause of the problem, but you know something is wrong. What do you do? If you are the parent of a child with special […]

Evaluating a Child for Disability: The Wrong Way and the Right Way

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Article on the wrong way and right way to evaluate a child for a disability is available on Special-Ism.com website at this URL: http://special-ism.com/evaluating-a-child-for-disability-the-wrong-way-and-the-right-way/