Special Education Law and Advocacy
Before I answer the question in the title, let me share a true story. I appeared before a special ed hearing officer on behalf of a child with a disability – let’s call the child Chris (changed to protect identity). Chris has severe learning disabilities and is far behind age-equivalent peers. Chris does not do […]
There is a common belief among the education community that education theory is evolving. Ph.D.s and school administrators keep thinking up new ways to ‘improve’ our education system, for example ‘common core’ and ‘standardized testing’. Problem with that theory is we are graduating more children from the K-12 system now who do not have the […]
Recently, I have heard (far too many) stories from parents that the schools are taking away services from their child and/or denying providing services because the school does not believe the child’s diagnosis. This is wrong and illegal on so many levels, but I will adress the three (3) most important reasons why schools should […]
A client recently told me they received a notice for an “evaluation meeting”. Huh? I asked, do you mean an IEP meeting? The client wasn’t sure because the notice said just that – evaluation meeting. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN EVALUATION MEETING! Since I figured school districts are trying to confuse parents by […]
A new tactic being used by schools against parents of children with disabilities is to require / funnel all communications with the school through one person, usually the case manager. We’ve seen numerous questions by parents if this is illegal or whether parents can request two-way communication be listed as an accommodation in the IEP. […]
Recently I was asked to explain what a “reasonable accommodation” is. The person put the question in some context: Their child’s “special education school thinks a table in classroom with curtain is a reasonable accommodation for his bathroom needs. The class is coed teenagers with different cognitive and physical abilities.” I doubt this is a […]
Recent Blog Comments