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. Ā Fair enough. Ā Here are my Top Ten tips for parents and advocates: 1. Ā PutĀ everything in writing! Ā Document every single thing you do as it will only help your child and help if you find yourself in a […]

Is special education instruction by a paraprofessional legal?

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Recently, I was asked this (not so) hypothetical: “4th grade child has an IEP (high functioning Down Syndrome) and is placed in a life skills classroom. There is one special education teacher and seven aides rotating through the classroom. Ā Reading and math instruction is being solely taught by an aide with the teacher touching base […]

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 […]

How School Districts Have Forgotten What Their Job Is

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I filed a brief in a special education case recently opposing a motion to dismiss the case. Want to share the Introduction as it spells out my view of how school districts (and their insurance companies) are treating kids with disabilities: What is getting lost in the legal gymnastics of the pending motions to dismiss […]

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. Ā 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 ā€œalternate dispute resolutionā€ 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 Childā€™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. Youā€™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/  

Stop the Bullying Madness – That Means YOU, Parents!

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On January 6, 2011, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law one of the toughest anti-bullying civil rights laws in the United States. Ā As with most laws, the creation of the law was the easy part. Ā The difficult part is the enforcement. Ā Most states have anti-bullying laws (some, like New Jersey apply to cyberbullying) […]

The Dangerous Use of the Word ā€œCureā€

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Iā€™m shocked. It takes a lot to shock me these days, but I am admittedly shocked. My alarm has been set off by numerous recent studies into the ā€œcauseā€ of Autism. Iā€™m not alarmed purely because of the research, but rather what it may implicate and the resulting frightening thoughts of how we, as a […]