How School Districts Have Forgotten What Their Job Is

0 Comments

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

0 Comments

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

0 Comments

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

0 Comments

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

0 Comments

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/  

Tales from the Front – Actual (Illegal) Statements Made by School Personnel

0 Comments

I did a seminar recently. My seminar was on what to expect at an IEP/504 meeting. Here are some of the comments I heard from parents spoken to them by school districts: “We are at our quota of eligible disabled students already. We can’t have more.” “Evaluations must be done in the summer time.” “Your […]

Stop the Bullying Madness – That Means YOU, Parents!

0 Comments

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) […]

When Is It Time to Contact a Special Education Lawyer?

0 Comments

When is it time to hire a special education lawyer? Iā€™ll explain how to keep this from being a $64,000 question. Iā€™ll answer this question in a moment, but the first thing to understand is the special education process. Understanding the Special Education Process Briefly, the process usually follows these steps: (1) either the parent […]

The Dangerous Use of the Word ā€œCureā€

0 Comments

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 […]

Are Special Education Advocates Performing UPL (Unauthorized Practice of Law)?

0 Comments

The answer to the question posed in the title is, typically, lawyerly – it depends. What is the “practice of law”? “Unauthorized practice of law (UPL)”? First, let’s discuss what is the “practice of law” and “UPL”. Ā Virtually every licensed occupation is regulated by the State. Ā For example, in Pennsylvania, the Bureau of Professional and […]