Special Education Law and Advocacy
Since the 1980s, there has been a strong movement toward āalternate 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 […]
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. Youāre 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 […]
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/
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 […]
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 hire a special education lawyer? Iāll explain how to keep this from being a $64,000 question. Iāll 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 […]
Iām 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 ācauseā of Autism. Iām not alarmed purely because of the research, but rather what it may implicate and the resulting frightening thoughts of how we, as a […]
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 […]
There is a bad reputation out there for special education lawyers, advocates and parents of special education kids. Ā The reputation is that we hate all school teachers and those who work in the schools and we are simply out for vengeance. I’m going to focus this post on the misrepresentation that I must hate teachers […]
I’ve had a lot of people ask me lately if I provide free legal services or if I can take their case for free. Ā The answers are: (1) Yes, I do pro bono (free legal) work through South Jersey Legal Services (www.lsnj.org/sjls); Ā and (2) No, if you can afford a mechanic, HVAC repairman or doctor, […]
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