Special Education Law Blog
A special education legal resource discussing case law, news, practical advocacy advice, and developments in state and federal laws, statutes and regulations. Postings include insight and sometimes humor from Charles P. Fox, a Chicago, Illinois attorney who is also a parent of child with special needs, and other guest authors.
RtI despite its frequent inservicing and discussions appears to be an elusive topic for many schools. Parents need to understand RtI if they are to effectively advocate for a meaningful process to take place for their child. The following guidance is a useful guidance document from NCLD.
The presidential election is more than one year away but is never too early to learn about the candidate's positions on matters related to education and special education. As it appears likely that Mitt Romney is the likely Republican candidate his positions bear particular scrutiny. In a recent newspaper interview with a traditionally Republican New Hampshire paper (e-edition), Romney made the following statements: "In a Romney administration, he said, the federal responsibility for public education from kindergarten through Grade 12 would be limited to providing data to the states. “The federal government being a funder of state and local education is not in my opinion a necessary responsibility,” he said. Special education “is a choice we can make, but it doesn't necessarily strike me as a responsibility of the federal government. It could be a responsibility of state governments.” He said, however, that the federal government traditionally “picks up some portion of funding for special education, and I'm not proposing eliminating that or shifting that to the states. But it's not constitutionally required that the federal government deals with special education or other education programs.” While these statements are not clear at all, and he seems to be taking the position […]
Suicide is a serious and widespread issue for many students and in turn schools. Unfortunately the magnitude of this issue is sometimes only realized after a death occurs or even more than one. Administrators and principals in the Coeur d’Alene School District recently held a management retreat to address the issue of suicide prevention. The special session was the result of four tragic suicides committed students within the district in the past 15 months. One of the saddest things about this brief blurb in the local paper was the comment posted to the newspaper’s online website, which said, “Why are we coddling these people and using taxpayer money to do it? School is only to teach the 3 R’s, nothing more. And only through the 6th grade, then these parasites are on their own!” [Can only hope this person is not a parent or at least has no children under his roof!] The callousness of the writer, who is clearly fortunate to not have had loved ones struggle with suicide or mental illness, is stunning. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens and young adults from 15 to 24 […]
Many of the same obstacles that exist in traditional bricks and mortar classrooms, are carried over to the virtual or e-learning environment. Given tight budgets and other constraints, virtual learning will have greater appeal to school districts, but it is not a easy fit for many students with special needs. Critical technological, accessibility and curricular issues need to be worked out. While I am a big proponent of technology, I have not yet found the virtual learning world to be a good fit for my son and many of the students I represent. The following blog post is review of some of the current research and issues that pertain to virtual learning.
Anyone who has helped a teenager through the college selection process knows what an extraordinary stressful time it can be. The competition among the students (and their parents!) is breathtaking. My husband and I found it extremely difficult with our oldest son, who is a strong, “traditional” student. But to navigate the college selection process with a special needs student is a whole different ball game with an entirely different bucket list of worries and “to-do’s.” I know that we are blessed that we were even able to consider college for our now 18-year-old son, because only about a third of students with disabilities attend college according to the US Department of Education in 2003 . Whereas public high schools are required by law to provide individualized educations for students with special needs, colleges are required to make only “reasonable accommodations” for qualified students. What this means varies wildly from school to school, and there is a lack of terminology to describe support programs offered by colleges. According to the Wall Street Journal, at a minimum, schools will offer “basic programs,” which offer only the accommodations required by law; eg, un-timed testing or note-taking help. “Coordinated services” provide at least […]
For many parents and students August means that thoughts turn to back-to-school sales on clothes and school supplies. While those items are on the minds of parents of students with special needs, they often have much weightier things on their minds; how to make this school year experience significantly better and different than last year. At the annual review IEP at the end of last school year, schools often make promises that the issues from last year or the unmet goals will be accomplished, or progress will be made, next (school) year. Well it is time to make good on those promises and representations, as this year IS next year. Those promises need to have more meaning than the average New Year’s resolution. Here are my thoughts on some things to consider, as an attorney who practices in the area of special education law, at the start of this new school year:
The following is a blog from Marilyn Green-Rebnord, who has been a court appointed special advocate or CASA. In this role she has provided invaluable help to families trying to navigate the special education system. She was also one of the founders and moving forces behind Special Kids, Special Families that for more than a decade provided excellent advice, support and presentations on various topics to help families. While Special Kids has now disbanded she continues to help families as a CASA and working part-time in my office.
I have recently run into a series of IEP teams that all seem to have been making the same claim that students with intellectual challenges can not learn to read beyond the most rudimentary level. When faced with lack of progress even on IEP goals, I am told that students "like that" just do not progress. It is enough to make my head explode when faced with the bias of low expectations. Schools feel that they have a literacy loophole that negates any need to show progress on a basic area of academic developement–literacy. Pam Labellarte, an experienced special advocate and a parent of a child with Downs Syndrome who works for me, authored the following first person account of her struggle with school to recognize that her daughter can read if taught appropriately, and her wonderful success in recent years with the SLANT method. At the end of the first person account is her tutor's Masters thesis on her work with SLANT with students with Downs and her data. It is good stuff and should help in the future when faced with the same argument that students like that can not learn to read.
Humor is usually an area of the blog that I leave to my wife's column High Stakes Jesting, but the following just came across my desk and it struck me as quite funny and wanted to share it. Under the heading of "Anger Management" a local school district just emailed the following lesson overview, which is excerpted below: " Here is an example of how you might practice these steps with your child at home: You hear a shriek from the family room. You find your child near tears because Henry, the family dog, just ran through your child's board game. You say, "Remember to stop and think. Ask yourself how your body feels. I can tell that you're angry. Calm down. Remember what you said to yourself when you needed to calm down the other day? Try saying those things again. Now that you're calm, let's go through the problem-solving steps you learned to see if we can keep Henry from messing up your game the next time." … At-home activity idea: Write each of the calming-down methods on a small piece of paper. Fold each piece and place all in a container. Present your child with a pretend […]
Since IDEA 2004 became the law one topic that has been troubling parents is the prospect of the school district shifting fees to parents when they file due process. In an Arizona case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that since the parents' claim could have resulted in remedies in their favor their claim was sound and there could be no fee shifting. The parents lost the due process but were not held responsible for their school district's fees in excess of $140,000 (that number alone is truly astounding for a due process case even with an appeal). In R.P. ex.rel. C.P. v. Prescott Unified School District, 56 IDELR, (9th Cir. 2011) ruled that the parents' failure to obtain relief and win their case did not mean that the case was baseless or frivolous. This case is consistent with a decision out of Missouri where the court similarly turned down the district's efforts to shift fees to parents for losing a due process. Under the current law, parents should bring cases that are well founded in the law and facts without fear of being tagged for the school district's fees in the event that they do not win the […]