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.
We all have our own ways of dealing with pain. Grief is a process. For some it is finite, for others ongoing. Here are some of mine.
Universal design of an environment, product,website or a curriculum allows usability to all people to the maximum extent possible. Principles of univeral design have been recognized for a number of years. In the new IDEIA the term "universal design" is vaguely defined but then it is not applied to the substantive areas of the Act.
NCLB contains language pertaining to military recruitment. Most parents regard NCLB as being about high stakes testing, annual yearly progress, reading standards, and teacher qualifications. However, it is also about the military acquiring "directory" information on students attending public school for purposes of military recruitment. Although the Department of Defense and Department of Education characterize the desire to obtain this information as an opportunity "for informing young people of scholarship opportunities."[ Download Rumsfeld_Paige_on_military_recruiters_Ltr.pdf ] Obviously these claims are disingenuous, as the real purpose is simply for recruitment of more young people to enter the military.
It is hard to establish a claim for physical abuse in schools. Schools often have both legal protections and community reluctance that help insulate them from liability. A recent case in San Jose California surmounted these obstacles and resulted in a jury verdict of $700,000 for the parents of a child with Aspergers syndrome, who was 7 years old at the time of the incident, against Eisenhower Elementary School and the classroom teacher, Karen Miller .
Professor Mark Weber of DePaul University Law School, has recently published in the University of Florida Law School Law Review [full text is only available online for a fee to Westlaw] a very useful article on IDEA 2004. His comments, analysis and research offer excellent insights, overview of the law and recent cases pertaining to IDEA 2004. Check the link for an excerpt.
Justice Alito has been confirmed in the Senate in a very close vote, and is now the newest member of the Supreme Court. One of the unfortunate facts of the confirmation hearings is that legal issues effecting the disabled were largely overlooked. It is not possible to state with complete certainty what effect he will have on the jurisprudence regarding individuals with disablities in schools, at work and elsewhere Two commentators have put Justice Alito’s confirmation into perspective. One is Professor Sam Bagenstos of Washington University Law School and the other is from ADA Watch.
Officials with TennCare, the state run Medicaid managed care organization, have announced a pilot study [Download TennCare Pilot Study.pdf] of the use of psychotropic medications in children to treat conditions such as depression and ADHD. The impetus for this study is that "TennCare has seen dramatic increases in potentially harmful levels of utilization, with unproven therapies", according to J.D. Hickey, Deputy Commissioner of TennCare.
A recent comprehensive study from the Department of Education and the Bureau of Justice Statistics have found that from 1992 to 2003 there have been major improvements in student safety in schools. The overall rate has dropped over 40%. The report indicates very low rates of serious violent crimes, but rates of theft, drugs and bullying are still widespread problems.
Even though in Illinois it is the dead of winter with snow on the ground, this is the time to gather the data to advocate for Extended School Year ("ESY") services for the summer. Most school districts rigidly apply a regression-recoupment analysis to determine eligibility for ESY services. Regression-recoupment looks at whether a child will regress to a significant degree over the summer, and then whether the child will require significant periods of time to recoup the skills lost.