Special Education Law Blog

Advocates Play A Vital Role in the Sped Process

It is great having Pam on staff as a full-time advocate. She is able to bring her "mom-sense" and special education expertise to the table without making every case a replay of her personal battles with the school. Not every advocate I have seen is able to maintain this level of objectivity, which can lead to increased hostilities instead of moving towards possible resolution. My colleague and fellow COPAAN, Robert Crabtree has written a useful list of dos and don'ts for parents and their advocates. If this list was followed there would lot more effective non-attorney special education advocates, which would be a good thing for parents. Parents would be well advised to insist that their advocates follow many of these points.

Guidelines for Better Classroom Acoustics

The U.S. Access Board, a little known Federal agency that facilitates access to public  buildings,  has published guidelines and presented resources to make public spaces, specifically schools, more  acoustically sound for students with disabilities. It is easy to overlook the importance of acoustics which center on two key concepts, Signal to Noise Ratio ("SNR") and Reverberation Time. SNR deals with how available sound is to a listener in an environment (classroom) and reverberation rates deal with the amount of sound reverberation that occurs even after a given sound stops. Download AcousticsTR.pdf

In the System, but Not of the System

In a few weeks we are going into our son's articulation IEP meeting to High School. Articulation refers to that high stress meeting when we morph a grade schooler into a high schooler. We have had several productive pre-meetings, but this IEP is still a high stress event.

Guidelines for Strategic Planning for Your Next IEP

Parents need to approach their child's IEP with certain strategies in mind. In this context "strategy" is developing an overall plan that will serve as a guide for all advocacy activities. The following are the essential elements of strategic planning for IEP meetings.

Guidance from the Feds on Parentally Placed Students In Private Placements

The U.S.Department of Education has issued guidance in the form of a sheet of frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding the rights of parents who have placed their children in a private placement when the school district has offered a FAPE. Download faq-parent-placed.doc  This is an area that I am questioned about frequently. These FAQs should clarify this area, but unfortunately the simple fact remains that the obligations of school and the rights of parents are limited, and the opportunity to enforce even the minimal rights granted is very limited.

Assistance Dog III

This post is the third in a series involving Simba, the assistance dog that is attempting to be admitted to East Meadow High School. The school district has finally issued a rationale for its position barring Simba. While I do not particularly agree with the rationale, the statement at least invites a reasoned dialogue with the family.

Illinois Home Schooling Resources

I often receive questions about requirements and resources for home schooling. These questions are a byproduct of the fact that parents sometimes withdraw their children from school instead of fighting annual battles with their local school district. I recently discovered this resource for Illinois homeschoolers, it may also be useful for others outside of Illinois as well except the statutory provisions will likely differ.  This site does not deal with the limited obligations of school districts to parentally placed children under IDEA 2004.

Holiday Humor

Always an incredibly useful resource is specialchildren.about.com. During this stressful season for many, this site brings much needed humor to get through to the new year.

Your IEP is a Transition Plan

IDEA 2004 emphasizes the need for planning for real life outcomes after public school. While transition planning has for many years been a part of the law, this new emphasis is welcome and long overdue.  The transition parts of the law are not just in the narrow section of the law which talks about THE transition plan. From the purposes section and throughout the new law the emphasis is on functional goals and concrete steps to achieve post high school outcomes.  This new emphasis in the law has caused me to rethink my view of the IEP itself.

Evacuation Plans Often Lacking

Evacuation plans are often a missing part of an IEP.  The normal fire drill simply does not work very well for students who are physically challenged, those who have extreme anxiety or sensory integration disorders or  other disabilities.   A school district in Janesville, Wisconsin is confronting these issues and contemplating moving special education students to the first floor. I am not sure how that can work when students should be integrated in regular class and therefore would distributed throughout the building.  The answer is not as simple as moving "those kids downstairs." It requires thoughtful planning, rehearsal, training, staffing and maybe even special equipement. I am not a fire expert but simply moving a whole population to the first floor even in the name of safety is another simple solution to a complex problem.