The Wrightslaw Way

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Smart Kids with LD – Youth Achievement Award.  This $1,000 award recognizes the strengths and accomplishments of young people with learning disabilities and ADHD.

It will be given to a student 19 or younger who has demonstrated initiative, talent and determination resulting in a notable accomplishment in any field—including art, music, science, math, athletics or community service.

Winners are nominated by a parent, teacher, mentor, coach, or self. Deadline! Applications must be submitted by February 28, 2012. [Read more →]

Tags:   Ryan Haggerty · Smart Kids with LD · Youth Achievement AwardNo Comments.

Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies (2011) from the Office of Safe and Healthy Students (formerly OSDFS)

This report reviews states’ bullying laws and model bullying policies and school districts’ bullying policies. As of April 2011, 46 states had bullying laws, 45 of which directed school districts to adopt bullying policies. Forty-one states had model bullying policies. Thirty-six states included provisions in their education codes prohibiting cyberbullying or bullying using electronic media. Thirteen states specified that schools have jurisdiction over off-campus behavior if it creates a hostile school environment.

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-education-department-releases-analysis-state-bullying-laws-and-policies

Find this newly released report and other information, resources, and free pubs at Bullying and Harassment.
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/harassment.index.htm

More new reports and free pubs… [Read more →]

Tags:   autism · Bullying · Confidentiality · FERPA · Free Pubs and Reports · Learning Disabilities · Parent resources · Privacy · RTI1 Comment

On November 16 2011, a federal judge issued a ruling in D.L. v. District of Columbia, (D.D.C., Civ. No. 05-1437). This is the latest in a series of federal court decisions that found serious deficiencies in the District of Columbia’s special education programs.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth held that the District of Columbia failed to identify, locate and evaluate hundreds of preschool children with disabilities, and failed to provide them with FAPE, a free appropriate public education as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act  and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

In his decision, Judge Lamberth wrote about the “narrow window of opportunity” when quality early intervention programs can work miracles.

Read the details -  School District’s Persistent Failures Cause “Severe and Lasting Harm” to Vulnerable Children with Disabilities

Tags:   Child Find · D.L. v. District of Columbia3 Comments

I submitted a written request for an evaluation that included my parental consent for the eval. They would not accept my letter of request including a statement of written parental consent as “legal consent”.

I received this response from the director of spec. ed.

“As you may know, the IDEA contains certain requirements related to parent consent, therefore we need you to sign the forms that we are sending, so that we have proper, legal consent. (See IDEA Regulations 34 CFR 300.9; 34 CFR 300.300(c); and 34 CFR 300.300(a)(1).) You are welcome to scan/email or fax the forms back to us, or return the hard copy.”

Written consent is just that.

The federal statute and regulations do not mandate that a specific form must be used. [Read more →]

Tags:   Eligibility · Evaluation timelines · Evaluations · parental consent3 Comments

My son has autism and the district says they are reducing services and changing him from an IEP to a 504 for Aspergers. I believe they are trying to move him off a plan entirely.  He has difficulty with organization and is headed to middle school with a rotating schedule that drops a period each day.

Where can I find the resources I need to prove he still needs services? What are the hard and fast rules on autism disorders?

I’m afraid there are no “hard and fast rules” about your son’s situation. You need to know

• about your child’s disability and his unique needs (re: now and transition to middle school),
• the impact of the disability on his ability to learn,
• research based educational methods, and
• how to present your son’s problems and needs to school personnel so they want to help.

Begin with the following resources. [Read more →]

Tags:   Aspergers · autism · IEPs · Ineligible · Section 504 · Terminating Services · Tests & Measurements2 Comments

Join national expert Pete Wright, Esq. on February 23, 2012 for this One Day Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy training in Akron, OH. This is the first scheduled public Wrightslaw conference offered in 2012.

Early Bird ends January 23, 2012. Don’t miss out on the savings!

The University of Akron School of Law is sponsoring this event. See what Akron has to offer on your time off.

Tags:   Advocacy · Parent advocacy · Special Education Law · special education trainingNo Comments.

Our son is 15 and is repeating 9th grade. He has learning disabilities and has an IEP. We did not think he was making progress in his special education program, so we had him evaluated by an independent psychologist. The psychologist compared his current test scores with his scores on earlier evaluations. We were distressed to learn that his IQ scores had dropped.

The goals in his IEPs haven’t changed for years. The recent evaluation shows he hasn’t learned basic academic skills. He is not being educated.

I read an article on your website that describes our son – about the Matthew Effect.

We are stuck! We don’t have a lawyer to help our son. What can we do?

Don’t believe for a minute that the only parents who “win” are those who have lawyers to fight for them.

In school matters, having an attorney can polarize the situation. When the situation is polarized, school staff hunker down, pull their wagons in a circle, and prepare for a battle. The child does not receive the help he or she needs. When an attorney speaks for parents, the school is often afraid to develop a new or different program for the child. They are afraid that the attorney will use this to prove that the program they were providing earlier was not appropriate.

BUT … parents who are not represented by attorneys “win” every day. Here’s how. [Read more →]

Tags:   effective advocacy strategies · Matthew Effect5 Comments

Access to a quality education is the civil rights battle of our generation…Real reform will never come from within the system because too many powers that be (the teachers’ union, politicians, consultants, vendors, etc.) have a vested interested in maintaining the status quo that is failing our children…

Meaningful education reform must be forced upon the system from outside by giving parents of all income levels real choices about where their children go to school.

After 43 years served as a teacher, principal, and school district superintendent of Philadelphia, Arlene Ackerman has come to a sad realization – school change must come from parents, outside the system, not from the “powers that be” within. She never met a parent who did not want what she wanted for her own children and grandchildren – a quality public school education. [Read more →]

Tags:   Charter Schools · Effective Teachers · Highly Qualified Teachers · Improving Outcomes · Parent Choice · Parental Rights · School change8 Comments

Why do children continue to fail in school despite being repeatedly tested?

According to schools, children fail because they do not want to learn or their parents do not care. Typical school culture is to first, blame the child, and then blame the parent.

Dr. Galen Alessi, Psychology Professor at Western Michigan University researched this phenomenon by asking 5,000 school psychologists why children have learning and behavior problems. Not one psychologist mentioned inappropriate curriculum, ineffective teaching, or ineffective school management practices as a factor for student failure. Psychologists blamed parent and home factors 10-20 percent of the time and child factors 100 percent of the time.

Common sense tells us that it cannot always be the fault of the parent and the student. [Read more →]

Tags:   FCRR · Florida Center for Reading Research · Galen Alessi · Preventing reading failure · Reading · The Blame Game16 Comments

Want to learn how to NOT shoot yourself in the foot by being the “know-it-all” parent at IEP meetings?

This may sound like a silly game.  But you can learn how to hit a home run in this game and build a healthy working relationship with the school.

A Perception Problem

We believe that parents are natural advocates for their children.  You have your child’s best interests at heart. You were your child’s first teacher.  And yes, you are the expert on your child.

But, if you take over the role of “expert” at meetings, you leave no role for the educators.

Think about how you are perceived by school people. The yappy parent?  The know-it-all?

If school people feel threatened or disrespected by you, they will look for a way to shoot you down. [Read more →]

Tags:   Parent advocates · Parent as expert7 Comments