The Wrightslaw Way

Education for Parents of Indian Children with Special Needs (EPICS) is hosting a Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy Conference on Tuesday, March 25, 2014.

Pete Wright, Esq. will present this Pre-Academy session, kicking off the 11th Annual Family Leadership Academy which runs from March 26-28, 2014.

The training takes place at the Sheraton Uptown Hotel in Albuquerque, NM.

Registration fee includes Continental Breakfast, lunch, snacks and three Wrightslaw books. Click on the following links for more information!

Register Online

Print Registration Form

Family Leadership Conference Flyer

Exhibitor Registration Form

Sponsorship Opportunities

Family Scholarship Application

For all conference details, please click here.

See you in New Mexico!

I’m responding to a request from a special education teacher who asked if I would “tell our side of it.” She wrote:

Teachers are getting more and more students who say “I don’t have to listen or learn or stop harassing or assaulting others.”

We are expected to try and teach students who WANT to learn while attempting to deal with the others who REFUSE to let others learn.

Maybe we should set up classes for Conduct Disordered students. It’s not FAPE for a mild to moderate student to be forced to daily deal with sociopaths.

For every parent concerned about their child, we have ten who say “What do you want from me? I can’t do anything with him, he’s worse at home!”

When every student has to pass Algebra 1 to graduate, can you imagine how difficult it is to bend the Standards to have an SDC student with 3rd grade level abilities pass Algebra? The alternative is a certificate and no diploma, so both students and teachers are crushed between unreasonable expectations.

We’re torn between trying to teach and trying to advocate and sometimes just trying to survive.

Please tell our side of it.

Sometimes teachers do write to me. Here’s what they ask about. [Read more →]

My daughter has autism. Her goal is to get a college degree, not a specific kind of high school diploma.

Her high school told us she did not need a regular diploma to get a degree at our local community college.

The registrar at a local college said she cannot receive any type of certificate from any state funded college with a special education diploma.

If this is correct, the transition plan we put in place four years ago failed her.

Should I pull her out of school, homeschool, and work with her to pass a GED test?

Is that an acceptable diploma for higher education system? Will she be able to get a degree at any college with those diplomas?

You won’t have an answer to your questions until you do your research.

You will more than likely find the answers on the website for your local community college.  I searched websites for number of schools and found the information you asked about.

What Type of Diploma Does the College Require?

The schools I reviewed do not require a regular high school diploma. Your high school may have given you incorrect or incomplete information. [Read more →]

- From the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity Community, Sally Shaywitz, MD and Bennett Shaywitz, MD

“We are at a very special time for all those who care about dyslexia and a child (or an adult) who is dyslexic — and it is a time that demands our action.

A Resolution on Dyslexia presented to Congress by Representative Bill Cassidy represents the breakthrough that we have all been waiting and hoping for. This well thought-out resolution breathes fresh air and energy and yes, joy, into our mission to have dyslexia recognized so that the millions of deserving boys and girls, men and woman who are dyslexic can be diagnosed and receive the evidence-based services they deserve and require.

This is a time that calls for action — your action — to make sure that this Resolution becomes a reality. Yes, dreams can come true. Please act.

Urge Your Congressional Rep. to Support House Resolution on Dyslexia, #456

http://dyslexia.yale.edu/CassidyHResJan2014.html [Read more →]

Can you tell me if I have any rights?  Here is my issue: potty training.

My daughter is 8, non verbal and developmentally delayed. She wants to be potty trained. At home she signs when she needs to go. At school they ignore her signs and tell me they can’t possibly take her once an hour. There are four aides and one teacher for 9 children. I just don’t understand why someone can’t take her to the potty as needed.

Your issue is about potty training at school for your daughter – a legitimate concern. Parents of children with disabilities have hundreds of different issues. There are always disagreements with the school.

This is the REAL issue -

 - resolving a problem while maintaining a healthy working relationship with school personnel.

Here are the first steps you should take to resolve a problem.  These steps apply to the issue of potty training …and many other disagreements you may need to resolve with your child’s teacher or school staff. [Read more →]

Join Pete Wright, Esq., on February 8, 2014 in Kennewick, WA.

This Free Wrightslaw Conference is sponsored by the Down Syndrome Association of the Mid-Columbia. Thank you DSAMC!

In-State registration is FREE if registered by January 29, 2014. Out-of-State is welcome for a fee of $50. Walk-In Registration, if available, the rate for both in-state and out-of-state is $75.

Register Online

Download the Registration Form

Download and distribute the conference Flyer

Please share with friends, family and co-workers! See you in Kennewick, WA!

My child goes to private church school. I believe she has learning disabilities, including dyslexia, so I called the local public school to ask for an evaluation.

The school told me they do not test students. They said it was my responsibility.

Child Find

Each state is responsible for ensuring that a Child Find program is up and running.

DOE requires that states have a system to ensure all children are identified and evaluated.

This means ALL children – not just children who attend public schools.

The point is to identify children who may be overlooked – like kids who don’t attend public school, homeless kids, etc.

The law is black and white on this issue. The law does not provide exceptions. [Read more →]

This conference has SOLD OUT @ 350. Click here to be put on the “wait list”.

Wrightslaw heading to Houston, Texas on February 1, 2014.

Father’s Joy, The Rise School of Houston and Greater Clear Lake Families Exploring Down Syndrome welcomes Pete Wright to Houston, Texas!

Find out about credits, scholarships, sponsorship opportunities and child care information by visiting this link.

Important Dates: Early Bird Registration ends on Saturday, January 18, 2014. Online registration ends on Thursday, January 30, 2014. Walk-In registrations will be accepted (space permitting) after online registration closes. Don’t Delay.

Click to Register Online
Click to download the Registration Form

Don’t miss out on this Wrightslaw training!

See you in Texas!

My child entered special ed with autism / ADHD classifications.  Now the school wants to remove the primary diagnosis of autism from the IEP – to focus on the ADHD.  Why?

If there is documentation from your doctors that your child has autism along with the ADHD, it should not be ignored.

• What documentation or data does the school have to justify this decision?
• Is your child’s autism no longer impacting his ability to learn?
• Are there no behaviors that are impeding learning?

I understand that once a child is found eligible, services must be designed to meet their unique needs, and that the designation is not supposed to matter.

IDEA requires that the school assess your child in all areas of suspected disability so the IEP Team can develop a program and services designed to meet his unique needs. (Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 20 U.S.C. 1414(b) p. 96 and 34 CFR 300.304, p. 241)

If the school will not acknowledge a learning disability, they will not provide services for the learning disability. [Read more →]

- by guest blogger Kalman R. Hettleman, former member of the Baltimore school board and former state human resources secretary.

Below is my op-ed in the Baltimore Sun on Diane Ravitch and her new best-selling book on school reform. I share her belief that poverty is a key factor, but at the same time, she takes too narrow a view, polarizes the debate, and demonizes education centrists (like me) who support a more balanced reform agenda.

Diane Ravitch is all the rage in education circles these days, but rage, unfortunately, is what’s she’s selling.

There are many reasons why, despite decades of efforts, U.S. public schools continue to fail, especially for low-income and minority children. Perhaps the most destructive one is the polarization of the debate over school reform and the refusal of opposing factions to look for middle ground.

Sad to say, Ms. Ravitch’s new best-selling book, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools,” fits this pattern.

Her emergence as a popular gunslinger in the education wars is itself a revealing story. [Read more →]