The Wrightslaw Way

New Book! Wrightslaw: All About IEPs is at the printer now!
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Answers more than 200 frequently asked questions & introduces key legal issues
Outlines your rights & responsibilities and explains the law in plain language you can understand
Provides the reference source of information, the law, regulation, [...]

I am a regular ed teacher. It’s been weeks since I started teaching at a new school, and I have no idea who is on an IEP or 504. I don’t even know who the special ed teacher is. I asked for a list of all the students who have IEPs and 504s. [...]

As we watched the confirmation hearings on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Pete said: “In the Bartlett case, Judge Sotomayor wrote the best description of  learning disabilities that I’ve ever read in a legal decision. She got it!”
What is the Bartlett case? Who educated Judge Sotomayor about learning disabilities?
How do Judge Sotomayor’s [...]

If a student has scribe on his IEP for all subjects, is he supposed to have a scribe in math also? I was told “no” by a school administrator. I’m confused.
If the IEP says a scribe in all subjects, that means all subjects. Math is a subject. You need to write [...]

What can you do if a school team refuses to evaluate a child?
What can you do if the school team insists that an evaluation will not provide relevant information for educational planning?

When the school doesn’t want to test a child, can you force them to evaluate?

I need information about compulsory school attendance laws and students with special education needs. I have a student with a sleep disorder and emotional issues. How do the compulsory attendance laws and the student’s needs intertwine?
Good question. All states have compulsory attendance laws. I am not aware of exceptions for children with disabilities, but [...]

My child has language-based learning disabilities and fine motor problems that make it impossible for him to produce legible written work. His IEP includes accommodations to help with these problems. Some of his regular education teachers won’t provide these accommodations. What can I do?

My son was adopted from a foreign country @ age 7. He is now 9 years old, in the 3rd grade. He did not speak English upon his arrival in this country.
We have formally requested (& it has been documented) 3 times, that he be placed in the SLD Resource Program.
He is currently given [...]

What can be included in the IEP accommodations? Can we stipulate in my son’s IEP that he will not be required to keep an assignment notebook, but will have the assignments posted on the web or emailed each day? Would the school legally be required to adhere to it?
My son is 13 with PDD-NOS [...]

I just reviewed your Summer School for Parents: Lesson #4. I am the mom who wrote about the need for a particular type of placement for my son with autism. Never thought that my letter about How I Got the School to Change My Son’s Program & Placement would show up there!
Here’s the [...]