The Wrightslaw Way

Disability Scoop reports that “too little is being done to ensure that students with disabilities receive appropriate accommodations on the SAT, ACT and other standardized tests, according to a new government report. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act requires test companies to provide accommodations like extra time or different formats, the Government Accountability Office found […]

Since we signed my daughter’s IEP, she has missed 6 sessions of weekly OT. The therapist was absent for two of the sessions.  She missed four sessions on ‘Delayed Start Days.’ Our district starts school 2 hours late on one day each month. Does the district need to make up these days? The school needs […]

Can special ed students have their math/artwork displayed in the trophy case of a school? I posted the state standards that went with a math assignment, my name (as instructor), and displayed samples of work from 11 of my students.  Another sped teacher told me to take the work down, I was violating “confidentiality”.  If […]

The Board of Directors of our public schools is being urged to adopt a plan that would segregate all elementary school children with physical disabilities into one of the district’s five elementary schools. Is this illegal? The board member proposing this said “It’s not about education.  It’s about buildings.”  He promotes neighborhood schools close to home […]

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 […]

I am a special education teacher. I resigned from a public school because they ordered me to do something that was against special ed law. I contacted the State Board of Education but could not get help at the state level. I was forced to quit my job so that I could make a stand. […]

The Supreme Court agreed to hear and decide several education cases this term. In February, the Court issued a surprising unanimous decision in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable Sch. Committee, 555 U. S. ___ (2009). This decision on behalf of a young child who was sexually harassed by an older student clarified that parents may sue school […]

Jacqueline, a kindergarten student, was sexually harassed by a third-grade boy while riding the school bus. The child’s parents brought this to the attention of school administrators immediately. The principal offered to transfer the child to another bus. Her parents asked the school to put a monitor on the bus or transfer the boy to […]

My daughter is hearing impaired and was retained because of her disability. She played basketball in middle school until age 15 when the athletic association notified her that she was ineligible to play because of her age. Although she wants to play basketball in high school, she will only be eligible in 9th and 10th […]

Can anyone tell me what a “child study plan” is? Our county does not do 504 Plans. A person at school told me that the child study plan is like a 504 Plan. If the school writes a “child study plan,” do they have to follow the strategies like in a IEP? If they do […]