The Wrightslaw Way

My daughter has pulmonary hypertension. Her cardiologist’s orders say no physical activity – “must be excused from PE.” The principal informed me that she would HAVE to participate in PE. When I disagreed, the principal accused me of being argumentative. What should I do? First, you need to document what happened in the meeting by […]

Reading Recovery’s (RR) transition from New Zealand to the United States began at Barrington Elementary School in the Upper Arlington City Schools in Columbus, Ohio in the mid ’80’s in conjunction with Ohio State University. One of the first RR teachers in the United States was Joetta Beaver. One of the first dyslexic students taught […]

Does having an IEP guarantee my son will not fail? The answer to this particular question is No. An IEP does not guarantee that a child will not fail.

In January, Pete and I became adjunct professors at the William & Mary Law School. We teach a Special Education Law and Advocacy class and assist the Law School with the new PELE Special Education Advocacy Clinic. Jack is a student in our Special Ed Law class. Jack and his wife have concerns about their […]

My daughter attended her first IEP meeting today, it was a disaster. Does she have the right to write on the IEP under parental concerns? She wanted to write a statement about her daughter being dyslexic and they wouldn’t let her? There is no legal or commonsense reason why a parent or any other IEP […]

Parent #1: My son wants to be “left behind”. I feel that another year in the smaller, familiar middle school would be less intimidating and give him some time to mature. Because of the b’day he really wouldn’t be older than the rest anyway. Parent #2: I don’t want my child to be retained. Everything […]

Recently, someone asked a question about homebound services, whether the law limits the time for direct instruction. Here’s the question… My daughter is on home bound services and the special education director insists that by law the school district is only required to provide 2 hours of services a week, regardless of what the IEP […]

Have you ever attended an IEP meeting that began well, but suddenly turned to complete chaos? My child’s long awaited meeting to determine eligibility went from fantastic to horrible in 5 seconds flat! Although my husband and I signed the evaluation consent forms in October, it wasn’t until May that the team met to review […]