The Wrightslaw Way

My child has a learning disability. Her Individual Education Plan (IEP) puts her in general education with accommodation. She also receives one hour of pullout reading services each day. She excels in this placement. The school wants to place her in a special education team-taught class because she has an IEP. I want her to […]

Inclusive Schools Week, December 3-7, 2012. Theme: building authentic friendships for students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers. From Jim Comstock-Galagan – If you want people to understand the matter of inclusion, you make them understand it for themselves. How would inclusion relate to them? Jim understood when his mother first walked him to elementary […]

I see the social aspect of inclusion as the priority over the educational aspect.  I have concerns about the inclusion “movement” disallowing for appropriate services, i.e. cognitively delayed students who would not be receiving remediation if placed in a regular classroom setting. I am concerned that we are no longer addressing the student’s unique needs […]

We are having a dispute with the school about placement in the least restrictive environment.  The school keeps denying our requests.  Should we threaten to sue them? First – NO threats. I never say anything in an IEP meeting that I am not prepared to do. You should never say anything that you cannot “back […]

I am a general education teacher. One of my students, who has an IEP, interrupts class several times a day.  It is not uncommon for him to blurt out on-  and off-topic comments, or start singing, or get up and leave the room. I have been told that there is nothing the school can do […]

Does my daughter, who has an IEP, have to be served by resource classes or can she be totally in mainstream classrooms? “Special education” under IDEA is not a place or placement or a pre-packaged program. Special education is a “service for children rather than a place where such children are sent.” Special education is […]

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 […]

I am a special education teacher. I have some concerns and questions about how students are receiving the mandated special ed services. 1. Is there a legal definition of self-contained classroom setting? 2. What constitutes a change of LRE when there has been no official meeting to place a student in a particular setting? There […]

You asked: “Do students need to be out of the resource room by 9th grade in order to go to college?” I’m confused about this question. A “resource room” is simply a classroom where kids with disabilities get specialized instruction to meet their unique needs, delivered (hopefully) by teachers who are trained in research based […]