The Wrightslaw Way

Three questions from a special education teacher are answered below with the citations from federal law. Question #1: When IDEA 1997 was reauthorized as IDEA 2004, Section 1400 Findings and Purposes, Paragraph (E)(i) and (ii) were deleted in entirety.  Are teachers  no longer required to be highly-qualified in IDEA 2004? Answer: In IDEA 2004, 20 […]

We’re not really talking about apples. We’re talking about how some schools use paraprofessionals in the classroom.  In the example below, using simple logic, you can see how many paras will be required. Here’s the question. I have 2 students in the same classroom and both of their IEP’s say that they should have a […]

We want to have Cate as a paraprofessional because she has done a great job with our son. The administration wants to change her for someone who has a bad reputation. Can we write Cate into the IEP? Does IDEA state anywhere that an individual can not be requested as a paraprofessional. No, the law […]

(Moved from the Community Helpline) The school is proposing to have the majority of our autistic son’s special ed services provided by a classroom aide. They are saying the aide doesn’t need formal training or experience because he/she will be supervised by a highly qualified special ed person. How much training is implied by 1400 […]