The Wrightslaw Way

My 6 year old grandson has ASD, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, & Hypermobility Syndrome. He is prone to fractures and in danger of re-fracturing the same bone over & over.
He was physically restrained at school and received numerous bruises. The principal said he was restrained for rocking back & forth in a chair. My [...]

New Book! Wrightslaw: All About IEPs is at the printer now!
Shipping second week of December                        $12.95    Order now

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. [...]

Did you receive academic test results for your child that were much lower than you expected?
In some cases parents say they received no scores for certain subjects or were told their child “either scored so low she could not be graded or she was not given the test.”
What can you do? First, focus on [...]

If a child is wheelchair-bound and needs a catheter, is this something that belongs in the IEP?
Exactly whose responsibility is it to handle catheters for wheelchair-bound students? I would think it qualifies as a medical procedure and that a nurse would need to do it?
Does the child need these services to attend school? [...]

My child has struggled in school for years. He hasn’t failed because we provide private tutoring and work with him at home. We asked the school for special ed services. They say he is not eligible because he does not have failing grades. Is this correct?
Nope. The law says just the opposite . . . [...]

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?

My child attends school ‘out of district’ because our district had no program for a multiple needs-high needs student. He has one year left of school (age 20).
Now the home school district wants to save money by making a new classroom for this program. My son will need to move and adjust [...]

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 [...]

Is there anything in the law that would prevent me from asking that my child’s annual IEP be postponed? The current accommodations are either not working or are not being implemented as required by certain teachers. I would like to postpone it to enable time to obtain testing results and re-work some ideas on [...]