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by
Peter W. D. Wright, Esq.
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To
Be An Effective Advocate
To be an effective
advocate for a child, you need to know the law. You also need to know
how to use the law without starting no-win battles.
In this article, you will learn about the law. Few parents and educators
learn about legal rights and responsibilities by reading statutes, regulations
and cases. Most parents get information from training sessions, articles,
listserv advice, and informal discussions with others.
Your knowledge can rise no higher than your source!
As a parent or teacher, you must read the law. Reading and re-reading
the law is the only way to understand legal rights, responsibilities,
and issues.
Later in this article, you will take the IEP Quiz to test
your knowledge of IEPs.
But first, you will learn a little law.
You Must Learn the
Law
The Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act of 1997 (IDEA) is a federal statute that begins in title
20, United States Code Section 1400. This statute is composed of four
parts (Part A, B, C, and D). You will find the law about Individual Education
Programs (IEPs) in subsection “d,” Section
1414 of Part B. (The legal citation is 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d).)
The U. S. Department of Education adopts regulations to implement the
IDEA. The federal special education regulations are in volume 34 of the
Code of Federal Regulations, beginning in Part 300. The regulations
about IEPs are in 34 C.F.R. Part 300 sections 340 through 350 of .
(The legal citation is 34 C.F.R. § 300.340-350.)
The federal special education regulations include additional information
about IEPs in an appendix called Appendix
A. (Before the new federal regulations were published in 1999, the
appendix about IEPs was called Appendix C.) The new regulations contain
different information about IEPs.
Appendix
A includes 40 Questions and Answers about IEPs. Written in a “Q &
A” format, Appendix A is similar to “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQs)
on websites. The questions are clear. In some cases, the answers are less
clear.
Read
Appendix A. Your goal is not to memorize the answers to these questions.
After you read these questions and answers, you will know that the questions
have been asked and answered. You will know where to find answers. This
is sufficient.
Most parents get advice from educators and other parents. Many times,
the advice is wrong. Parents use this bad advice to make bad decisions.
IEP
Quiz
Test your knowledge about
IEPs on the IEP Quiz. The IEP Quiz consists of 18 questions
taken from Appendix A. After you take the IEP Quiz, you can score your
answers. These answers to these questions are in Appendix A.
Wrightslaw:
Special Education Law includes the federal statutes and
regulations about special education and Appendix A (pages 209-224).
The answers to the IEP IQ Quiz are based on federal law, not state regulations
nor state standards or practices, which vary. State regulations may
not take away rights from children with disabilities, but may provide
more rights. State regulations must be consistent with federal regulations.
Instructions
Read each question, then, with a pencil, lightly
and quickly circle the answer you believe is correct. Follow your impulse.
After you have answered
the questions, re-read each question. Think about the question. Answer
each question a second time.
Begin the Quiz now. When you finish, go the next step.
1. Must a child’s IEP address his or her involvement in the general
curriculum, regardless of the nature and severity of the child’s disability
and the setting in which the child is educated?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
2. Must the measurable annual goals in a child’s IEP address
all areas of the general curriculum, or only those areas in which the
child’s involvement and progress are affected by the child’s disability?
Answer: All areas / Only areas affected by disability / It depends
on specific facts
3. Must the public agency inform the parents of who will be
at the IEP meeting?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
4. Do parents have the right to a copy of their child’s IEP?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
5. Must a public agency hold separate meetings to determine a child’s
eligibility for special education and related services, develop the
child’s IEP, and determine the child’s placement, or may the agency
meet all of these requirements in a single meeting?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
6. May IEP meetings be audio or video tape recorded?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
7. If a child with a disability attends several regular classes,
must all of the child’s regular education teachers be members of the
child’s IEP team?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
8. Do parents and public agencies have the option of inviting any
individual of their choice to be participants on their child’s IEP team?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
9. Are attorney’s fees available for parents’ attorneys (relating
to their attendance at an IEP meeting) if the parents are prevailing
parties in actions or proceedings brought under Part B?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
10. Must related services personnel attend IEP meetings?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
11. Must the public agency ensure that all services specified in
a child’s IEP are provided?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
12. Is it permissible for an agency to have the IEP completed
before the IEP meeting begins?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
13. Must a public agency include transportation in a child’s IEP
as a related service?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
14. Must a public agency provide related services that are required
to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education,
whether or not those services are included in the list of related services
in Sec. 300.24?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
15. Must the IEP specify the amount of services or may it simply
list the services to be provided?
Answer: Must specify amount / May list
16. If a child’s IEP includes behavioral strategies to address a
particular behavior, can a child ever be suspended for engaging in that
behavior?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
17. If a child’s behavior in the regular classroom, even with appropriate
interventions, would significantly impair the learning of others, can
the group that makes the placement decision determine that placement
in the regular classroom is inappropriate for that child?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts
18. May school personnel during a school year implement more than
one short-term removal of a child with disabilities from his or her
classroom or school for misconduct?
Answer: Yes / No / It depends on specific facts After you answer
these questions, re-read the questions for a second time. Pay attention
to the presence or absence of words like shall, may, must, and
should. Answer the 18 questions again. Congratulations!
You just answered 18 of the 40 questions in Appendix A. In fact, you
answered 18 questions twice!
Get Answers
to the IEP IQ Quiz
To get the answers to the IEP Quiz, send a blank email to iepquiz
@ wrightslaw.com (delete spaces before and after the @ sign, or click
on the link to the right:
In the Subject line
of your email, write IEP QUIZ (in ALL CAPS) You will
receive an immediate email auto-response with the correct answers to
this quiz.
Score
your test
How did you do? Are you surprised? Do you believe
that some of the “correct” answers are wrong? Review your answers.
Think about them. You want to know why some of your answers are different
from those in the Answer Email.
Print
and read
Appendix
A (this is the most important step in this
Quiz)
Using Appendix
A, look up your answers. Read each question and answer in Appendix
A. Read the question and answer again. Do you see how slight changes
in words, language, and grammar affect the answers?
Appendix A is an important part of the special education law. You
should have a copy of Appendix A at home, at work, or both.
You will find the IDEA
statute, federal
IDEA regulations and Appendix
A on the Wrightslaw site and in Wrightslaw:
Special Education Law.
If you don’t have a computer at home, you can use a computer at your
public library to access Appendix A of the special education regulations
at Wrightslaw.
You must read Appendix
A.
An important step in learning the law and how to use it is knowing how
to find answers to questions on your own. Answers to legal questions
are not served up on silver trays.
Words, semicolons, the location of phrases, and subtle nuances in a
statute, regulation or case may lead to controversy about legislative
intent and impact. To be an effective advocate, you need to learn
how to find the law, then read the law for yourself. It isn't as difficult
as you may think.
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