Home  
Date: Feb 22, 2006
Issue: 343
ISSN: 1538-3202

In this Issue


1. Battling the Dark Cloud: Help Your Child Build Success

2. How Can I Get the School to Provide an Appropriate Program?

3. Navigating a Forest without a Flashlight

4. Wrightslaw Boot Camps: Fort Worth (Mar 3-4) & Lancaster PA (April 7-8)

5. Tip: Call a Company, Speak to a Human

6. Subscribe & Contact Info


Free Newsletter!

Your Email
Your Zip Code


(Please Check Spelling!)

At Wrightslaw, our mission is to help you gain the knowledge and skills you need to navigate the confusing world of special education.

This issue of The Special Ed Advocate includes strategies to help your child build success; get an appropriate program; navigate the forest without a flashlight; info about the last two Boot Camps this year; and a tip about how to avoid company voicemail and speak to a human being.

Subscribers on February 22, 2006: 47,655

Wrightslaw is ranked #1 in special education law and special education advocacy. (2005 Alexa rankings)

Download this issue. Newsletter Archives


1. Battling the Dark Cloud: Help Your Child Build Success by Betsy Murdock, M.S., LPC

As a parent, you know about the “dark cloud” that surrounds many children with learning or emotional problems. This is an area where you can be a powerful advocate for your child.

In Battling the Dark Cloud: Help Your Child Build Success, Betsy Murdock describes strategies you can use to help your child build success, one step at a time. Read article.

Learn how to anticipate problems, manage conflict, and avoid crises in Special Ed Advocacy

More articles about special education law and advocacy.


2. Your Most Frequently Asked Question: How Can I Get the School to Provide an Appropriate Program?

"My child entered special education when he was in the 2nd grade. At that time, his reading grade level was 1.3. He is now in the 5th grade. After 30 months of special education, his reading grade level is 2.3." 

"Since he entered special education, he has fallen further behind.
What can I do?"

In How to Get the School to Provide an Appropriate Program, read one parent's journey from emotions to advocacy as she learns to negotiate for the services her son needs. This article includes a Wrightslaw Game Plan to get appropriate services.

More frequently asked questions.


3. Navigating a Forest without a Flashlight

In Children's Crusaders, parents speak to Liz Stevens of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about education and advocacy. She writes about the need for parents to become advocates for their kids.

"Accessing the resources their kids are entitled to can be like navigating a forest at night without a flashlight, say parents and professionals. Try as they might to feel their way through the system, they find themselves overwhelmed by the details of testing and treatment, the intricacies of special-ed law, the minutiae of school-district politics."

"The situation has bred a cottage industry of consultants, such as attorney Pete Wright and his psychotherapist wife Pam Wright. Their extensive Web site, Wrightslaw.com; books, such as From Emotions to Advocacy; and newsletters aim to provide parents with the night vision they need to find their way -- to turn them in to 'effective catalysts.'"

Read Children's Crusaders and learn about a two-day special education seminar in Fort Worth on March 3 and 4.

More special ed news.


4. Wrightslaw Boot Camps: Fort Worth TX (March 3-4) & Lancaster, PA (April 7-8)

If you want to attend a Wrightslaw Special Education Law & Advocacy Boot Camp before the end of the 2005-2006 school year, act now. Time is running out.

Two Boot Camps are scheduled between March and June:

March 3-4: Fort Worth, TX - Special Ed Law & Advocacy Boot Camp at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.

To register, click here or call 817-871-7392.
Download, print and distribute the conference flyer

April 7-8: Lancaster, PA - Special Ed Law & Advocacy Boot Camp. Please download, print and distribute the Conference Brochure & Registration Form.

Questions? Please contact Amy Koring at 717-431-9600 or by email at amkoring@ptd.net.

Note
: Early Bird registrations for the Lancaster PA program end on March 1, 2006.

2006 Schedule l Wrightslaw Programs


5. Call a Company, Speak to a Human

Once in a while, we learn about a cool service that may improve the quality of life for many people. Get Human is one of these services.

Get Human offers strategies to bypass IVRs ("interactive voice response" or computer voice mail systems) so you can speak to a human.

To bypass phone menus and speak to a person, go to the gethuman database that includes the secret phone numbers of hundreds of companies (from Amazon Visa, AARP, and Adelphia Cable to USAA, Verizon Wireless and XM Radio). http://gethuman.com/us/

Get Human was founded by Paul English, co-founder of Kayak.com, the travel search engine company. Because Mr. English believes consumers should be able to speak with a human by simply pressing 0, he founded the gethuman consumer movement. His goal is to change the face of customer service.

Good luck, Mr. English - we wish you well!


6. Subscription & Contact Info

The Special Ed Advocate is a free online newsletter about special education legal and advocacy issues, cases, and tactics and strategies. Newsletter subscribers also receive "alerts" about new cases, events, and special offers on Wrightslaw books. Subscribe

Contact Info

Pete and Pam Wright
Wrightslaw & The Special Ed Advocate
P. O. Box 1008
Deltaville, VA 23043
Website: https://www.wrightslaw.com
Email: webmaster@wrightslaw.com

March Sale - SAVE 25%

Print, Immediate Downloads
and Advocacy Supplies
Order Wrightslaw Product
s
and Save 25% Now!



Check Out
The Advocate's Store!

Wrightslaw on FacebookWrightslaw on TwitterWrightslaw YouTube Channel 

Wrightslaw Books
Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 3rd Edition, by Pam and Pete Wright
About the Book

Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, 2nd Edition
About the Book

Wrightslaw: All About IEPs
About the Book

Wrightslaw: All About Tests and Assessments
About the Book

Wrightslaw: Special Education Legal Developments and Cases 2019
About the Book

Surviving Due Process: Stephen Jeffers v. School Board
About the DVD Video


The Advocate's Store


Understanding Your Child's
Test Scores (1.5 hrs)

Wrightslaw Special: $14.95