Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy

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Parents, educators, advocates, and attorneys come to Wrightslaw for accurate, reliable information about special education law, education law, and advocacy for children with disabilities.

Begin your search in the Advocacy Libraries and Law Libraries. You will find thousands of articles, cases, and resources about dozens of topics

New Blog Posts l Hot Topics in Special Ed Law & Advocacy l Special Education
Law & IDEA 2004 l Books, Training Downloads, DVDs, Websites

Newsletter: Subscribe to the free, weekly Special Ed Advocate.

In this issue of the Special Ed Advocate you will learn about diploma options and requirements. Find out what the IEP team should consider, including the SOP. Learn how to effectively advocate for successful transition. Does your child’s IEP have appropriate transition goals? Has your child made measurable progress toward these goals? How do you know? 2019 Summer School Session 4: Meeting Post-Secondary Transition Goals.

Wrightslaw: Legal Developments & Cases 2017

New Print Book + PDF Combo Available!

Special Education Legal Developments

** Analysis of L.H. v. Hamilton County Department of Education.**

August 20, 2018: A wide-ranging decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit about FAPE, LRE, parental rights, school culture, and tuition reimbursement.

In Wrightslaw: Special Education Legal Developments and Cases 2018 (publication date 2019), L.H. v. Hamilton will likely be a 2018 Case of the Year.

OCR Section 504 Guidance The U.S. Department of Education released three new sets of guidance (re: discrimination, restraint and seclusion, charter schools) about interpreting and enforcing federal civil rights laws protecting the rights of students with disabilities. Guidance clarifies the responsibilities of educational institutions in ensuring that all students have the opportunity to learn.

Wrightslaw 504 Quiz! Take our 504 IQ Quiz.

Section 504 Federal Regulations, 34 C.F.R. Part 104.

You are Invited to visit the Wrightslaw Way Blog. Help us create a unique online community. Recent posts and comments below.

Transition Quiz: Summary of Performance (SOP)
ISEA 2019 - Graduation Day!
ISEA 2019 - Day 3, 4, 5

Hot Topics in Special Education Law & Advocacy

Guidance on FAPE - IEP Goals Must Be Aligned with Grade Level State Academic Content Standards If a child is performing below grade level, the child needs to receive specialized instruction; IEP team needs to develop annual goals to "close the gap."

Guidance Publication on Educating Students with Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dysgraphia The USDOE issued guidance about the need to address the "unique educational needs of children with dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia" and the legal requirements for ensuring that these students receive a "high-quality education." Please make copies and share!

Cool Tool! Pop-Up! Assessing Reading Difficulties & Disabilities Pop-Up Reading assessment is the first step in identifying your child's problems and developing solutions so she can improve her reading. Find out about reading skills and what tests are used to measure these skills.

Special Education / Education

Making the Transition from School to Work
College: Continuing and Higher Education
Transitioning from High School to Post-Secondary Education

* New to Wrightslaw? * In this short video, Pete Wright gives you a tour of Wrightslaw and shows you how to find answers to questions.

Sound Familiar? Charles wrote, "All of this is new. I'm overwhelmed. Where do I start?" In Game Plan for New Parents, we give you a checklist of what you need to do tomorrow, next week, next year.

Listen and Watch Pete's video about the case AC v. Shelby County. In April 2013, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision about retaliation against a child with Type 1 diabetes. The case focused on false allegations of child abuse by the school principal.

Law: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004)

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Signed December 10, 2015 - (391 pages in PDF), click here to download

Model Forms for IEPs, Procedural Safeguards, Prior Written Notice
What You Need to Know About IDEA 2004

Free Flyers, Resources, Pubs
IDEA 2004 Resources
Help for College Students with Disabilities Flyer
Need to find an attorney, advocate, tutor, therapist in your state? Visit the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities

Law School Exam - Give it a try. Take the Final Exam that Pete and Pam administered to their students at the William & Mary School of Law. To see one of their students during oral argument in an LRE case, click here.

Tribute to Diana Hanbury King (September 2, 1927 - June 15, 2018) - Pete's Orton-Gillingham tutor in the early 1950's. As a tribute for and in preparation for Diana's 90th Birthday Party held at the Kildonan School on September 2, 2017, Pete prepared a special page about Diana. Until her work with Pete using the Orton-Gillingham Approach for two years, he was labeled as uneducable.

Books, Training Downloads, DVDs & Websites

For a year and a half, Pete and Pam Wright were Adjunct Professors of Law at the William and Mary School of Law where they taught a course about special education law and advocacy and assisted in creating the Law School's Special Education Law Clinic. They are co-founders and faculty at the William and Mary Law School Institute of Special Education Advocacy (ISEA).

They are co-authors of several books published by Harbor House Law Press.

Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition (ISBN: 978-1-892320-16-2, 456 pages) available in two formats, as a print publication and as a print and e-book combo.

Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, 2nd Edition (978-1-892320-09-4, 338 pages)

Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind with Suzanne Whitney [OUT OF PRINT] (ISBN: 978-1-892320-12-4) This statutue (NCLB) has been replaced with Every Student Succeeds Act. NCLB is old law and only available from Wrightslaw as an adobe.pdf download. We have taken our print version out of circulation.

Wrightslaw: All About IEPs (ISBN: 978-1-892320-20-9, 192 pages) by Pete Wright, Pam Wright, and Sue O'Connor.

Wrightslaw: All About Tests and Assessments, 2nd Edition (ISBN: 978-1-892320-31-5, 200 pages) by Pete Wright, Pam Wright, and Melissa Farrall.

Surviving Due Process: Stephen Jeffers v. School Board DVD Video - award-winning documentary, 2 hours

Wrightslaw Multimedia Training Programs - Understanding Your Child's Test Scores (1.5 hrs) and Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy Training (6.5 hrs).

Year in Review Series

Wrightslaw: Special Education Legal Developments and Cases 2017 (ISBN: 978-1-892320-42-1, 125 pages) available as an immediate PDF download from Wrightslaw.

Wrightslaw: Special Education Legal Developments and Cases 2016 (ISBN: 978-1-892320-40-7, 120 pages) available as an immediate PDF download.

Wrightslaw: Special Education Legal Developments and Cases 2015 (ISBN: 978-1-892320-37-7, 104 pages) available in two formats, as an immediate PDF download. Print copy is available from Amazon.

Pete and Pam built several websites to help parents of children with disabilities in their quest for quality special education programs.

Fetaweb.com, the companion website to Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, has advocacy information and resources to supplement the FETA book.

IDEA 2004 at Wrightslaw provides current information about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004). Learn about new requirements for IEPs, IEP teams, IEP meetings, eligibility, evaluations, eligibility for specific learning disabilities, child find, reevaluations, parental consent, accommodations, alternate assessments, transition, and more.

At the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities, you'll find listings for educational consultants, advocates, advisors, psychologists, diagnosticians, health care specialists, academic tutors, speech language therapists, and attorneys. You'll also find government programs, grassroots organizations, disability organizations, legal and advocacy resources, special education schools, and parent support groups.

Last revised: 08/06/19


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