Special Ed Advocate Newsletter, August 17, 2004 (Issue 273)

At Wrightslaw, our goals are to help you gain the information and skills you need navigate the confusing world of special education.

Highlights: How I used school evals to get ABA therapy program; are children with ADD/ADHD eligible for special ed; useful pubs on evaluations & eligibility from USDOE; are schools required to give personal info to military recruiters; how will NCLB affect you; Wrightslaw programs in Indianapolis, Hartford, Virginia Beach, & Oklahoma City; find help & helpers in the Yellow Pages for Kids.

The Special Ed Advocate newsletter is free - please forward this issue or the subscription link to your friends and coworkers so they can learn about special education law and advocacy too. We appreciate your help!

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

We get thousands of questions from readers. Some questions come up again and again - and from time to time, we answer them in the newsletter. Here is the latest crop of questions, along with our answers. But first, we want to share a "Success Story."

Strategies for Success is a series of articles by parents about successful advocacy strategies. We publish new articles from time to time on our advocacy site at Fetaweb.com. We hope you enjoy this article by Sam's mom:

"My son Sam has autism. For 10 months, he received ABA therapy and made good progress. We recently moved to a new town. The school staff were not familiar with ABA therapy and were skeptical about our ABA program. I had to persuade the new school to continue Sam's ABA therapy program . . . "

How did Sam's mom persuade school staff to provide her child with the ABA program he needs? Learn about "cold hard numbers", objective test scores, and subjective observations.

"My son has ADD. Our doctor told us to request special education services from the school. But the school says he is passing so he is not eligible for special ed. I am confused! What should I do?"

You aren't alone. Many people have questions about whether their children with ADD/ADHD are eligible for special education services under the IDEA. For many readers, the answer is a clear "Yes." For others, the answer is an equally clear "No!"

In 1991, the U. S. Department of Education published the Joint Policy Memorandum on ADD/ADHD. The purpose of this Memorandum was to offer guidance to school districts about special education services to children with ADD/ADHD.

The 1991 Memorandum clarifies several issues: children with ADD/ADHD may be eligible for special education services under several existing categories (including LD, OHI, ED); circumstances under which schools must provide services and supports under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

In 1992, the Office of Civil Rights published a Memorandum clarifying that schools must evaluate children who are suspected of having ADD based on parental request:

"Under Section 504, if parents believe their child has a disability, whether by ADD or any other impairment, and the LEA has reason to believe the child needs special education or related services, the LEA must evaluate the child to determine whether he or she is disabled as defined by Section 504 . . ."

Read the OCR Memorandum: Evaluation of Children Who May Have ADD/ADHD.

Download Dozens of Free Pubs about autism, early intervention, behavior & discipline, high-stakes tests, IEPs, transition, reading, bullying & harassment, high-stakes testing, learning disabilities & dyslexia, retention and social promotion, and more. (Note: The Free Pubs Page changes as we add new publications)

"I heard that No Child Left Behind requires schools to share children's private, personal information with military recruiters? Is this true?"

"If it is true, parents need to know about this so they can take steps to protect their children's privacy. How should we handle this? Can you put something about this issue in the newsletter?"

Learn about new requirements about providing personal information to military recruiters - and strategies you can use to deal with these issues in Are Schools Required to Provide Personal Information to Military Recruiters?

"What a marvelous conference! I often leave sped presentations angry and/or guilty because of all the things that have been done or not done. This time I left encouraged, inspired and armed!"

Pete and Pam Wright are scheduled to do special education legal and advocacy programs in four regions of the country this Fall.

Midwest: Indianapolis, IN (September 17)

Wrightslaw legal advocacy programs focus on four areas: special education law, rights and responsibilities; tests and measurements to measure progress & regression; SMART IEPs; and advocacy tactics & strategies.

Participants at these training programs will receive two books, Wrightslaw: Special Education Law and Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, as part of their registration (Value: $59.90).

"The Wrightslaw Special Education Law Seminar in Michigan was a tremendously rewarding experience and will forever change our practice." - Bryan I. Eder, Esq., Chudnof & Eder, PLC

If you are interested in bringing Pete and Pam Wright to your community, please read our FAQs about Seminars. (We are scheduling programs for 2005 and 2006.)

8. Need Help? Visit the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities

If you are looking for help - or a helper - visit the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities. Your state Yellow Pages has many resources - evaluators, speech language therapists, tutors, special ed schools, advocates, attorneys, organizations, and support groups.

Finding help is difficult. These articles will help:

What to Expect from an Evaluation of Your Child

Working with Independent Evaluators and Educational Consultants

Strategies to Find a Support or Study Group

Free Listings in the Yellow Pages: If you help parents get services for children (i.e., an evaluator, educational consultant, academic tutor, advocate, attorney, special ed school, etc.) or you facilitate a support or study group for parents, submit an application be listed in the Yellow Pages for Kids. Send an email to app@yellowpagesforkids.com for an application. Listings in the Yellow Pages are free.

Help Others: Please print and distribute Flyers for Your State Yellow Pages for Kids.

9. Subscription & Contact Info

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