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At Wrightslaw, our goals are to help you gain the information and skills you need navigate the confusing world of special education.
Highlights:
Special education due process hearings; how to resolve disputes - mediation,
negotiation, litigation; how to prepare for a special ed due process hearing;
how to put on a special education case; prepub offer on Surviving Due
Process: Stephen Jeffers v. School Board ends 9/28; do parents of
disabled children have rights in the workplace?; find help in the Yellow
Pages for Kids with Disabilities; Wrightslaw programs in CT, VA, OK.
Wrightslaw
is ranked #1 in education
law, special
education law, and special
education advocacy. (2003 Alexa rankings)
1. Special Education Due Process Hearings
The Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) includes rules of procedure for
resolving disputes between parents and schools. These rules include mediation,
due process hearings,
and appeals to state or federal court. (Wrightslaw:
Special Education Law, page 71)
A due process
hearing is usually a forma trial. From an attorney's perspective, special
education cases are similar to medical malpractice cases, with battles
of expert witnesses, and bitterly contested divorce cases, with intense
emotions and feelings of betrayal on both sides.
Before you
request a due process hearing, you should be familiar with the federal
statute and regulations and your state special education statute and
regulations. You should also read the Rules of Adverse Assumptions.
(Chapter 21, Wrightslaw:
From Emotions to Advocacy)
New! The Surviving
Due Process: When Parents and the School Board Disagree - Stephen Jeffers
v. School Board
DVD takes you through a special education due process hearing, from initial
preparations to testimony by the final witness. The cast includes Pete
Wright who represents the parents and Kathleen Mehfoud, the nationally-known
attorney who represents the school board. Learn
more l Prepublication
Offer
2. How to Resolve Special Education Disputes: Negotiate, Mediate or Litigate
In
How
to Resolve Special Education Disputes: Negotiate, Mediate or Litigate,
Pete and Pam Wright discuss reasons for conflict between parents and schools.
They describe how to use negotiation, mediation and litigation to resolve
disputes - and the pros and cons of each strategy.
Read
article
Learn more
about due process
hearings
Learn more about mediation.
3. How to Prepare for a Due Process Hearing
"If you do not plan and organize the pursuit, you are likely to wind up as road kill."
In How to Prepare for a Special Education Due Process Hearing, Vermont advocate Brice Palmer offers advice about how to prepare for a due process hearing or review. He lists steps to take and focuses on the need to plan and organize:
"Although
you may not think you have advocacy skills, you probably do. A well-planned
presentation, a calm attitude, a predetermined goal, and control over
any anger you harbor will achieve more for your child than anything else."
Read
article
Mr. Palmer also wrote Learning
to Negotiate is Part of the Advocacy Process.
Learn more about effective
advocacy.
4. How to Put on a Special Education Case by Sonja Kerr, Esq.
In How to Put on a Special Education Case, parent attorney Sonja Kerr offers good advice to the attorney who is preparing for a due process hearing. Learn why you should not fly solo. Remember whose job it is to educate. This article includes tips about building the "perfect case." Read article.
Ms. Kerr also wrote How to Handle Disagreements at IEP Meetings (or Playing 20 Questions with the Devil)
More
articles about special education law & litigation.
5. Stephen Jeffers v. School Board DVD - Special Pre-pub Offer Ends Sept 28
Surviving Due Process: When Parents and the School Board Disagree - Stephen Jeffers v. School Board DVD takes you through a special education due process hearing, from initial preparations to testimony by the final witness.
As you watch Surviving Due Process, pay attention to your reactions to the witnesses. What impression did each witness make on you? Who did you trust most? Least? Why?
Three witnesses testified for the School Board - which witness gave the most persuasive testimony? Three witnesses and Stephen's mother testified for the parents - which witness was most persuasive? Least persuasive? Why?
Did you have different ideas or feelings about special education due process hearings after you viewed Surviving Due Process? How did your perspective change?
Read the Story
Meet the Cast
Internet Orders
Mail & Fax Orders
Prepublication Offer - Free Shipping on ALL Wrightslaw Products - (Ends 9/28)
6. Question: Do Parents Have Any Rights in the Workplace?
Barbara writes, "Do parents of disabled children have any rights in the workplace? I have a child with William's Syndrome, another with Type I diabetes. My shift has been changed - this is wreaking havoc on them."
Yes. Read
Employment
Law Protections for Parents of Disabled and Ill Children by attorney
Loring Spolter. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides important
job protections to parents who take time off from work to be with children
receiving medical and psychiatric care or are recuperating from serious
health concerns. Read
article.
Learn more about
parent advocacy.
7. Find Help in the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities
The
most common question we receive at Wrightslaw is "I need to find
a . . . psychologist OR educational consultant OR tutor OR advocate OR
attorney.
Please help me!"
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.
These articles will help you find help or a helper:
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, please submit an application be listed in the Yellow Pages
for Kids. Send an email to app@yellowpagesforkids.com
for more info. Listings in the Yellow Pages are free.
Help Others: Please print and
distribute Flyers
for Your State Yellow Pages for Kids.
8. Put Wrightslaw Special Ed Law & Advocacy Training on Your To-Do List
"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
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
will receive two books, Wrightslaw:
Special Education Law and Wrightslaw:
From Emotions to Advocacy, as part of their registration
(Value: $59.90).
Northeast:
Hartford,
CT (September 21-22)
Mid-Atlantic: Virginia Beach, VA (November 12-13)
South Central: Oklahoma City, OK (December 4) FREE to Oklahoma parents & educational caregivers
Don't
procrastinate - register now! These programs are often "sold
out" ahead of time.
No
Child Left Behind Seminars
Sue
Heath, co-author of Wrightslaw:
No Child Left Behind, is providing training on No
Child Left Behind. Sue also writes about creative advocacy strategies
in her column, Doing
Your Homework, which appears in The
Special Ed Advocate Newsletter and on Wrightslaw.com.
Learn more
If you are interested in bringing a Wrightslaw program to your
community, please read FAQs
about Seminars. (We are scheduling programs for Fall 2005 and 2006.)
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.
| Law Library | Seminars & Training |
| Advocacy | Yellow Pages for Kids |
| No Child Left Behind | Free Newsletter |
| IDEA Reauthorization | Newsletter Archives |
Contact Info
Pete and
Pam Wright
Wrightslaw & The Special Ed Advocate
P. O. Box 1008
Deltaville, VA 23043
Website: https://www.wrightslaw.com
Email: newsletter@wrightslaw.com
