Wrightslaw

The Special Ed Advocate Newsletter
October 26, 2004


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ISSN: 1538-3202

In this Issue


1. What is Your IEP IQ?

2. Your Child's IEP: Practical & Legal Guidance

3. Wrightslaw Programs in VA & OK

4. Teaching a Child to Read: Reading First or Special Ed?

5. Strategies: IEP Goals & Objectives

6. How to Use a Parent IEP Attachment

7. Recommended Books: IEPs

8. Symposium: Educating At-Risk Children (10/29/04)

9. Help & Helpers in Yellow Pages for Kids

10. Subscription & Contact Info

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

Highlights: What is your IEP IQ?; your child's IEP - practical & legal guidance; Wrightslaw programs in VA & OK; teaching a child to read: Reading First or special ed?; strategies for IEP goals & objectives; how to use a parent IEP attachment; recommended books about IEPs; symposium on educating at-risk children; help & helpers in Yellow Pages for Kids.

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Wrightslaw is ranked #1 in education law, special education law, and special education advocacy. (2003 Alexa rankings)


1. What is Your IEP IQ?

Few parents and educators learn about legal rights and responsibilities by reading the law (statutes, regulations and cases). Most get information (and misinformation) from training sessions, articles, advice on listservs, and informal discussions with others. Your knowledge can rise no higher than your source!

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 What's Your IEP IQ?, Pete Wright teaches you how to find answers to questions in the law. What's Your IEP IQ? includes an IEP Quiz with 18 questions (and answers) to test your knowledge of IEPs. When you finish the IEP Quiz, you can send an email to Wrightslaw to receive the correct answers.

Read What Is Your IEP IQ? If you enjoyed the IEP IQ quiz, you may want to test your knowledge on other Wrightslaw quizzes.

In What is Your Bell Curve IQ? we give you a quiz, help you master this information - and have some fun.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is generating confusion, controversy, and misinformation. Do you know how NCLB will affect children with disabilities? What is your No Child Left Behind IQ?


2. Your Child's IEP: Practical & Legal Guidance for Parents

Your Child's IEP: Practical and Legal Guidance for Parents is a comprehensive article about IEPs and the IEP process that includes:
 

Present levels of performance Is IEP Adequate? Sufficient?
Measurable goals and objectives Educational Benefit and FAPE
How to Measure Educational Progress  Appendix A: An Invaluable Tool
Objective Testing v. Subjective Observations Understanding Your Parental Role
Passing Grades and Grade Inflation  Sample IEP Goals

Read Your Child's IEP: Practical and Legal Guidance for Parents.

Learn more about IEPs.


3. Last Wrightslaw Programs for 2004: Virginia & Oklahoma

Please join Pete and Pam Wright for a legal & advocacy training program in Virginia Beach, VA or in Central Oklahoma.

These Wrightslaw programs focus on four areas: special education laws; tests & measurements to measure progress & regression; SMART IEPs; and advocacy tactics & strategies. All participants will receive two books, Wrightslaw: Special Education Law and Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, with their registration (Value: $59.90).

"Your presentation was incredibly informative ... and FUN! Time just flew by." - Stella, New York


"Thanks for the most informative seminar I ever attended. I learned so much!" Linda, Colorado

Virginia Beach: November 12-13, 2004

This nine-hour program will be held at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center, 1881 University Drive, Virginia Beach, VA. The program is sponsored by Commonwealth Autism Services & the Autism Society of America, Tidewater Chapter. CLEs: The Virginia Bar approved this conference for 9.0 credit hours. Learn more & register.

Central Oklahoma: December 4, 2004 - FREE to Oklahoma Parents & Educational Caregivers!

This six-hour program will be held at the Nigh University Center Ballroom, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK. The program is sponsored by The Oklahoma Disability Law Center, Redlands Partners, and Oklahomans FOR IDEA & 504 COMPLIANCE. Learn more & download registration form.

"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 a Wrightslaw program to your community, please read FAQs about Seminars. (We are now scheduling programs for 2006.)

4. Teaching a Child to Read: Reading First or Special Ed?

"My child is in 2nd grade and receives special education for reading. He just got an F in reading. When we asked that he get extra help in the Reading First program, we were told he couldn't be in special ed and Reading First. Are children prohibited from getting help in Reading First if they are in special ed?"

What do you think? Are children who receive special education services prohibited from Reading First? In Teaching a Child to Read: Special Ed or Reading First?, Sue Heath answers this parent's questions, offers strategies for getting help, and recommends a plan:

"The F in reading is telling both you and the school that the current reading program is not meeting your son's needs. He needs to learn to read ... " Read Teaching Children to Read: Special Ed or Reading First?

Sue Heath writes Doing Your Homework, a column about creative advocacy strategies. Read more Doing Your Homework articles.


5. Strategies: IEP Goals & Objectives

How can you get good goals and objectives in your child's IEP? What can you do if the school wants to use subjective "teacher observations," not objective testing in the IEP? How can parents avoid "methodology disputes?"

In Tactics & Strategies: IEP Goals and Objectives, Pete Wright teaches you how to use tactics and strategies in IEPs.
More strategies.


6. Strategies: How to Use a Parent IEP Attachment

Confused at IEP meetings? Do you find that your questions are not answered? In How to Use a Parent IEP Attachment,
advocate Judy Bonnell teaches you how to use a simple form to track your requests, the school's response, issues that were resolved and issues that are still on the table. 

Read How to Use a Parent IEP Attachment

More advocacy strategies.


7. Recommended Books: Writing IEPs

"Can you recommend a good book on IEP writing for teachers and professional staff?"

We recommend Writing Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives by Barbara Bateman and Cynthia Herr. Writing Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives teaches educators and parents how to write IEPs that are legally correct and educationally useful. Dr. Bateman is a special ed professor at the University of Oregon and a trained attorney.

Dr. Bateman is also co-author of
Why Johnny Doesn't Behave: Twenty Tips for Measurable BIPs.

When asked what they need most, teachers say they need behavior management skills. Why Johnny Doesn't Behave provides useful tips to help teachers manage behavior. Learn to make expectations clear, teach expectations, minimize attention for inappropriate behaviors, and pay attention to behavior you want. The section about Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) and Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIPs) includes sample FBAs and BIPs.
8. Symposium on Educating At-Risk Children: October 29, 2004

Suzanne Heath, research editor for Wrightslaw and co-author of Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind, will present at the Symposium on Educating At-Risk Children on Friday, October 29, 2004. The Symposium will be held at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law in Washington, DC. Learn more.

Ms. Heath is available to do training and seminars on No Child Left Behind and creative strategies to advocate for children and improve public schools. Learn more


9. Find Help & Helpers at Yellow Pages for Kids

At the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities, you will find helpful information in one place. Your state Yellow Pages lists different resources - educational consultants, psychologists, diagnosticians, health care specialists, academic tutors, speech language therapists, advocates, and attorneys. You will also find government programs, grassroots organizations, special education schools, and parent support groups.

To get the word out about the Yellow Pages for Kids, we designed flyers for each state. The Yellow Pages flyers are printer-friendly and great handouts at meetings and conferences..

Strategy: Ask your school, public library, day care center, and support group to post the Yellow Pages Flyer on their bulletin boards and websites. Ask your child's teacher to post the Yellow Pages flyer in the teacher's lounge and guidance office. Ask your PTA or SEPTA to distribute the flyer. Ask the school to include the Yellow Pages Flyer in your school newspaper too!

Yellow Pages Flyers are great to distribute at conferences, seminars, training programs, and workshops.

Forward flyers to friends and family members who live in other states. You can access all state flyers from this page: http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/help/state.flyers.htm


10. 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.

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