Learn Your Special Education Laws, Special Education Rights, and Share IEP Goal Ideas

1.  What is the special education law that can help my child with a disability?

The foundation of today’s special education law was passed in 1975 and enacted in 1977.  This was Public Law 94-142, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975.  In 1990 EHA was renamed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA.  IDEA was most recently reauthorized in 2004.  The Purpose of IDEA is to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education or FAPE that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment and independent living.

It’s important to note that the law only guarantees an appropriate education and not the best education.  Best is a four letter word and Parents should learn to replace it with the word appropriate when discussing their child’s special education needs Read the rest of this entry →

Probably the most frustrating part of being the parent of a child with a different ability [1] is the response from the very organization you hoped you could trust the most to do right by your child – your school district.  After all, teachers and administrators are trained to adapt the teaching environment to help my child, right? (No.)  I pay my property taxes, so I should be able to control how the schools work, right? (You should, yes, but in reality you don’t.) 

So what should I do when the school district won’t do what they are supposed to do for my child?  Read the rest of this entry →

The term Free Appropriate Public Education is thrown around a lot in Public Education. There are two separate laws having to do with disabilities that specifically define this term. It can be found in the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). So what exactly is the difference between the two definitions? Let’s start by looking at how each law defines FAPE. Read the rest of this entry →

The regulations that implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are complex, detailed and broad. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about them, and it is not uncommon for school staff, who generally have good intentions, to misstate a regulation or to rely on an assumption about a particular regulation. When school staff rely on special education mythology, two things occur: the school risks being in noncompliance; and more importantly, the all-important relationship with parents is undermined, eroding the trust that is necessary to achieve genuine consensus. Read the rest of this entry →

If you have been following my blogs lately, I recently got into a debate in the comment section of the Top Ten Negotiating Skills to Learn for an IEP. I’m going to focus this blog on one comment that was made:

“The (IEP) “team” concept does not in any way suggest a process of negotiation, rather it suggests collaboration. There is a significant difference with the former implying a relationship of possibly opposing views, while the latter implies a co-operative relationship.” Read the rest of this entry →

It’s time for another top ten list and here we go:

10. Prepare

Review all past and present assessments, tests, letters, and IEP’s.  Put markers next to important information so it’s easy to find while in the IEP meeting.  Pay close attention to test scores and how that information may be used by either you or the District to make a point.  This may include educating yourself on how to read the test scores.  If you don’t have enough information to make your case then you won’t convince the IEP team. Read the rest of this entry →

Last night I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Marianne Russo, Founder, President and Host of The Coffee Klatch. The Coffee Klatch is an interactive forum on Blog Talk Radio and Twitter bringing you internationally renowned expert guests including award winning authors, psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, advocates, celebrity activists and representatives from the world’s most respected children’s foundations.  I was lucky enough to be an invited guest.

The interview which lasted about 50 minutes covered topics ranging from Individualized Education Programs, Section 504, advocacy and my latest passion Special Education Advisor. The interview is presented below and I hope you enjoy it.

If you want to learn more about the Coffee Klatch visit their brand new updated website at www.theCoffeeKlatch.com

If you are in the Southern California area and want to hire an Advocate, visit my Advocacy business, Gold Standard Advocates, Inc. at www.theIEPAdvocates.com

I remember when my husband and I first entered the world of IEP’s.  We were overwhelmed by the magnitude of information, definitions, assessments, etc.  Of course, there was also the feeling of helplessness with regards to making sure our son had all the services he needed.  Sometimes, when a parent loses control of their emotions that can interfere with their ability to be an effective advocate for their child.  It’s happened to all of us at one time or another, when we as parents are trying desperately to convince the school district to give our child the services they need.  We might exhibit our frustrations through anger, tears, or depression because we are losing the argument with the school district.  When that happens, all communication between the school district and the parent’s stops and both sides walk away with resentment and ill will towards each other.  Since we are our children’s advocates, we must learn how to accomplish this by using a fact based argument instead of an emotional based argument.  Read the rest of this entry →

One of the benefits of being an advocate is when you attend a lot of IEP meetings in the same District you start to see patterns.  Usually, these patterns are designed by the School District to manipulate the outcome of an IEP with a set agenda.  As a parent, you probably won’t even realize this is happening because you only attend one or two IEP meetings a year, but as an advocate they are easy to spot. 

For years, my local school district has been paying behaviorists from non-public agencies (NPA) to help children in school who need more behavior support than a paraprofessional can provide.  Due to the cost and shrinking budgets, the School District has decided to try and eliminate NPA behavior support from ALL IEP’s.  The elimination of NPA behaviorists isn’t a written policy that a parent could find in the School District’s Special Education manual but it’s still happening none the less.     Read the rest of this entry →

Last week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Gloria Perez Walker of Special Ed for Busy Parents. Gloria is a parent of a child with autism, a legal advocate, and a grassroots community organizer. The interview which lasted about 25 minutes covered topics ranging from raising a child with special needs, advocacy and my latest passion Special Education Advisor. The interview is presented below and I hope you enjoy it. Read the rest of this entry →