Wrightslaw - The Special Ed Advocate, November 7, 2001

Highlights: Advocacy training program in Hawaii; Colorado conference &
power of connecting; Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities; progress
report on Best School Sites Contest; new issue of The Beacon.

Subscribers on November 7, 2001: 32,519

1. Advocacy Training Program in Hawaii, December 7-8, 2001

Please join Pete and Pam Wright for an intensive two-day special education law and advocacy training program in Honolulu on December 7-8, 2001.

The first day of training is based on Wrightslaw: Special Education Law;
the second day is based on our new book, From Emotions to Advocacy.

Friday, December 7, 2001
Location: Hawaii State Capital Chambers Auditorium

* IDEA: History & Overview
Section 1400 Findings and Purposes
Section 1401 Definitions
Section 1412 ESY, Child Find, LRE/ Mainstreaming/ Inclusion, Private
Placements, Statewide Assessments
Section 1414(a) Evaluations, Reevaluations
Section 1415 Procedural Safeguards, Notice, Due Process, Mediation,
Appeal, Discipline, Transition

* Other Statutes: Section 504, ADA, FERPA
* Caselaw and recent legal developments
* "Back to School on Civil Rights" by NCD

* Advocacy for the Parent, Advocate & Parent's Attorney
The Parent as Project Manager
Developing your Master Plan
Learning "Rules of the Game"
Recognizing & Avoiding Obstacles to FAPE
Learning How to Deal with Conflict
Emergency! Crisis! Help!

* Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)
Section 1414(d) Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), Appendix A
Present Levels of Performance, Goals & Objectives, Understanding Tests & Measurements and the Bell Curve, Standard Scores, Percentile Ranks
S.M.A.R.T. IEPs

Demonstration: How to Use PowerPoint and Excel as Advocacy Tools

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2001
Location: Historic Hawaii Supreme Court
Ali'iolani Hale and Kaua'iwa Hale

* The Parent as Expert
Learn about your child's disability
Learn how to organize your child's file

* How to Use Tactics & Strategies:
Learn the Rules of Adverse Assumptions
How to Use Private Evaluations
How to Create Paper Trails, Letter Writing Strategies, How to Write the
"Letter to the Stranger"
How to Prepare for Meetings, Meeting Strategies
How to Use "5 W's + H + E"
How to Pick Your Battles
Caselaw and Tactics

The conference is sponsored by Parent Friends Education & Support, Hawaii Center for Independent Living, Autism Society of Hawaii and Community Children's Councils under the Felix Consent Decree.

Registration

The registration fee is very reasonable and includes Wrightslaw: Special Education Law (Retail: $29.95) and other materials. Please visit the Wrightslaw site to learn more about the Hawaii conference.

Please download a conference brochure in pdf that includes a registration form.

2. Advocacy Training or Advocacy Boot Camp?

Pete yells, "Two standard deviations above the mean is WHAT?"

"98!"

"And where are the regs about IEPs?"

"300.340 - .350 and Appendix A!"

"And what is your mission?"

"Page 24 of Wrightslaw!"

After two days of intensive advocacy training, these Colorado parents, advocates and attorneys were exhausted and empowered. Was this advocacy training - or advocacy boot camp with Pete Wright as drill instructor?

We got an answer yesterday . . .

3. Yellow Pages For Kids With Disabilities

To say "thank you" to our Colorado friends, we published the "Colorado
Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities" on the Fetaweb site today.

We are building our "Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities" so people
who love and work with these children can get information, support, and
connect with one another. Our "Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities"
are different from standard "Resources Pages."

We asked the participants at the Colorado conference to give us the
resources and groups that were most helpful to them. We listed their
recommended resources in the Colorado Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities. Please use these Yellow Pages for information and to combat
feelings of isolation.

One down, 53 states and territories to go. Next we will tackle Hawaii

Visit the Help pages on Fetaweb.

4. Coming Soon - Results of Best School Site Contest

On October 1, we published an Alert about the Best School Site Contest. To qualify as a "Best School Site," the site must help parents and others
advocate for children with disabilities by providing sample forms,
worksheets, and accurate, useful information about special education.

The new FetaWeb site will include a directory of "Best School Sites."

Your votes are in. We will announce the winners soon.

5. Harbor House to Publish New Issue of the Beacon

The Beacon: The Journal of Special Education Law and Practice is the first journal published exclusively for parent attorneys and advocates.
Published by Harbor House Law Press, The Beacon provides a forum for
practicing attorneys and advocates to exchange information.

The Fall issue of The Beacon will focus on document and exhibit preparation, and will include articles by several attorneys and advocates. The first issue of The Beacon focused on mediation and negotiation in special education cases.

Subscribe to The Beacon from the Harbor House Law site.

Learn more about The Beacon.

To learn about more free online newsletters about legal, special education, and disabilities information, go to the Wrightslaw site.