Wrightslaw - Special Ed Advocate Newsletter, April 16, 2002 (Issue 160)

At Wrightslaw, our goals are to help you gain the information and skills you need to navigate the confusing world of special education. In this issue, we look at inclusion, least restrictive environment, and due process hearings.

Highlights: Is inclusion a right; new article about least restrictive environment, inclusion, FAPE, and educational benefit; how to prepare for a due process hearing; advocacy training programs sell out; new resources on Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities.

Learn how you can start a FETA Study Group.

Help others learn about special education law and advocacy - join our Get the Word Out Advocacy Campaign.

Print and distribute our Free Newsletters Flyer. Ask the school to include the Free Newsletter flyer in your school's newsletter too!

Isn't Inclusion a Child's Right?

"The IEP team wants to place a child with autism in a self-contained class, despite the parent’s objections. Am I missing something? Isn’t full inclusion a child’s right?

What do you think? Can school districts place children with disabilities in separate special education programs where they are segregated from children who are not disabled?

Is inclusion a right? Are there exceptions to this right?

Read our answer.
https://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/ltrs/inclusion_right_suzanne.htm

Go to our new LRE / Inclusion Topics page for articles, cases, and position papers that will help you advocate. (Be sure to download the "Position Paper on Inclusive Schools" from the National Association of School Psychologists!)

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), Mainstreaming, Inclusion and FAPE

The IDEA requires that disabled children receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The least restrictive environment (LRE) requirement is often referred to as inclusion or mainstreaming.

What does least restrictive environment really mean? What is the mainstreaming policy?

Read our new article, IDEA Requirements: Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and FAPE. In this article, we discuss LRE, mainstreaming, inclusion, FAPE and educational benefit.

You will learn that courts have issued different opinions on this issue. Some courts have emphasized educational benefit. Other courts focused on the need to educate the child with children who are not disabled.

https://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/idea.lre.fape.htm

New Topics Pages

We continue to reorganize hundreds of articles on the Wrightslaw site and create new topics pages. This is a huge undertaking but should make your research easier. You may want to check the following topics pages for more information about the subjects covered in this issue of The Special Ed Advocate newsletter.

LRE and Inclusion at https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/lre.index.htm

Free Appropriate Education (FAPE) at https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/fape.index.htm

IEPs at https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/iep.index.htm

Autism at https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/autism.index.htm

Master Topics Page at https://www.wrightslaw.com/topics.htm

How to Prepare for a Due Process Hearing

An attorney writes: "I am preparing for my first due process hearing. Can you give me some advice and pointers?"

Yes! Here are steps you can take to prepare for a due process hearing.

Read "How to Put on a Special Education Case" by Sonja Kerr, Esq.

Article includes advice for attorneys who are preparing their first case: Don't Sail Solo; Remember Whose Job It Is to Educate; How to Build a Perfect Case

https://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/kerr.advice.1stcase.html

Download, print and read "Representing the Special Ed Child: A Manual for the Attorney and Lay Advocate" by Pete Wright

Representing the Special Education Child has been revised several times since it was originally published in 1995 for a legal education seminar. The information is divided into several sections: The Need to Know; Presenting Problem; Preparing for a Due Process Hearing; Ethical Considerations; and Appendices.

https://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/attorney_manual.html

Join the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.

The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) is an independent, nonprofit, organization of attorneys, advocates and parents, whose primary mission is to secure educational services for children with disabilities.

More information about COPAA

http://www.copaa.net/national/copaa.html

Learn how you can join COPAA.

http://www.copaa.net/national/mem_ship.html

IDEA 2002 Hearing: April 18, 2002

On Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 10:30 am, the House Subcommittee on Education Reform will hold a hearing about Special Education Finance issues.

Topic: Hearing on "Special Education Finance at the Federal, State and Local Levels"
Where: Room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building
Witnesses:

Dr. Jay G. Chambers, American Institutes of Research, Palo Alto, California;
Mr. Paul M. Goldfinger, School Services of California, Inc., Sacramento, California;
Dr. John R. Lawrence, American Association of School Administrators, Superintendent, Troy R-III School District, Troy, Missouri;
Other witnesses to be announced.

Learn more about this hearing at http://edworkforce.house.gov/schedule.htm

Learn more about Reauthorization of IDEA (IDEA 2002).

https://www.wrightslaw.com/news/idea2002.htm

Advocacy Training Programs - SOLD OUT!

Knowledge is power. When you have information and skills, you will be a more effective advocate for your child. Our role is to help you gain this knowledge so you can negotiate on your child's behalf.

On April 13, we conducted an advocacy training program for 300 parents, advocates and attorneys in Rockville, MD. This one-day advocacy seminar in Maryland focused on four areas: special education law, rights and responsibilities; how to use the bell curve to measure progress & regression; SMART IEPs; and how to use tactics & strategies for effective advocacy.

Two weeks before the April 13 event, the program sold out. Last month, the Cleveland program sold out. When our advocacy training programs sell out, we know that parents and advocates have heard our message and are taking action.

Between now and May 27 (Memorial Day), we have advocacy programs scheduled in:

April 26 & 27: Two-day Advocacy Boot Camp in Minot, North Dakota.

https://www.wrightslaw.com/speak/nd.02.htm

May 7: Advocacy Training in Oklahoma City.

https://www.wrightslaw.com/speak/ok.02.htm

May 11:Advocacy Training in Sacramento.

https://www.wrightslaw.com/speak/02.05.ca.htm

May 25-26: Advocacy Training at International Rett Syndrome Conference, Chicago, IL.

https://www.wrightslaw.com/speak/il.02.htm

For more information about these events and programs that will be held over the next few months, please check our Seminars and Training page.

URL: https://www.wrightslaw.com/speak/index.htm