Wrightslaw

At Wrightslaw, our goals are to help you gain the information and skills you need navigate the confusing world of special education. In this Back to School issue, we help you get off to a good start this school year.

Highlights: Planning is key to success; success story - plans are our safety net; assertiveness & effective parent advocacy; managing your child's documents; paper chase in The Beacon; advocacy training programs in Indianapolis, Hartford CT, Virginia Beach, & Oklahoma City; help & helpers in the Yellow Pages for Kids.

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." - John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach

The Special Ed Advocate newsletter is free - please forward this issue or the subscription link to your friends and coworkers so they can learn about special education law and advocacy too. We appreciate your help!

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

What do you want your child to achieve this year? What are your long-range goals for your child? What do you want your child to be able to do when he or she leaves the public school system? What steps do you need to take to help your child meet these goals?

What are your child's strengths and weaknesses? How does your child's disability affect his or her ability to learn? You need to plan for your child's future.

A master plan helps you stay focused, anticipate problems, and prepare for the future. Your master plan will include goals for your child in academic and nonacademic areas – hobbies, interests, sports, play, and friendships. Master plans are clear, focused, concise, and flexible.

In Planning is the Key to Success, you learn why you need to plan for the future, elements of a master plan, and how to write a master plan for your child, step-by-step.

Learn more about effective parent advocacy.

Laura and Steve have four children. Justin, a child with autism, is their youngest. Laura and Steve describe how plans keep them on track - and sane.

"We started out, as many parents do, with goals and aspirations for our son. With the diagnosis of autism, we had to modify what we saw as the path for his future. Developing a plan and thinking about his future helped us to heal and to adjust our perspective in a positive way."

"What keeps us sane? Planning! I cannot emphasize this enough . . ."

In Plans are Our Safety Net, Laura and Steve explain how plans help them to stay focused, anticipate problems, and prepare for the future.

When you run into an obstacle, you are not alone! Learn how other parents resolve problems in Success Stories.

In Assertiveness and Effective Parent Advocacy, parent and advocate Marie Sherrett describes the joys and challenges of parent advocacy and shares observations about categories of parents.

•  Pacifists or those who gets things done;
•  Clinging vines or parent advocates;
•  Silent victims or fighters;
•  Dreamers or crusaders;
•  Waiters or initiators;
•  Bombshells or assertive parents;
•  Appeasing compromisers or action heroes.
  

Learn more about letters and paper trails.

Paper Chase was the theme of the Fall 2001 issue of The Beacon: Journal of Special Education Law & Practice. The issue includes articles about how to organize, manage and use documents in special education litigation. Although each contributor developed different approaches, they agreed on several key points.

• The Choreography of Trial Preparation by Barbara Ebenstein, Esq.
• The Toy Box by Lisa Chaldize, Esq.
• Do Documents Speak for Themselves? by Brice Palmer
• Paper Trails: Documents, Exhibit Lists and Due Process Hearings by Pete Wright, Esq.
• Observations from the Transom, by Brice Palmer, Managing Editor

Read the Fall issue of The Beacon: Journal of Special Education Law & Practice.

Read more articles in The Beacon.

"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.

September 17: Indianapolis, IN (Advocacy Training Program)

September 21-22: Hartford, CT (Mini Boot Camp - 9 hrs)

November 12-13: Virginia Beach, VA (Mini Boot Camp - 9 hrs)

December 4, Oklahoma City, OK (Advocacy Training Program) - FREE to Oklahoma parents & educational caregivers

Participants at these training programs will receive two books, Wrightslaw: Special Education Law and From Emotions to Advocacy, as part of their registration (Value: $59.90).

"What a marvelous conference! I often leave sped presentations angry and/or guilty because of all the things that have been done or not done. This time I left encouraged, inspired and armed!"

If you are interested in bringing Pete and Pam Wright to your community, please read our FAQs about Seminars. (We are now scheduling programs for 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.

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