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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.
Download this issue of The Special Ed Advocate.
Wrightslaw is ranked #1 in education
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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.
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
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