Wrightslaw

In this issue of The Special Ed Advocate, we look at IEPs, Extended School Year (ESY), and highly qualified special ed teachers.

Highlights: Finding a tutor for a child with LD, educating educators; writing IEPs for success; support for school personnel and parent training in IEPs; how I got extended school year services after school said "no"; answering questions about extended school year (ESY) services; highly qualified special ed teachers; Wrightslaw programs in NH, IL, MI, HI; find help at Yellow Pages for Kids.

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

Flyers! Do you want to help others learn about special education law and advocacy? Please print and distribute flyers. List of flyers Where? At schools, doctor's offices, hospitals, day care centers!

"My son has dysgraphia. The school isn't helping him. How can I find a tutor who can help? How can I educate the educators?"

Learn why you need to get a comprehensive evaluation from an evaluator in the private sector, ways an evaluator can help, how to find a tutor, and how to educate the educators in:

My Child Has a Learning Disability - How Can I find a Tutor?

More Frequently Asked Questions

Learn about effective advocacy strategies

Learn about reading, writing, language therapy

Tired of one-size-fits-all IEPs that are not tailored to a child's unique needs? Feel intimidated at IEP meetings? Worried that your child is not making progress in the special ed program? You are not alone.

In Writing IEPs for Success, Dr. Barbara Bateman teaches you how to write IEPs that are educationally useful and legally correct. She walks you though the IEP process, step-by-step. This is how Dr. Bateman describes most IEPs (and the IEP process):

"Most IEPs are useless or slightly worse, and too many teachers experience the IEP process as always time consuming, sometimes threatening, and, too often, a pointless bureaucratic requirement . . ."

"Parents who attempt to participate as equals are often intimidated into acquiescence. They are given false and outrageous distortions as, 'We (the district) don't provide individual tutoring'; or 'We are a full inclusion school and have no special classes or resource rooms because we don't believe in pullout programs'."

To participate in developing your child's IEP, you must learn how to write goals that measure the child's progress. Read Writing IEPs for Success.

NOTE: Dr. Bateman is an attorney and professor of special education. She is the co-author of Writing Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives and Why Johnny Doesn't Behave: Twenty Tips for Measurable BIPs.

"It's time for your son's annual IEP review, and you can't understand why Ryan is still receiving failing grades . . . You start to panic. What can you do?"

The IDEA provides tools that IEP teams can use to help all children learn and succeed in school. In many cases, the IEP can (and should) include support for school personnel and training for parents.

To learn about these tools, read Support for School Personnel and Parent Training: Often Overlooked Keys to Success by parent attorney Susan Bardet.

Visit the IEP page for articles, caselaw, strategies, tips, and free publications about IEPs.

"When we attended our child's ESY Meeting, we were told that he did not qualify for Extended School Year services because he did not meet the regression-recoupment criteria. We were not advised of any other criteria that may be used to determine if a child is eligible for ESY."

"I remembered what you say - that parents need to do their own research, and not accept everything they are told . . " Read this mom's success story in How I Got ESY Services After the School Said No!

Read more success stories.

Do You Have a Success Story?

We are collecting stories about successful advocacy from parents and advocates. We will post some of these stories on Fetaweb.com, the parent advocacy website as time permits.

If you are interested in submitting a success story or strategy, please send an email to: success | at | wrightslaw.com Note: Replace the |at| with @!

In the Subject line of your email, type SUCCESS STORY in all caps. You will receive an autoresponder email with details about our submissions policy.

Note: Please do not send your article until after you read and review our Submissions Policy for Success Stories.

Many parents have questions about Extended School Year (ESY) services. In Pete's 1993 ESY case, Daniel Lawyer v. Chesterfield School Board, Judge Spencer wrote, "Regression is not the only factor" in deciding if a child needs ESY services. The judge listed several additional factors that IEP teams should consider in making ESY decisions:

• Recoupment in the Fall;
• Child's rate of progress;
• Child's behavioral or physical problems;
• Availability of alternative resources;
• Areas of the child's curriculum that need continuous attention;
• Child's vocational needs.

One year after the decision in Lawyer, a Maryland federal court issued a decision in Reusch v. Fountain that included a discussion of the school district’s "hostility to providing ESY."

Note: If you have questions about ESY, you must do your own research. The law about Extended School Year (ESY) has been interpreted differently around the country. The author of How I Got ESY Services After the School Said No! (above) is from Mississippi - her state handbook listed three criteria.

Learn more about Extended School Year.

Special Education Caselaw.

Are you a special ed teacher who needs to find out how the "highly qualified" teacher provisions in NCLB and IDEA affect you? The article and chart below will help.

In What are the New IDEA 2004 Requirements for Highly Qualified Special Education Teachers?, learn about new requirements for highly qualified special education teachers, how to meet these requirements, and limitations on what you can do if you are not "highly qualified."

The National Education Association (NEA) developed a handy one-page chart (in pdf) that will answer many questions. Answer the questions on the Highly Qualified Teacher Chart to find out if you are a highly qualified special education under IDEA and NCLB.

Learn more about No Child Left Behind and IDEA 2004.

Springfield, IL - May 13-14, 2005 (Boot Camp)

Oakland Schools, Waterford, MI - May 24, 2005 (Advocacy Training) - Attorney Wayne Steedman and advocate Pat Howey present a full-day Wrightslaw training program - NEW!

Hilo, HI - July 29, 2005 - LDA Conference (Keynote Speakers & Presenters)

Hilo, HI - July 30-31, 2005 - Boot Camp

Schedule l Programs l Speakers l FAQs

If you are looking for help - or a helper - visit the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities. Your state Yellow Pages has many resources - evaluators, speech language therapists, tutors, special ed schools, advocates, attorneys, organizations, and support groups.

These articles will help:

Working with Independent Evaluators and Educational Consultants

Strategies to Find a Support or Study Group

Help Others: Please print and distribute Flyers for Your State Yellow Pages for Kids.

Free Listings in the Yellow Pages: If you help parents get services for children (i.e., an evaluator, educational consultant, academic tutor, advocate, attorney, special ed school, etc.) or you facilitate a support or study group for parents, submit an application be listed in the Yellow Pages for Kids. Send an email to app@yellowpagesforkids.com for an application. Listings in the Yellow Pages are free.