Special Education Law, Part 1

• Overview: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004
• Section 1400: Findings & Purposes
• Section 1401: Definitions
• Section 1412: “Catchall Statute” – Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), 10 day notice re: private placements, Assessments, ESY
• Section 1414(a)(b)(c): Evaluations, Reevaluations, Response to Intervention
  
  Listen to Pete describe the Purpose of the law.

Special Education Law, Part 2

• Section 1414(d): Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs), IEP Teams, Parental Participation, Placement
• Section 1415: Procedural Safeguards - Prior Written Notice, Mediation, Due Process Hearings, Appeals, Attorneys Fees, Placement in Alternative Educational Settings
• Recent Decisions by U. S. Supreme Court
• Section 504 v. IDEA
• No Child Left Behind Act: Purposes, New Legal Definitions (reading, essential components of a reading program, diagnostic reading assessments, scientifically based reading research)
• Minimum Standards for Highly Qualified Teachers, Paraprofessionals
• How to Use IDEA and NCLB to Advocate for a Child

Special Education Advocacy, Part 1

• Creating Your Master Plan, Understanding the Parental Role
• Rules of the Game: School Rules, Gatekeepers
• Obstacles to Success: School Culture, Low Expectations, Isolation, Lack of Information, Emotions
• Parent-School Conflict: 6 Reasons for Conflict; Dealing with Difficult People
• Crisis! Emergency! Help!
• Evaluations & Your Child's Disability: Using the Evaluation as a Roadmap; Selecting an Evaluator
• Organizing Your Child's File
• Tests & Measurements & the Bell Curve: Standard scores, Percentile ranks, Subtest scores
• Demo: How to create graphs of progress or regression

Special Education Advocacy, Part 2

• SMART IEPs
• Rules of Adverse Assumptions; Outcome Prediction in Litigation
• Creating Paper Trails; Writing Good Letters; Letter Writing Tips; Writing the "Letter to the Stranger"
• Preparing for School Meetings: Pre-meeting worksheets, Agendas, Handouts, Charts
• Negotiation Skills: 4 questions; 5 rules for effective negotiating
• Meeting Survival Strategies: IEP Meeting Worksheets; 4 Rules of Conduct
• Advocacy Strategies: What Can One Person Do?
• Educational Advocacy Groups
  
  Listen to Pam discuss preparing for school meetings.