FAPE

New Guidance on PE and Athletics for Children with Disabilities

New Guidance on PE and Athletics for Children with Disabilities

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) recently published a report suggesting was for states and school district to increase opportunities for children with disabilities to participate in PE and athletics. The report is called Creating Equal Opportunities for Children and Youth with Disabilities to Participate in Physical Education and Extracurricular Athletics.

Procedures Lite - Parents Beware!

Procedures Lite - Parents Beware!

Procedures Lite is contract between schools and parents that waives special education procedural rights. Parents waive the right to convene an IEP meeting, develop an IEP, receive progress notes, and request annual evaluations. Parents also waive the right to enforce these rights and seek compensatory services and damages. What does the school waive? Nothing. Instead the school gains the unilateral right to educate your child without parent input, updated evaluations, and judicial oversight.

Back to Basics - What Rights Does My Child Have?

Back to Basics - What Rights Does My Child Have?

Under IDEA, your child is entitled to:

A "Free Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE) in the "Least Restrictive Environment" (LRE).

An initial eligibility evaluation and thereafter, a yearly reevaluation.

An independent evaluation at public expense if you disagree with the school district's evaluation.

A written individualized education program (IEP).

Apple Opens Special Education Apps Store

Apple Opens Special Education Apps Store

Are iPads and iTouches the next big thing in Assistive Technology?  

Last week, Apple unveiled a new section of its application store on iTunes - “Special Education: Learning for Everyone."  Within this section, the applications are conveniently organized into five subsections: communication, hearing, language development, literacy and learning and organization.  Applications include text-to-speech software, graphic organizers, and handwriting tools.

Q & A: Is it Legal to Only Provide My Son a Two Hour School Day?

Q & A: Is it Legal to Only Provide My Son a Two Hour School Day?

The Question:
My son who is 8 has autism he is in special needs class on a military base. We just moved to a new place and he has gone to school for several years now. However this new school only has him going 2 hours a day. At first I agreed to do this for a few weeks to get him used to the school but its been a few months now and I think they are doing it to convenience themselves. I think he needs to go all day like the other kids. Is this even legal? Only keeping him for 2 hours?

Q & A: Out-of-District Placement for Autistic Child

Q & A: Out-of-District Placement for Autistic Child

How do I get my Autistic son into an out of district school when the public school continues to ignore a doctor's recommendation? My son is autistic and I have filed due process last year because of an incident that should not have occurred if he had not been moved to a school that did not have an adequate autism program in place.