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When it comes to School vs. Parent legal disputes, it's not a fair fight. Schools budget for education legal services, parents do not. Schools have attorneys on retainer, parents do not. Schools are ALWAYS represented by lawyers at due process proceedings. Most parents find it extremely difficult to afford representation.
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).
On October 26, 2010 the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to educators throughout the country. The purpose of the letter is to remind school officials that "some student misconduct that falls under a school's anti-bullying policy may also trigger responsibilities under one or more of the federal antidiscrimination laws enforced by the Department's Office of Civil Rights (OCR)."
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.
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?
Yesterday, President Obama signed legislation, known as Rosa's Law, into law. Under this new law, federal legislation will no longer use the term mentally retardation. Instead, federal law will use the term "intellectual disability." Similarly, laws containing the term "a mentally retarded individual" will be replaced to read, "an individual with an intellectual disability."
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