About
I am the Director of Legal Services for The Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People, and also the author of The Everyday Guide to Special Education Law and Guia de la Ley de Educacion Especial, a Spanish/English version of The Everyday Guide. My posts will feature information about special education, early intervention, and other disability related law. I will provide articles commenting on and, I hope, clarifying court cases and legislation affecting people with disabilities. I will do my best to provide information that is practical and not written in legalese.
Since I have spent 30 years as a lawyer working on behalf of people with disabilities and their families, I have an advocate’s perspective on issues. I do, however, try to be objective so that my comments will be useful for teachers and other educators and service providers. As I said in the preface to The Everyday Guide, ”So, while the book is written from a parent perspective, the information is also intended to help those who have answered the call to become that most honorable of professions, teachers.”
I welcome comments to my posts and general questions regarding special education law, early intervention, and disability law. I don’t and won’t have all the answers, but will do my best.
September 25, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Randy,
This is great information for families and professionals! Would it be possible to include the Early Childhood Connections website as a link under the Early Intervention heading?
September 26, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Ardith,
Thanks for the feedback. As you can see I added Early Childhood Connections to the Early Intervention heading in the blogroll. I hope to add new posts weekly and welcome comments and questions
September 26, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Gary,
Great blog! Very informative. I find I encounter more issues at daycare than I do at school though. I continually address the director with my concerns. Thank you for the information. I’ll check back weekly for new blogs.
September 26, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Lisa,
I’m glad you like the blog and I’ll try to keep on top of posting new information. Let me know if there are day care issues that I can address.
September 26, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Randy,
Thank you for this information, it is a great resource for both professionals as well as parents. I find that parents are often very concerned with Disability Harassment but do not know that there is an actual law that prohibits discrimination based on abusive and intimidating behavior towards students with disabilities.
September 27, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Justin,
You’re welcome. You’re right that, unfortunatley, many parents and educators are unaware that disability harassment is a violation of 504 and the ADA. Thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback.
September 28, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Randy I loved your article on dissability harrassment. I think I would add one comment, it is also up to the parents of children who are saying harmful things to other to help them understand and stop their behavior, if they know it is occurring and not just up to the school. My grandson started kindergarten this year and is in an inclusive educaitonal setting, when he sat next to a child that had a cognitive impairment he said to him, I think you should be in pre-school instead of kindergarten. When he told his mother and myself this we were shocked, we raised him to be kind and sensitive. Well he got a clear message that this was not acceptable. We also realized we had been telling him for months, you are so big and smart you get to go to kindergarten, so our words may of had an infuluence. Keep up the good work.
October 1, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Thanks Katherine. I certainly agree that parents should model and coach appropriate behavior for their children.
December 4, 2007 at 6:44 pm
RE: multi-tiered intervention model/Response to Intervention (RTI) process
I am writing from a treatment team of a Denver area community mental health center that is tasked with serving the needs of children with chronic mental health issues as well as working with families that have been court ordered to seek treatment for various reasons.
At a staff meeting we were recently made aware of a new process in place at Cherry Creek Schools that we were told will delay the process of getting children identified and getting them IEP’d. We were told that this is a new initiative that will soon be in place state (and nation) wide as part of the “No Children Left Behind” legislation.
I am writing to you because I have used your ‘Handbook for Special Education Rights’ as a guide for helping parents navigate Special Ed systems for a number of years, and this new initiative sounds like it represents a major departure from the established IEP/appeal/due process continuum.
Are you aware of any information available on this new initiative? Are you aware of any parent advocacy materials that community clinicians might be able to use to help parents navigate this new process? Is there any training available for Human Service professionals who work with the Educational System?
Thank you for your time and for any information you may be able to provide.
December 6, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Chris,
Thanks for your comment regarding implementing the response to intervention process (RTI) in Colorado. You can find general information about RTI in my most recent book, The Everyday Guide to Special Education Law, on pages 23 to 25. You can also find information about RTI in Colorado at the Colorado Department of Education’s website at http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdesped/RTI.asp.
Since RTI is a tier based model providing for interventions over time to support students in general education, there has been concern by parents and advocates that implementing RTI may delay determining a student’s eligibility for special education. The IDEA 2004 Regulations (see the the link in my blogroll to the right under Special Education Law), however, make clear at 34 CFR 300.301 and 300.309(c) that special education eligibility must be determined witihin 60 days of the receipt of parental consent unless the parents and district agree otherwise.
January 9, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I’m trying to get information on the rights of parents with disabled children in regards to employers. I have a 9 year old Autistic child and have him on a great routine with his school, the routine is imperitive and we have accomplished alot. My employer has now decided to tranfer me to another shift that will ( I and his educators) possibly cause a loss of what he has learned and definately cause some emotional issues. I have been his primary care person. I submitted a memo to my staff and the schools IEP director included their concerns in a written document, however, my employer denied the request stating it would set a bad prescedence. One of my supervisors said that although my son met ADA, I did not. I have been with the same agency for 13 years and am just at a loss. A few people have advised me to contactthe ACLU and ADA and see if it meets any criteria. ANY info from anyone appreciated.
January 14, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Jane,
Thanks for your comment and question. The Americans with Disabilities Act has an “association provision” that prohibits discrimination against individuals because they have a relationship or associate with an individual with a disability, even though the individual does not have a disability. Unfortunately. the non discrimination provisions of the ADA related to persons who have a relationship to an individual with a disability does not include an obligation by the employer to provide reasonable accommodations. Thus, your employer may not be legally required to provide you an accommodation. You can find out more information regarding associational discrimination by looking at the EEOC website providing Q&A at http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/association_ada.html. This is just a general response to your question and doesn’t mean you do not have any claim under the ADA. You might want to consult with an attorney who knows disability law. Good luck.