Today is the 45th Anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. Title VI prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance, including public schools. Ten years prior, in 1954, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education, finding that “racially [...]

Age Range Covered:IDEA 2004 specifies that FAPE must be made available to all children residing in the state between the ages of 3 and 21 inclusive.34 C.F.R. 300.101(a).
Eligibility At Age 3:School Districts are required to make FAPE available to children with disabilities by no later than the child’s third birthday. 34 C.F.R. 300.101(b). [...]

Under the law transportation is a related service akin to services such as speech and language, OT, PT, and counseling. See 20 U.S.C. 1401(a)(22). A school district is required to offer transportation services if it is required to assist the child with a disability to benefit from special education. See 34 CFR 300.24(15)(a).
Transportation includes: (1) [...]

A reminder that today is a national call-in day for the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, H.R., 2740.
Call your Congressional Representative to ask him or her to co-sponsor the Act and help level the playing field.Dial 202-224-3121 (TTY 202-225-1904) and ask for your Representative. You can also find direct dial numbers for your Representative, including local [...]

What are Nonacademic Services and Extracurricular Activities?IDEA specifies that these services / activities may include “counseling services, athletics, transportation, health services, recreational activities, special interest groups or clubs sponsored by the public agency, referrals to agencies that provide assistance to individuals with disabilities and employment of students, including both employment by the public agency and [...]

If you think your child may require special education, including specialized instruction and services, within the school setting, it may feel very overwhelming to embark on the process of obtaining those services. Here is some basic information to help you understand the initial steps and get you started.
Who May Require An Individualized Education Plan?
If [...]

Unilateral placement cases are highly fact-specific and each case is unique. It is advisable that a parent seeking to place their child unilaterally and obtain reimbursement for the costs of that placement obtain assistance from a special education attorney or highly experienced advocate from the initial stages of this process. An attorney or [...]

When people first think of assistive technology they think of the actual devices that a student uses in the classroom – ranging from a laptop computer to a pencil grip. But some devices requires that the student’s IEP actually include a direct service in order for them to access those devices.
Under the IDEA assistive technology [...]

In a unilateral placement case, when parents are seeking reimbursement for a private school placement, parents must demonstrate that the private placement the child is attending is “appropriate” for that child. This presents what the courts have deemed a “stringent but not impossible” task. Parents meet this burden by demonstrating that the private placement meets [...]

The IDEA defines “parent” as:
(A) a natural, adoptive or foster parent of the child (unless a foster parent is prohibited by State law from serving as a parent);(B) a guardian (but not the State if the child is a ward of the State);(C) an individual acting in the place of a natural or adoptive parent [...]