With the start of the New Year, families and special educators start thinking about IEP Meetings. While most school district personnel are caring individuals with knowledge of the law, some may misunderstand IDEIA obligations or simply be too overwhelmed to address your child’s needs and interpret the law to place the burden of a FAPE [...]
Believe it or not, you should be getting notes home regarding setting up parent teacher conferences for your children any day now. This means that report card time is also quickly approaching. For parents of children with special needs, who have an IEP (Individualized Education Plan), you should also be receiving progress reports for your [...]
Budget cuts due to lower property taxes have resulted in an adversarial environment in special education. There are fewer resources for more students. The current climate dictates that you may need an attorney to achieve better results in fighting for your child’s needs in the public schools. In a lot of situations, there may already be [...]
Parents of a child with special needs will do anything they can to make sure their child is happy and in a supportive environment. When it comes to discussing your child’s education with his or her teachers and the school’s administration many parents feel they can handle it on their own. Here are ten reasons [...]
By Dennise Goldberg Another IEP Season has come and gone and just like every IEP season I learned a few things. You might remember from my last post that I work as a Special Education Advocate both professionally and for my own son who is graduating from elementary school. It has been a very stressful [...]
Guest Post by Suzanne Burchill My son was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) about 4 years ago. Today he is in 5th grade and still struggles with the classic symptoms of ADHD: lack of focus and attention, easily distracted, difficulty staying on task, lack of organization, blurting/ shouting out in class, difficulty sitting still/staying seated, [...]
This time of year is generally a very active one for parents of a special needs child and special education teachers. Many IEP meetings are held in March and April. We have heard a number of horror stories from parents about their IEP meetings. Now we would love to hear your IEP experiences: Please take [...]
This time of year is known as March Madness mainly because of the Colleges Basketball tournaments that start in mid-march and carry into April. For parents of children with special needs March Madness has a totally different connotation. March and April is IEP season when a number of parents have IEP meetings with the schools [...]
The attrition, or “burn-out,” rate for special education teachers is extremely high compared to most other professions. 50% of special education teachers leave their jobs within 5 years. Half of those who make it past 5 years will leave within 10 years. This equates to a 75% turnover rate every 10 years (Dage, 2006). The [...]
30 more ridiculous comments heard at an IEP Meeting
Last week Dennise Goldberg a special education advocate and mother of a child with special needs shared the Top Ten Most Ridiculous Comments Heard at an IEP Meeting. Apparently many parents can relate as the post has been shared over 1,000 times and over 50 parents shared their own IEP experiences. We took 30 of [...]