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Questions concerning special education: IEP, assessments, Due Process, mediation, resolution conference, federal law, state law, qualifying for services, residential treatment, special day classes, resource specialists, procedures, having your child assessed, adaptive PE, speech & language, non-public school, FAPE, and tuition reimbursement.
I have been an education advocate representing students and parents for six years. My experience includes: representing my clients in IEPs, SSTs, Due Process, review assessment results for my clients, and mediations. I have represented clients with learning disabilities, autism, Downs Syndrome, cognitively challenged, emotional problems, learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, and physical disabilities. I have also represented clients to County Mental Health Departments and Regional Centers. My clients range from pre-school to college students in many states.
I have a degree in Mathematics from the University of California with minors in Psychology and Physics. I also studied applied statistics in psychology at the graduate level. I have taught college classes, conducted seminars, written articles for various publications, and testified as an expert witness.
When done properly, special education can help students to over come a wide variety of challenges to reach their full potential. I get so much fullfilment in seeing my clients do well in school and in their lives.
Every day I learn more about this exciting field. There are so many ways to help students to overcome disabilities. Technology is going to play a big part in this in the future. But there will always be a need for dedicated, hard working special education teachers and service providers.
There are many services available to help students. But many don't know about Assistive Physical Education (APE), Occupational Therapy (OT) which includes overcoming sensory issues, Speech and Language services can include pragmatics (learning how to read others), and social skills (learning how to interact socially with others). Students with emotional challenges can even receive counseling.
Some school districts do a great job of identifying and serving special education students others do not. Under the law, schools are supposed to seek out and identify students potentially needing special education help. They are supposed to assess these students and provide then with the services they need based on the results of these assessments. This even applies to students in private schools.
| User | Date | K | C | T | P | Comments |
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| mandy | 03/04/10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Thank you so much! It's so difficult ..... |
| Benton | 02/24/10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Thank you. That's very helpful. Since we're ..... |
| isabella | 01/21/10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | |
| Cheryl | 01/20/10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Thank you very much for your prompt ..... |
| Heather | 01/07/10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
I am aware of nothing in the law saying the district has to reconvene the full ARD meeting, but there could always be something in Texas education law. It is just a big expensive action for them to take
You are right and you are wrong. Assessing sensory issues falls into the services that OTs can provide. But the law does not say that the OT doing the evaluation needs to be certified in sensory integration
Parents can rescind their signature on an IEP at any time. But, you have to consider all the ramifications before doing so. If you rescind the last IEP, then the preceding signed IEP (plus any signed addendums
All changes in services called for in an IEP must be specified in a new IEP, or an IEP Addendum. This is the law. The underlying concept is to protect the student from changes made without the full IEP
Most parents do not realize how much power they have in the IEP process. You have to agree before any or all of the IEP can be adopted. You even have the right to change your mind about an IEP you already
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