LRE

LEAST RESTRICTIVE REQUIREMENTS (LRE)

Least restrictive requirements states that children with disabilities should be placed and educated in regular classroom settings with children that do not have disabilities and should only be removed if the severity of the disability cannot be corrected by supplementary aid or services are not successful. As educators and parents it is in our best interest to provide the best education for our children and students so the least restrictive requirements make it hard for both disability students and non disability students. Many parents frown on removing their children with disabilities into a different environment and setting away from the other children but sometimes that is the better placement for the students with disabilities. Educator’s goals are to provide the best resources and learning skills to assist students in learning and functioning to the best of their ability. In a regular classroom setting teachers don’t always have the amount of time to allow them to work one on one with students. Now not all students with disabilities need that one on one time but it is especially helpful when it is available. With that said it is not always a negative thing to have students separated when it’s appropriate for both sets of students. The links below will provide you more information on the least restrictive requirements and how the placement works in detail.

• Least Restrictive Environment and Provision of Services Requirements
  

• Special information for all educators. LRE

• Sec. 300.114 LRE requirements.
  

April 5, 2009
Special Education Law Cases

As an educator, parent and student it is extremely important to know the law in special education. So many cases and act change each year and it is important for students with disabilities to be treated equally. As educators it’s important to stay on top of the changes and new laws to give each child the best education possible. The special education law cases are directed to keep it fair for students with disabilities and encourage students with disabilities to be given an equal education opportunity. Great laws to be familiar with are the IDEA, FAPE and No child left behind. Listed below are a few good websites that are informational about special education case laws.

Special Education Case law Review
http://www.wadleighlaw.com/articles/School/special_education_case_law_review.htm

Supreme Court cases in Special Education
http://www.dphilpotlaw.com/html/supreme_court_cases.html

Statutes, Regulations and Case Law
http://www.geocities.com/athens/styx/7315/subjects/law.html

MARCH 29, 2009

SCHOOLS BEHAVING BADLY

Schools Behaving Badly… is definitely every parents night mare. From bus drivers situations to preschool to actual teachers behaving badly in public schools is happening more frequently than we would like. The question is how do we as educators, parents and society make changes to make our schools behaving in a better manor? In the book Teachers Behaving Badly by Kate Myers and professor at the University of Keele takes notice of two professors having an affair. Not only are teachers having affairs with other teachers but today it’s occurring with the teacher and student. How do we protect our students and children? School Districts need to take the extra time in the interview process to hire quality teachers not a quantity of teachers. Another suggestion would have frequent observation sessions for each teacher to monitor what is being taught, relationships being built with their students and to take notes on anything that may not seem right. Student surveys through out the year would also be another effective tool that could be used. The links below provide websites with more information, stories and situations we hope to avoid in the future.

Teachers Behaving Badly by Kate Myers
http://books.google.com/books?id=-coXJOzXnxcC&dq=schools+behaving+badly&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=XBibSWjlDO&sig=OYbAY8F_GH_TSHcnqncr_oNoMhI&hl=en&ei=N-rPSdDgIIOssQOMlKygAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA1,M1

MyNC Users Catch Bus Drivers Behaving Badly, Call For Action
By Jenny Henry
http://wake.mync.com/site/Wake/news/story/29504/mync-users-catch-bus-drivers-behaving-badly-call-for-action/

Protecting Bad Teachers
http://teachersunionexposed.com/protecting.cfm

Bad Bad Teacher
http://badbadteacher.com/leah-pourdavood/

"High Stakes Testing"

March 22, 2009

“HIGH STAKES TESTING”

This week’s blog is to help parents and educators understand the term “high stakes testing” and what it means for individuals with disabilities. High stakes testing refers to tests that hold significance for a student to be promoted to the next grade level or to graduate from high school. It is a test each student is required to take to be able to move forward in most states. These types of exams often place a great deal of pressure on students as a whole and most definitely for students with learning disabilities. High stake testing for student with learning disabilities make it very hard for the student and for the educator. More than often a student with a learning disability is going to need more attention in a certain subject matter and is more than likely not going to be on the same pace or level as a student without a disability. Not all the information in each subject is going to be addressed as if it was a regular student due to the time allowed each school year. How does a State decide whether or not a child with disabilities should be given the test. IDEA highly stresses that each child should be given the same education as the next, should it be different in this case? Is it truly right to make a child with disabilities take a test that holds so much power? The links below are to several articles that address high stakes testing for students with disabilities. Enjoy!



1. Implications of High-Stakes Testing for Students With Learning Disabilities
By Candace Cortiella
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/2846

2. Low Performance on High-Stakes Test Drives Special Education Referrals: A Texas Survey
By Cheryl Fielding
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4013/is_200401/ai_n9389283

3. High Stakes Testing
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/highstak.index.htm

4. Helping Your Students Understand Their Classmates with Special Needs
http://www.naset.org/2224.0.html

Parent Advocacy

March 13, 2009
Parent Advocacy
My goal for this week is to really explain the options parents have for their child with disabilities. There are so many tools, articles, books and general information that will help guide parents in finding proper help and services available to them at an affordable expense. As a parent it is so important and essential to be active and take action toward finding what’s available for your child so they can become as successful as possible. Its also parents know what their child rights are and the guidelines so if they don’t agree with how something is being handled then they can question and find a solution to a problem. Several of the websites below provide parents with steps to take toward finding proper services and special educational programs to go through. The websites also give you an idea of what questions need to be asked during your process of finding the right program for your child. When approaching something for the first time, its important to have a guide on what questions to ask so you can compare between the programs being provided.
Other websites offer parents to place to meet other parents and join workshops and conferences that will aid in their guidance for their child. I think this is very beneficial because it exposes parents to other parents that have similar circumstances. Parents will have the opportunity to compare notes, learn and build friendship with parents that also have children with disabilities.
Websites:
Wrightslaw Special Education Advocacy
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/advo.index.htm

State Wide Parent Advocacy Network
http://www.spannj.org/

Special Education Rights

http://www.specialeducationrights.com/

Internet Special Education Resources
http://www.iser.com/CAadvocacy.html

Books :
Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide (Paperback)
by Peter W. D. Wright (Author), Pamela Darr Wright (Author)

No Child Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind Act- NCLB
March 8, 2009
Today’s blog is to explain the No Child Left Behind Act that President George Bush proposed on January 23, 2001. The Act is set to established goals for every student and is trying to ensure that each student gets the proper education required and deserve to succeed in life. In all states the schools are expected to give each child a state test and the students are expected to pass this test. If a certain amount of students fail the test per that school the school will not receive federal funding from the government. In my opinion this can be good or bad. It’s great this act is concentrating on the student and making sure each student gets the required education to achieve their goals but then again it puts so much emphasis on the school passing this test as a whole. I think teachers are focused on teaching this material and getting their students to pass the exam just to meet the states requirements, but is the student really benefiting from so much time being spent on passing an exam? I’ve provided below some websites that explain the act more in depth so you can explore and form your own opinion based on the information you read, also if you want more information check out the books below as well.
Websites
National Education Association
http://www.nea.org/esea/
No Child Left Behind Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/nclb/

Book :
Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind by Peter W. D. Wright
Many Children Left Behind
By Deborah Meier, George Harrison Wood
http://books.google.com/books?id=d1kerx8kPawC&dq=No+child+left+behind&printsec=frontcover&source=bll&ots=MPigUbF820&sig=NU80kYelqFjD5x_TEeO65d3F-XA&hl=en&ei=INqzSYH7JZWksAOwrPF7&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=12&ct=result#PPP1,M1

IDEA 2004

March 1, 2009

IDEA 2004
My goal this week is to help parents and educators understand the IDEA 2004.
IDEA stands for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This act is a law ensuring children with disabilities with the right services for education through out the nation. The website Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004 help explains the different methods of intervention for infants, children and young adults. Visit http://idea.ed.gov/ for more information. This website is very informational as it explains the regulations pertaining to the IDEA 2004. It’s also a good reference for future questions because it is actively up to date.
The IDEA 2004 helps parents and educators understand why the IEP becomes important. The IEP is the Individualized Education Program. The wright’s law website is very helpful because it goes into depth on how to improve education with Children that have disabilities, high qualified teachers and the IEP. I highly suggest this website http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/ and review the different links it has available.
I feel like it’s very important for parents and educators to understanding the IDEA 2004 if they are working with children with disabilities or have one of their own. I think it’s important to understand this so they have no boundaries that get in the way and each child can be given the best opportunity possible to succeed to the best of their ability. I’ve included a few other websites that I found very helpful as well.

· The Worlds leading website on Learning Disabilities
http://www.ldonline.org/features/idea2004
· IDEA 2004 Summary
http://www.fape.org/idea/2004/summary.htm
· National Center for Learning Disabilities
http://www.ncld.org/content/view/274/321/

Additional reading material:

What Every Teacher Should Know About Transition and IDEA 2004 - Carol A. Kochhar-Bryant & Stan F. Shaw & Margo Izzo

IDEA 2004 (ISBN: 1-892320-05-3) by Peter W. D. Wright,

Due Process

February 22, 2009
Understanding the Due Process
This blog is to help explain the due process to parents, educators and students. The due process right is limited to two years from when the parents or school system from the violation. For a parent to file for the due process they have to submit a complete complaint notice from the HCPSS department of education. When filing the parent will have to describe in detail the problem that relates to the problem trying to be proposed or changed. For parents the due process is the best way to handle special education concerns but is the most costly. It’s recommended that the party should try all possible options before filing for the due process and to make the due process the last resort if all possible.
This blog is to help inform parents and make them aware of the resources available online and reading material that will help educating parents to explore the options of having a due process hearing. For more information on how the parent should begin the due process paper work and if the party qualifies for a hearing please review the following sites:
www.wrightslaw.com/info/dp.index.htm
www.hcpss.org
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt2007-R-0059.com
http://learningdisabilites.about.com
Books to review:
Due Process in Special Education: On Going to a Hearing
M Budoff, A Orenstein, C Kervick-1982- Ware Press

Rethinking Special Education for a New Century
CE Finn Jr., AJ Rotherhan, CR Hokanson JR 2001

Diagnostic Testing / IEP Development- Addressing a Learning Disability

Thursday February 12, 2009

Diagnostic Testing / IEP Development- Addressing a Learning Disability

The title of this blog posting is “Addressing a learning disability.” This blog is geared to parents and educators as they assess their students learning behaviors and abilities. Its main purpose is to aid and inform parents and educators on how to properly assess a student with possible learning disabilities according to federal and state regulations through diagnostic testing. Its goal is to provide a better understanding of how the Individuals with Disabilities Act plays into effect with a student with learning disabilities and how important the Individual Education program is to the student and the school each year. I feel that this posting will offer resources explaining and clarifying how to determine if additional assistance is needed and how the Individual Education program becomes an important tool for each student with disabilities each year. The main topics that these resources will address include the following:

• Assessment process
• Federal and state regulations
• Importance of IEP
• Assessment and testing of learning disabilities
• Formative and summative assessment

Here are several websites I found very informative that will explain and help parents and educators determine if a student has a learning disability and needs special attention.

1. Testing for Learning Disabilities by Ann Logsdonhttp://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/assessmentandtesting/a/spedtesting.htm
2. Diagnostic Testing by Alan Dessoff
   http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1490
3. National Center for Learning disabilities- Before special education
   http://www.ncld.org/content/view/328/456006/
4. Find a learning disability professional in your area:
   http://www.iser.com/CAassess.html

I also found some books that can be used a good guide to direct each student differently according to their learning disability.

1. The Special Educator's Comprehensive Guide to 301 Diagnostic Tests, Revised and Expanded EditionRoger Pierangelo, Ph.D., Long Island University, Dept. of Special Educ. and LiteracyGeorge Giuliani, J.D., Psy.D., Hofstra University, School of Education and Allied Human Services ISBN: 978-0-7879-7813-6©2006504 pageshttp://he-cda.wiley.com/WileyCDA/HigherEdTitle/productCd-0787978132,courseCd-ED3600,pageType-copy,page-authorInfo.html

2. A Parents Guide Special Education

http://books.google.com/booksid=VHmPuIEc694C&dq=Diagnostic+testing+

for+special+education&printse=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=YPeUSdLbNpq

WsAOSg4mcBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=11&ct=result

Making a difference with Assistive Technology

February 8, 2009

Assistive Technology

“Making a difference with Assistive Technology." This blog posting is to inform and educate parents, students and educators on the impact that assistive technology is making on children that have special needs. The main goal is to provide information and resources that will enhance the services to children with disabilities. The resources below help narrow down different disabilities and can help customize the students learning depending on their need. I feel like this blog will help and guide individuals that are struggling or lacking the resources to aid them in Assistive Technology and will give them a better understanding on what is actually being offered today. The main topics that these resources address include the following:

• Information on available software for specific types of disabilities
• How assistive technology is being used in the classroom setting
• How teachers and students find assistive technology more effective

Here are several websites that will provide more information on Assistive Technology and how its making a difference.

• Becoming an Infound Consumer
  http://www.nichcy.org/InformationResources/Documents/NICHCY%20PUBS/nd13.pdf
• Education World
  http://www.education-world.com/special_ed/assistive/index.shtml
• Closing the Gap
  http://www.closingthegap.com/
• Internet Special Education Resources
  http://www.iser.com/special-needs-software.html
• What works in Public Education
  http://www.edutopia.org/assistive-technology-young-children-special-education
  

Also I have listed below some reading material that will help guide you as well:

1. Computer Resources for People with Disabilities: A Guide to Exploring Today's Assistive Technology by Stephen Hawking
   
   
2. When Your Child is Technology Assisted: A home care guide for families by Paul Kahn
   
   
3. Assistive Technology in Special Education by Diane Golden