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#Understanding special education laws and rights

You ve read your copy of Rights and Responsibilities in Special Education, talked to other parents, and even looked up information on the Internet. You think that you have a pretty good understanding of what your child s entitled to, but when you talk to the special education administrator, he tells you something different.

You feel like the public school s not making enough effort to help your child. How do you know what you can realistically expect? How do you get what you want for your child?

Laws and regulations

Part of what makes everything so confusing is the way the legal process works. First, Congress passes a law. For example, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was most recently reauthorized in 2004. At that time, several substantive changes were made in the law .

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After laws are passed in each state, the respective Department of Education develops its regulations that give more information about the law. So now we have state regulations as well.

The parents rights and responsibilities you receive apply specifically to your state. Sometimes they include more than the federal government requires, but never any less. Your state may actually provide more for your child than a neighboring state or the federal government.

For example, federal law requires services until the age of 21 for eligible adults — those who haven t graduated from or otherwise completed high school. Most states explain what 21 means and when services will cease. But the state of Michigan has chosen to make services available to eligible students until the age of 26.

So if you move from one state to another, you may find services to be different. But wait, there s more.

The courts

If there s disagreement over the outcome of a fair hearing, part of due process procedures, you or the school district may appeal to a state or federal court. When the court interprets the law and makes its decision, it sets a precedent for future cases.

And this is often where issues become complicated. You may also need to know about court decisions that affect your state or the states included in your federal court circuit. Sometimes cases have gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and those rulings apply to all of the states.

What it means

There may be a breakdown in communication between you and the school because of differing information about all the laws, regulations, and relevant case law affecting special education. In some cases, you may have more knowledge than the educator, but it s also possible that you have only parts of the information.

For example, you may have heard about a certain method of teaching that sounds great for your child. And when you went to school and asked to have that method used, the school said no. What you may not know is that the Supreme Court decided that the choice of teaching methodology is up to the schools. To pursue this issue, you d probably have to go through the legal process, considering all the facts of your individual case, to prove that the school s methods resulted in minimal or no progress for your child. Then you may be able to pick a specific method of teaching.

There s no cure for learning disabilities (LD), so kids often struggle throughout school and progress at a different rate from their peers. The effect of a learning disability on a child s rate of learning, coupled with high parental expectations, can cause a strain on home-school relationships. As a parent, you want the best for your child and that may lead to disagreement over what free appropriate public education (FAPE) means. The courts have said that a child must receive some benefit from his education, but schools don t have to maximize your child s potential. (That s what s meant when you hear that the schools have to provide a Chevrolet not a Cadillac education.)

Communication with schools

It s really important to keep the lines of communication open. Since your child may have a few more years to go in the system, or you have other kids who go to the same school, it s crucial to maintain a positive relationship with school personnel. Let the school know you want to work in partnership with them. Remember that you have responsibilities as well as rights.

• Don t be afraid to ask questions. How do they know that your child is making progress? What do the standardized test results mean? What s working for him? How can you help at home?
• Share information with schools.
• When you talk to school personnel about your rights, be sure that you aren t stressed about other life issues and have plenty of time to share information and listen.
• Write down the issues ahead of time so that you can cover all your concerns and not feel frustrated at the end of the meeting.
• Use starter phrases such as It s my understanding that or What can you tell me about or I think that
• Take someone with you to be a second ear.
• Make notes as others are talking, and clarify any points that are unclear.

When your child reaches the age of 18, rights will transfer to him. So he needs to be included in discussions as much as possible to understand his rights and responsibilities before he becomes 18.

Support and assistance

To fully understand your rights, you may need to get more information.

• Become involved in school by volunteering in a classroom, so you ll be able to see what the expectations are for your child s peers.
• Attend PTA meetings, Parent Advisory Committees, and Community Advisory Committee meetings.
• Identify people and places you trust — educators who know your child, other parents with similar experiences, the local library, the Internet where you can go for help.
• Contact your state department of education, or consult with professional organizations that specialize in special education.
• If you speak to advocates or attorneys. make sure that they re knowledgeable about special education law, not some other specialty. After all, you wouldn t go to an ear, nose, and throat specialist when you re concerned about your teenager s acne.

Due process procedures

If you feel that you re at an impasse with the school, seek out mediation as a win-win strategy. You and the school may each have to give a little, but you ll keep control of what s decided. In a fair hearing, you and the school district each present your side of the story, but the final decision is made by a hearing officer on points of law.

More about rights and responsibilities

For more information about the process of mediation, see the following: Special Education Mediation: A Guide for Parents (English) or Special Education Mediation: A Guide for Parents (Spanish) .

Reviewed February 2010