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NEW ADVOCACY SERVICE:
POWER Advocacy Service
For almost two years we have had our POWER membership
which receives a STRATEGIES newsletter. Using those strategies,
many of our members have interacted with us and report getting real
successes in their efforts with their school districts.
We now want to expand that success and focus on IEP's to help as
many children and families as possible.
In this new service we will work with you to "grade" your current IEP.
Do you know if you and your child are getting anywhere near what they are
actually entitled to get with the recent changes in the IDEA Statute,
IDEA Regulations and the new IDEA Appendix A?
In this POWER Advocacy Service:
We will critique your current IEP using our 111 question checklist,
and we will provide specific strategies in writing to help you attempt
to get what you and your child are actually entitled to under the new
IDEA requirements.
Contact us for cost and more information:
(You do not have to be a POWER Member to secure this service)
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ASK REED ARTICLE OF THE MONTH:
Should I oppose every single thing that my school
does that I think is wrong?
Parents often complain to us that their school ignores their
procedural rights all the time -- in evaluation, in access to records,
in the IEP meeting, in implementing the IEP, and so forth.
Parents then ask us should they oppose each of these violations
or should they let some of them slide? How serious does the violation
have to be for the parent to try to take action? Parents get tired,
you know, and cannot be a lawyer 24 hours a day.
They don't have to remind us. We are parents and we know how
draining fighting every issue can be.
So what issues do you need to fight?
Review the complete article at:
http://www.reedmartin.com/askreed.html
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WORST SCHOOL OUTRAGE OF THE MONTH:
Still Inaccessible After All These Years
District of Columbia Schools Still
Out of Compliance After All These Years
Everyone has heard that several national groups are releasing
reports about the state of compliance with federal special education laws.
The preliminary reports confirm that no one is in compliance.
We have heard some administrators and even teachers say that lets them
off the hook. "If no one is in compliance," they say "then no one should
expect us to be in compliance." That is the excuse a teenager uses the first
time that they are picked up for shoplifting -- every body does it.
One would think that school administrators and teachers would have a
higher regard for complying with the law.
However, in Washington, D.C., non-compliance is an industry.
Their schools were in such disarray in 1971 that a lawsuit in federal
court, Mills v. Board of Education of DC, produced a decision in 1972
that paved the way for federal special education laws.
The Mills case is one of the two federal district court cases that is
constantly cited by Congress and the courts as the beginning of the
special education rights revolution.
But rather than putting effort into complying with the laws,
the DC administration has put their efforts into preventing law enforcement.
View the complete article: http://www.reedmartin.com/outrageofthemonth.html
View the article from the Washington Post: Judge Tells School to Fix
Bathrooms. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/oct99/schools20.htm
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'SPECIAL' EDUCATIONAL CALENDAR FOR 2000
Celebrating dates and events that have helped children with disabilities
An educational monthly reminder of what federal laws provide for children
with disabilities and some of the people and families who have caused the
development of these laws.
Includes Court Cases, Federal Laws and Suggestions to Assist You in Your
Advocacy!
Be reminded every month of the rights of your children to obtain a free
appropriate public education and how those rights were obtained.
Only $8.95 ($2s/h)
http://www.reedmartin.com/specialeducationcalendar.html
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WE WON ANOTHER AWARD
ONE OF THE BEST EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ON THE WEB
Our site was selected as a featured site in StudyWeb as one of the best
educational resources on the Web by their researchers.
StudyWeb is one of the Internet's premier sites for educational resources
for students and teachers. Since 1996, their expert reviewers have scoured the
Internet to select only the finest sites to be included in StudyWeb's listing of
educational links. Each site in StudyWeb includes a detailed review describing its
editorial and visual merits.
Check out StudyWeb at: http://www.studyweb.org
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ADVOCACY TIP OF THE WEEK:
Complaining About Your Hearing Officer System
View the Advocacy Tip:
http://www.reedmartin.com/advocacytipoftheweek.html
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PRODUCT OF THE MONTH:
Evaluations Required by Law Audiotape
The law requires sufficient individual evaluation so that the
educational approach can be tailored to that one child.
"Any necessary evaluation activities should focus on collecting
information about how to teach and assist the child in the way
he or she is most capable of learning." [House Report 105-95 at p. 99]
"Your Rights to Evaluation" is a sixty-minute audiotape that details the
federal requirements for sufficient individual evaluations so that the
educational approach can be tailored.
Some of the topics include:
The Constitutional basis for evaluation; Identification process;
Notice to parents;
Requirements for evaluation;
Specific areas of disability;
Qualifications of evaluators;
Evaluators at the meeting;
Evaluations for related services Evaluations under the new discipline requirements;
Independent evaluation; and more
"Your Rights to Evaluation" can help you understand the full scope of the evaluations that your child might receive.
Only $10.00 ($2 s/h) Expires: January 15, 2000
Email your order at connie@westco.net or Shop On-Line
http://www.reedmartin.com/shoppingcart.html
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YOUR CHILD'S IEP INVOLVES BOTH PROCEDURE AND SUBSTANCE:
The United States Supreme Court has described what must be done to meet
the parents' and students' rights. (Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 310-312 (1988).
"Envisioning the IEP as the centerpiece of the statute's education delivery
system
for disabled children, and aware that schools had all too often denied such
children
appropriate education without in any way consulting their parents, Congress
repeatedly emphasized throughout the Act the importance and indeed the
necessity of parental
participation in both the development of the IEP and any subsequent
assessment of its effectiveness. Accordingly, the Act establishes various
procedural safeguards that
guarantee parents both an opportunity for meaningful input into decisions
affecting
their child's education and the right to seek review of any decisions they
think inappropriate."
Appendix C to the IDEA regulations, which has been quoted as the law in all
of the Circuit Courts, (The previous App. C. has been renamed App. A and
this
is at App. A, Q. 9) stated that the IEP "serves as a communication vehicle
between parents and school personnel, and enables them, as equal
participants,
to jointly decide what the child's needs are, what services will be provided
to
meet those needs, and what the anticipated outcomes may be." The Appendix
further refers to the IEP as: "setting forth in writing a commitment of
resources,"
"a management tool that is used to ensure that each child with a disability
is provided
special education and related services appropriate to the child's special
learning needs,"
"a compliance/monitoring document to determine whether a child is actually
receiving the free appropriate education agreed to by the parents and the
school,"
and "an evaluation device to determine the extent of the child's progress
toward
meeting the projected outcomes."
The 1997 Amendments to the IDEA emphasize the above.
The IDEA amendments that relate only to the IEP went fully in effect
on July 1, 1998.
DOES YOUR CHILD'S IEP MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS?
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UP-COMING CONFERENCES:
Jan. 15, 2000-Parents In Motion, Commerce, GA
Call: (706) 367-3694 or (706) 367-1749
January 26 National Conference - Technical Assistance
for Parent Centers - Alliance Conference
January 29, 2000-Family Network on Disabilities of Manatee/Sarasota
Sarasota, FL (941)755-7325
March 4, 2000-Down Syndrome Association of Roanoke, VA
Call: (540) 563-9300 or Fax:(540) 366-5846
March 9-10 - CHADD of Utah
March 31
Missouri State Autism Symposium-St . Louis, MO
April 14-Sea Center - Redding, CA-Call: (530)876-8321
July 4-Keynote-National ASA
http://www.autism-society.org
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PRIOR WRITTEN NOTICE:
What is your Procedural Safeguard of
PRIOR WRITTEN NOTICE?
I printed the cite regarding your Procedural Safeguard of Prior Written
Notice in our
September Email News. However, we receive calls, faxes and emails daily
about
problems with being refused services requested at an IEP meeting.
Therefore, I have posted
on our website, Prior Written Notice.
Be sure to print it and use your rights to assist you in your advocacy!
http://www.reedmartin.com/priorwrittennotice.html
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CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR AN INDIVIDUALIZED
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
On the date of passage of the 1997 Amendments to the individuals with
Disabilities Education Act Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott reminded us:
"The obligation to provide children with disabilities a free and appropriate
education is grounded in the 14th amendment to the Constitution, title v
of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and by the
laws
of every State. IDEA is one additional civil rights tool that guarantees
children
with disabilities the right to receive a quality education.
(Congressional Record S4410, May 14, 1997)
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NEW SHOPPING CART:
Thanks to Intelligent Business Solutions Group (www.techcommerce.net),
we finally have a new shopping cart designed and ready for operation.
Order all of our publications on our secure On-Line Shopping Cart
http://www.reedmartin.com/shoppingcart.html
POWER Members can now order On-Line and receive the 10% discount. Be sure
to
go to the POWER Member Check Out.
http://www.reedmartin.com/powermember.html
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CONFERENCE PACKET:
The request for Reed's conference opportunities has been great! I have
sent packets by email clip and through the mail. Thanks for your interest.
If you would like to have a Reed Martin conference or workshop in your area,
contact us for prices and a conference packet.
For more information and a list of workshop titles:
http://www.reedmartin.com/conferences.html
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'OPEN YOUR EYES TO AUTISM" PROJECT:
The Autism Resource Konnection, Inc., & Unlocking Autism
will host a NATIONAL AUTISM AWARENESS RALLY in
Washington, D.C, on April 8, 2000.
These organizations need thousands of pictures of Autism Spectrum children
and adults by February 2000 to complete this project for National Autism
Awareness.
The purpose for this rally is to increase public awareness of autism and
bring the Nation together
to shine a beacon on this neurological disorder that affects more than
500,000 American citizens and their families.
Contact: NleGendre@aol.com for more information or
http://www.littleangels.org
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ADVOCATING FOR YOUR CHILD WITH AD/HD& LD MANUAL:
This is a great manual! Thanks to all that have ordered. Your order is
in the mail!!
This 88 page manual has over 100 specific steps we have used
successfully that can get your child the program they need!
$39.95 ($3/ s/h)
POWER Members Pay: $35.
Check out the contents: http://www.reedmartin.com/addmanual.html
Email your order: connie@westco.net
Shop On-Line: http://www.reedmartin.com/shoppingcart.html
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ONE OF OUR POWER MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS HAS A NEED:
The parent advocacy organization Parents In Motion is in need of a
new location for their group in the Commerce, GA area. If anyone
can offer assistance, please contact Lawana at lawanas@aol.com
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NEWS ARTICLES:
Be sure to check the news articles posted on our site.
Thanks to all our friends who have sent us articles to share with you!
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MESSAGE BOARD:
Be sure to check our message board and share with families like yours.
Post your question or answer a question.
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RESOURCES:
Check our website for links to National Advocacy Organizations
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DISABILITY RIGHTS ARE "CIVIL RIGHTS" TOO:
Government agencies and public schools still don't get it.
Our kids and their families are still having to fight to get simply what
they are entitled to in public schools. They are not asking for charity,
or asking for schools to feel sorry for them because they have a disability.
The accommodations that we fight for are not "I can't be expected do as
much as typical kids do so you have to go easy on me." Our kids have a
right
to an end to the illegal and unconstitutional discrimination that every day
bars
students with disabilities from access to what typical students receive.
Our special education laws are federal, because they are based on the
"equal protection" and "due process" clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution. The first court cases on educational rights of
students
with disabilities were in federal courts and cited Brown v. Board of
Education as
their basis. Our children with disabilities have civil rights which should
be respected
equally to the rights of racial minorities, females, language minorities,
students of
different national origin, sexual preference, and so forth.
Check out the complete article on the civil rights of those with a
disability: http://www.reedmartin.com/disabilityrights.html