Is your special needs child getting a good education?

Top 10 signs that your child in special education may not be receiving a Free Appropriate Public Education.

• Your child is unable to meet the goals outlined on the Individual Education Plan(IEP). Your child may have had the same goals year after year. A child’s goals must be based on the child’s ability, not on what the child is expected to learn in a certain placement.
  

• Your child’s goals are too general, weak and un-measurable. Do the goals say “child will begin to” or are the goals solely measured by teacher observation? Goals should state the following: **1) The direction you want to go; 2) the problem you are addressing; 3) the present level; 4) the amount of change by the end of the school year; and 5) the methodology needed.
  

• Have you been told that the district does not have the funding needed for x,y and z? Federal and State laws require the district to provide your child with the services he/she needs, not what services the district has available.
  

• Inadequate evaluation by the district or refusal to include independent evaluations as part of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team (MET). The MET team must consider parent input and independent evaluations when determining eligibility for services.
  

• Lack of progress in current placement. Your child may be making some progress in the districts program, but it may not account for more than developmental gain. Is your child falling further and further behind his/her peers each year? Meaningful progress would enable your child to progress toward the general curriculum.
  

• Has the district failed to provide you with the following: 1) an invitation to attend your child’s IEP meeting; 2) a copy of Procedural Safeguards prior to each IEP meeting; 3) a copy of your child’s IEP and all evaluation reports; 4) copies of progress reports throughout the school year; and 5) written explanation of any requests that have been denied.
  

• Have the following persons attended your child’s IEP meeting: 1) your child’s teacher or other qualified teacher; 2) a representative of the district who is qualified to make decisions pertaining to the IEP; 3) a member of the MET to present the team report if a MET evaluation took place; and 4) a regular education teacher if your child is included. § Has your child been placed in a one-size-fits-all placement where children of varying needs all receive the same services out of convenience or is your child segregated from typical peers? Federal law states: "that to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including those children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily."
  

• Have you been told any of the following: 1) The law doesn’t state that we have to provide x, y and z; 2) We are not allowed to staple your notes to the IEP; 3) your child only has to make some gain in our program; 4) we don’t offer that here; 5) there are no spaces available in that program; 6) the speech, occupational or physical therapist has already reached their caseload; 7) your child is not old enough/disabled enough to receive x, y and z; and 8) we don’t have to, we can’t, we won’t.

• Have you been told that the district does not have the funding needed for x,y and z? Federal and State laws require the district to provide your child with the services he/she needs, not what services the district has available.
  

• Has the following ever been said about your child: 1) your child is lazy; 2) your child is unmotivated; 3) your child stopped learning; 4) your child does not have that potential; 5) your child will always be disabled; 6) your child’s behavior is your child’s fault; 7) your child does not try hard enough; or 8) your child will feel self-conscious about his/her inabilities if we expect too much out of him/her.