The Individual Education Program (IEP) is the cornerstone of special education. It is a legal contract between the school district and parents that defines what specialized instruction, accommodations, and modifications are necessary for a child to receive the Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) required by law.
Read moreGatekeeping: Texas Style
In a continuation of our series on special education gatekeeping (Withholding Needed Services and Response to Intervention), we have an amazing story to tell about how the state of Texas kept a quarter of a million children with disabilities from receiving an appropriate education.
Read moreGatekeeping 101: Withholding Needed Services
Schools sometimes rely on a parent being unaware of their child’s rights to deny services that might cost money or be inconvenient to provide, as illustrated by a case that occurred in 2013 in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts.
Read moreGatekeeping 101: Response To Intervention
An article in a Massachusetts newspaper in the winter of 2013, titled: “[Superintendent] Looking to Curb Sped Referrals,”1 highlights a growing trend of school districts actively discouraging the referral of students for special education evaluations.
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