Figuring Out What’s Worth Fighting for

ad·vo·cate [v. ad-vuh-keyt]

According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word advocate has been around since the 14th century. The definitions include: 1: one that pleads the cause of another; to plead in favor of 2: one that defends or maintains a cause or proposal 3: one that supports or promotes the interests of another.

Advocating can be done for either ourselves, a loved one, a defined group, community or overall cause to improve the lives of others.

You Do Have Rights – that you might not even realize

There are a few things that are definitely worth advocating for, and that you happen to have a legal right to as a parent of a child with a disability within the public school system. Note: Children in private school do not hold these same rights.

The governing law that rules over special education is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It’s important to know a few specifics about this law in regards to what you are entitled to, so that you know if a fight is worth a fight.

1. Inclusive education. The law doesn’t actually say “inclusion”, but it does say that you have the right to the least restrictive environment, which has been proven time and time again in due process cases as being a regular education classroom with needed supports, services and strategies.
2. Meaningful and measurable growth. In 2017, the Endrew supreme court case reminded us that minimal progress is NOT what the law intended. Judge Roberts actually said, “a student offered an educational program providing ‘merely more than de minimis’ progress from year to year can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all. For children with disabilities receiving instruction that aims so low would be tantamount to ‘sitting idly…awaiting the time when they were old enough to ‘drop out.'”   Sound familiar?
3. The parent must be considered a full participating member of the IEP team. YOU and your participation are protected within IDEA Sec 300.322
4. Ensure that your written permission is given before any formal evaluations begin and removal from standards is considered. Students in Florida must have an identified IQ score of 67 or lower in order to be considered for removal from regular standards. Removal from standards drastically alters a child’s future, so this decision should not be entered into lightly.
5. Receive written notice prior to any changes in placement for your child. This means that if the school is proposing or refusing what you’re asking for, they need to write up a PWN.  Sec 303.421
6. True transition planning. Transition is the time when we start to discuss what will happen once a child has either graduated or aged out of the public school system. Simply having an IEP that says “transition” at the top, isn’t an actual “Transition plan” as defined in the law. Transition planning “is designed to be within a results-oriented process, that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the child with a disability to facilitate the child’s movement from school to post-school activities, including postsecondary education, vocational education, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation”

If you or your child are being denied the above, you have your Procedural Safeguards to fall back on. That’s the booklet that you sign every year stating that you read and understand them. If you have never actually read it, please put that on your to-do list. It’ll let you know what you can do when your child isn’t getting the education that they should or could. You DO have rights – more than you probably know.

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Happy Advocating!