Special education law was designed to help parents advocate on behalf of their children…in theory.

Too often, however, parents simply don’t know their rights, and school districts take advantage of that fact.    For example…

I recently represented a parent who was herself a lawyer.  The school district was threatening to take away her child’s one-on-one full time classroom aide, and seemed intent on holding their ground.

I attended the IEP meeting, and stepped outside with my client to explain to her that, due to “stay put,” she did not have to agree to the school’s proposal.

(“Stay put” means that if she disagreed with the school’s offer, the district was not permitted to change her existing services without her consent.)

By the time we stepped back into the IEP meeting, the school district had figured out that the client now knew what her child was entitled to.

Suddenly they offered to continue the child’s full-time aid for the coming school year! 

By simply having me show up at the IEP meeting, the client let the school district know that they could not take advantage of her, and that she was fully prepared to enforce her rights under the law.

The entire process was non-confrontational and efficient, yet highly effective in getting the student exactly what she needed.