Winter 1999

Special Education Services Provide an Important Step in Educating Disabled Children

by Anne Louise Blanchard, Esq.

Anne Louise Blanchard is an attorney with Connecticut Legal Services in Willimantic.

This is a response to an article appearing in the Summer, 1998, edition of this Newsletter regarding special education. The article seemed to encourage parents to view special education as a last resort for their children. In fact, special education is an important step in providing appropriate education for a disabled child. Early intervention can be critically important for a child with special needs.

If your child is being evaluated or identified for special education services, you have tremendous legal rights. With special education services, you, the parent, can make sure that your child is offered the right educational program. You do not have the same amount of influence in a regular program.

Under Connecticut law, a school needs to explore and provide regular education intervention services to children who may need extra help. In addition, the law requires a school to refer a child promptly to a special education planning and placement team meeting (PPT) when the child has been suspended repeatedly or has shown unsatisfactory behavior, attendance, or progress in school.

The parent's role at the PPT is extremely important, as shown by recent amendments to federal special education law. You must be invited to every PPT meeting. You must agree to any testing for your child. You must be told in writing about any PPT at least five school days before the meeting and you must be given the date, location and purpose of the PPT. The PPT must be held at a time and place convenient for both you and the school.

The law requires that any evaluation of your child be done in the child's native language and that the tests not be culturally biased. If you have any concerns that your child's tests are invalid because they did not take your child's Native American heritage into account, you may be entitled to an independent evaluation at public expense. You also do not have to use your own insurance for any testing recommended by the school.

You should request a copy of any testing before any meeting to discuss the results. You also have the right to tape-record PPT meetings and to bring anyone you wish to the meeting.

If your child has been identified for special education services, the program offered to your child must be provided in the least restrictive environment. This means that your child should only be placed outside the regular classroom if your child's needs cannot be met inside the classroom by using additional help such as aides, computers or other technology, or modification of the regular education curriculum.

If you are dissatisfied with your child's program in any way, you do not need to remove your child from the special education program. Rather, you can enforce your right to have your child receive an appropriate educational program. Call a PPT meeting, express your concerns, contact an advocate or attorney, and request due process, if necessary.

If the school suggests a change in your child's program with which you disagree, you are not required to agree with the school. Instead, do not agree with the change and ask for due process. Your child will remain in the last agreed upon placement during the due process hearing.

The article in The Quinnehtukqut Legal News states incorrectly that a child in third grade must have a 19 point discrepancy between his or her ability and achievement to be identified as learning disabled. The discrepancy in other grades is stated to be 23 points. In fact, the law does not define a "significant discrepancy," although Connecticut commonly uses a 21 point discrepancy.

Finally, federal law prohibits discrimination against a child with disabilities. If your child receives a certificate of completion, rather than a diploma, merely because the child is a special education student, you may be able to challenge that decision. In addition, you may be able to challenge a college's decision not to admit your child on the grounds that the child was a special education student.

As mentioned in the article, you can request a parent guide to special education from the Special Education Resource Center at 860-632-1485. Additional information is available from the Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center at 1-800-445-CPAC. Legal advice and education pamphlets are available from Statewide Legal Services at 1-800-453-3320 or 344-0380 in the Middletown area.