Special Education Laws

Special education laws are federally mandated rules that ensure that students with special learning needs receive the proper services to assist them in school. Unfortunately, special education laws are continually being challenged, and amended at the federal level.

It is important to realize that these laws give children with disabilities and their parents important rights. Specifically, the federal Individuals with

Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) gives families of special education children the right to:

● have their child assessed or tested to determine special education eligibility and needs

● inspect and review school records relating to their child

● attend an annual “individualized education program” (IEP) meeting and develop a written IEP plan with representatives of the local school district, and

● resolve disputes with the school district through an impartial administrative and legal process.

Eligibility Under IDEA

Every school district is legally required to identify, locate, and evaluate children with disabilities (20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(3)). After the evaluation, the district may provide the child with specific programs and services to address special needs.

IDEA defines “children with disabilities” as individuals between the ages of three and 22 with one or more of the following conditions:

• developmental delay

• intellectual disability

• deaf-blindness (including deafness or hearing impairment)

• speech or language impairment

• visual impairment (including blindness)

• emotional disturbance

• orthopedic impairment

• autism

• traumatic brain injury

• specific learning disability, or

• other health impairment

(20 U.S.C. §1401(3); 34 C.F.R. §300.8).

For a child to qualify for special education under IDEA, it is not enough to have one of these disabilities. There must also be evidence that the disability adversely affects your child’s educational performance.

In both 2005 and 2006 important changes were made to IDEA. With changes being made to Special Education Laws, if you have a student in special education, it is important to stay abreast of the changes and how they may affect your child.

What is Dysgraphia?

Although many people have heard about reading disabilities such as dyslexia, many are not aware of writing disabilities. Unfortunately, writing disorders are just as common as reading disabilities and are more likely to affect boys.

One writing disorder is dysgraphia. You might ask, “what is dysgraphia?” Dysgraphia is a learning disorder that includes problems with handwriting, spelling and organizing thoughts on paper.

Many children diagnosed with a writing problem also have reading disability. The process for both overlap which is the reason they usually go hand-in hand. It is not yet known why boys have more writing problems than girls.

Dysgraphia is a learning disability that affects writing abilities. Children with dysgraphia have difficulties with spelling, poor handwriting and difficulty putting thoughts on paper.

Warning signs of dysgraphia

Just because someone has bad handwriting does not mean he/she has dysgraphia. Dysgraphia is a processing disorder, and difficulties can change from year to year. While writing is a developmental process (children learn the motor skills needed to write), they must also learn the thinking skills needed to communicate on paper. This is why difficulties can overlap. Keep in mind when researching what is dysgraphia, that you don’t confuse it with other learning disorders.

If a student has trouble in any of the areas below, seeking additional help may be beneficial. Things to look for:

• Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position

• Illegible handwriting

• Avoiding writing or drawing tasks

• Tiring quickly while writing

• Saying words out loud while writing

• Unfinished or omitted words in sentences

• Difficulty organizing thoughts on paper

• Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar

• Large gap between written ideas and understanding demonstrated through speech

• Complaints of hand hurting

Strategies that can help

There are many ways a person with dysgraphia can achieve success. Strategies fall into three categories:

• Accommodations: providing alternatives to written expression

• Modifications: changing expectations or tasks to minimize or avoid the area of weakness

• Remediation: providing instruction for improving handwriting and writing skills

Although finding out that your student has dysgraphia can be discouraging, an early diagnosis and immediate intervention can result in successful remediation.

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