Customer Reviews

Negotiating the Special Education Maze: A Guide for Parents and Teachers

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If you are the parent of a child with special needs, and she is a student n public school, be ready to do some big-time advocating to ensure that she gets the special ed. services she needs. As a special education teacher I am amazed at how little parents know about their rights under the IDEA '97 legislation, and how little they advocate for their child at IEP meetings.

This book is a good start to get you, as the parent-advocate, in the frame of mind you need to be in when "negotiating the special education maze." My brief experience in the field has taught me that the most frustrated parents are those that are the least informed about what their rights are. Like trading stocks on the stock market, operating within the criminal justice system, or living in a foreign culture, the domain of special education has a culture, and rules all its own. If the parent does not know how to "play the game," you will be rolled by school districts that pay a lot of lip-service to providing an "education for all," but in practice are only concerned about the "best and the brightest."

I would also highly recommend doing two things if you are a parent of a special needs child, and you are just about to enter "the maze;"

(1) I would look in your local phone directory for a special ed. advocacy group, or some type of parent group, where you can join with other parents and learn about the special ed. field, and what is available in your area. (2) I would also join the Council for Exceptional Children as they are an excellent source of special ed. info. re: legislation, parent rights, advocacy, etc. I hope that this review helps in inspiring you to become better informed about the "system" so that you can obtain the best for your child. I want to stress again how important it is to (a) become as informed as you can regarding your rights as a parent, and your child's rights to a free and appropriate public education as stipulated by federal legislation such as IDEA '97. One of the frustrations I have had as a special ed. teacher is seeing how much lip-service school districts pay to special needs children, but how little is done for them in actual practice. I call special education "the last bastion of discrimination in the public schools." I want to write a book about this some day and call it "Separate and Unequal." ;) And I also want to stress (b) how important it is to become actively involved in a local parent advocacy group. There is strength in numbers, and there are battle-scarred veterans of the special ed. wars who have had to go at it with recalcitrant school districts hammer-and-tong to get even the bare minimum services for their child. I don't mean to be "negative," but I know what I am talking about.

~If for any reason your child is in or entering special education, this book is beyond value. It explains the processes involved, what the schools are and are not permitted to do, what they and you must do, to achieve~ This book gives you the base you need to fight back on behalf of your child's future. No parent facing a school's 'child study team' should be without this. You'll be amazed at the rights you and your child actual

This book is a good place to start for parents or teachers who want general information on the Special Education process. Although it covers a wide range of topics, it gives only basic information, lacking the details that parents and teachers seek. Since I had already done quite a bit of research in this area, I was disappionted. The book was basically a review on information that I had already found. If you are looking for a place to start, this is a good book to get you going. If you have already looked into this area, then you may also find this book lacking.

This book gives a neutral overview of the IEP process and supplies you with a minimum of information necessary to participate in meetings. But it may not supply sufficient information to equip a student's advocates with the leverage to get mandated services. The IEP process can be quite adversarial, depending on the jurisdiction, with very substantial funds at stake in providing services. Teachers & other school district personnel may be under instructions NOT to give out information that will unlock services to parents; it can take knowing how to request services using the proper jargon, citing statutory provisions such as "AB3632" and "26.5" for mental health services in California, for instance. School District personnel may evince fear when hearing these requests posed with the proper jargon, in the IEP. Consult with student advocates, such as those searchable in California under the term "Developmental Disabilities Area Board". Professional advocates may accompany you to IEP meetings.

I work for a nonprofit agency whose mission is to provide information and referral services to families and professionals raising children with disabilities. I read a lot of books about special education and the laws, regulations and procedures that parents and teachers must follow to make sure the child receives the best education possible. This book is extremely easy to use. It starts the Table of Contents with "Beginning the Journey and ends with a review of the process. The format of the pages is easy to read well-spaced type font. It uses many understandible sample letters, charts, bullet points and topical questions to focus the reader. I also find the Glossary of terms, the Resource list and the alphabetical Index very helpful when I need to renter the Maze to clarify a step in the Maze. I encourage parents of children with special needs; who are accessing the school district for the first time, to purchase a copy of the new 4th Edition. It is excellent for a return trip down the Maze too.

As a parent of two special needs children I can honestly say that this book is a must have for any parent who has special needs children in school. I found this book to be a lifesaver when it came to dealing with the school system. It is written in an understandable, practical way that makes it easy to use the information. Whether you are a family member, parent, or just a friend of a person with special needs this book is a must read. If your child has an IEP or doesn't have an IEP but does have special needs this book covers it all.

Special Education can be a difficult thing to manage for parents - and it isn't because there's no one to help them. "Negotiating the Special Education Maze: A Guide for Parents & Teachers" is a guide to the strange problem of simply having too many options available to them. Covering each of the services available and specifying which kind of kinds are available to each of the types of ailments that would require special education, as well as looks as other alternative outlooks towards special needs children,. "Negotiating the Special Education Maze: A Guide for Parents & Teachers" is a complete and comprehensive guide for parents and teachers of special needs children and for community library education collections.

Although this book was written for parents, it provides a clear explanation of the steps to become eligible for special education services, developing an Individualized Education Plan, and making sure that services are received.

This review appeared in the Annotated Bibliography Section of Learning A Living; A Guide to Planning Your Career and Finding A Job for People with Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder and Dyslexia by Dale S. Brown