5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This could have been a very useful book, June 16, 2011
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I'm afraid, however, that while Nolo's IEP Guide had a lot of potential, it not only fails to provide adequate information on what to do when IEPs go sour (which is, more often than not, what happens) but that some of the material, particularly information on ADHD, in the book is simply WRONG. Let me make this clear, I have sat through hundreds of IEPs over the years and have had first hand experience dealing with school districts that have not only committed egregious violations of laws against special needs children but that these violations have been subtantiated by federal and state agencies, including the United States Department of Education (USDE), Office for Civil Rights, and the USDE Family Policy Compliance Office - which enforces the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). I've also prevailed in Due Process hearings.
Although Nolo's IEP Guide: Learning Disabilities contains much useful information parents, especially those who do not have adequate or experience dealing with the IEP process (and most don't), most will not be able to spot the errors in this book - which could ultimately harm their children. Some of these errors include:
1. One VERY important thing for all parents to do when preparing for IEPs is to make sure that they have ALL of their child's education records as defined by FERPA (this means they need EVERY record including by not limited to their child's COMPLETE file and ANY document that is shared by District employees, teachers, etc. with others in the District). While Siegle's guide barely mentions FERPA, he provides an example "letter" on how to demand those records. That letter, found on page 43, cites FERPA and infers that Districts must produce those records within five days of the request. That however, is WRONG! Under FERPA, educational agencies have 45 days (not 5) to produce those materials. It needs to be noted that the example letter is addressed to school in California where state (not Federal) law requires that Districts produce records within five business days. There is no mention of this in the book.
2. There are problems with discussions on assessments. One of these concerns assessments for children with ADD/ADHD (page 78). Lawrence recommends that children should be taken to "his or her pediatrician [for] a thorough medical exam." This shows a blatant ignorance of what parents should do if they (or their child's teacher) suspect that their student has ADD/ADHD. Pediatricians are notoriously bad at evaluating children for ADD/ADHD. If a problem is suspected, the child should be taken to a psychologist, not a pediatrician, who specializes in ADD/ADHD. Lawrence also mentions that rating scales are often used to assess children for attention deficits. While this is true, rating scales, including all of those mentioned in the book, produce notoriously inconsistent results (they correctly identify students with ADD/ADHD approximately 40 percent of the time), they should ONLY be used as one of many tools in the diagnostic process.
3. Lawrence also provides wrong information on disorders that impact learning. For example, he wrongly characterizes ADD/ADHD as being "similar (if not identical)". This is factually wrong. The current label, defined by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) that covers all individuals with attention deficits is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Although the terms ADHD/ADD are commonly used in conversation, there is no disorder that is currently officially recognized by the label ADD. When it is used, ADD is associated with symptoms that only pertain to attention and that these individuals do NOT have symptoms of hyperactivity. The American Medical Association recently released a very large scale study which found that more than HALF of all children with ADHD, do NOT present symptoms of hyperactivity, The description provided by Lawrence really pertains only to children with ADHD (with hyperactivity) and not the millions of children who do not exhibit behavioral issues. Research also shows that it is the children who do NOT have hyperactivity (and those who are not exclusively hyperactive), are they ones who exhibit the most comorbid learning disabilities.
4. Lawrence perpetuates the myth that ADHD is over-diagnosed (page 33) and that Districts often over identify energetic children. Although, is some cases, this may true, research consistently shows that ADHD is UNDER diagnosed and, indeed, that many children with the inattentive subtype are not diagnosed at all - until much later in life when comorbid conditions develop (depression, anxiety, etc.)
5. The author bizarrely claims that ADHD is caused by allergies and brain trauma. Most individuals with ADHD do not have any type of "brain trauma". His claim that allergies are to blame is nothing less than ignorance of reality - there are NO studies or research of any kind that support this myth.
6. The information provided on "treatments" (e.g., interventions) for ADHD are also WRONG. Lawrence states (page 31) that behavior modification, socialization training, and "self-verbalization" are all used but he fails to note that research has long proven that NONE of these work! Why would anyone want to go to an IEP meeting and advocate for interventions that have been proven to not work?
7. A final and exceptionally bad example of misinformation is that the author associates ADHD with learning disabilities. By definition, both medical and legal, ADHD is NOT a learning disability and children with such a diagnosis cannot qualify for an IEP under the label, "learning disability" - they only qualify under the label "Other Health Impaired" (OHI). While very large numbers of children with ADHD also have comorbid learning disabilities, many do not.
While this book does contain a lot of valuable information, I would not recommend it to parents who are not fully familiar with the IEP process as there are simply too many things that could HARM their children, not help them. If this book is used, make sure that genuine experts are consulted first. Finally, much of the material (especially the appendices) contain information that is entirely free on the Internet (particularly the regulations pertaining to IDEA and Section 504). I would strongly recommend that someone who is truly an expert on learning disabilities and other disorders, such as ADHD, serve as editors for future editions of this book.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Expansion of Original Nolo IEP Guide, June 10, 2011
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I had borrowed a copy of Mr. Siegel's
The Complete IEP Guide: How to Advocate for Your Special Ed Child from our library back in 2008 when going through the IEP assessment process for my 2nd child (his speech delay turned out not to be severe enough to meet the legal criteria for an IEP in our state). I found the book very helpful in figuring out what I needed to do step-by-step-by-step. My 3rd child will be aging out of Early Intervention at the beginning of 2012 so we'll be going through the process again soon. Again I appreciate the clarity that Mr. Siegel brings to an often-confusing sea of acronyms and legal technicalities.
As this "IEP Guide: Learning Disabilities" seemed very similar to my recollection of
The Complete IEP Guide: How to Advocate for Your Special Ed Child, I went ahead and checked out a copy of that book from my library in order to do a side-by-side comparison. The "IEP Guide: Learning Disabilities" appears to have the full text of the original book with a few minor differences in organization (for example, chapters 4 and 5 are combined). It then adds a 6 page chapter entitled "What is a Learning Disability?" discussing the legal definition of a LD and how to recognize the signs of one. There is also a section added to the chapter on eligibility for an IEP specifically devoted to LD's. Other than that, the two books appear virtually identical.
For that reason, I would have to disagree with the reviewer who called this book a "companion" to the original volume. Someone who already has the original volume would find very little new in the LD one, and there would be no point at all in reading the original after this one.
Of the two books, I would recommend the LD one unless the parent is 100% certain that his/her child has only physical disabilities.
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