Customer Reviews

Nolo's IEP Guide: Learning Disabilities

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The third updated edition of Attorney Lawrence M. Siegel's NOLO'S IEP GUIDE: LEARNING DISABILITIES is a more general reference which offers the latest legal information needed to identify a learning disability, understand a child's rights and options, develop cases for school administrators, and more. As a companion volume to THE COMPLETE IEP GUIDE, it offers an entirely updated revision reflecting major changes to the Individuals With Disabilities Act and the entire IEP process, and is an invaluable special education parent's guide.

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.

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.

It's nice to know that some parents and psychologists benefited from this book. We always cheer parents who prevail at their Boards of Education, advocating to meet the special needs of their child. But I must agree with the experienced BookMan on the insufficient content of this particular volume.

Our family is long past fighting our Board over our child's need of special services. But in the early years of the long battle, we had more than our share of disputes on that topic, and later, on whether unilateral placements were appropriate. It required fierce advocacy. And most parents arrive at the table totally unprepared, as did we.

We did better than most. We hired a first rate attorney, and supplemented her efforts with my excellent research skills --- on many related subjects, including but not limited to federal and state laws, appropriate placement, various additional diagnoses gradually added, and the best means of treating them. ADHD was just the first, and later proved the least of the problems, which surfaced in greater number in middle school and after. According to several experts whom we consulted, this is extremely common. Our attorney advised me, I'd be a superb teacher of other parents facing the utterly daunting task of educating a special needs kid. But it was not fun.

We prevailed at two impartial hearings, and successfully negotiated, avoiding a third. More recent IEP reviews and placements have been easier. Not easy at all, but considerably less taxing, since all on our special education committee team fully agree on the central learning issues at hand.

Concerning the deficiencies of this book, I refer readers to the superb, above-noted review by BookMan. He is extremely well-educated, so I presume him to be a special education attorney or person in a related capacity.

Over time, what most discouraged us were the collective official efforts and sums of taxpayer money wasted disputing the needs of special children and opposing those hard-to-find placements that can and do provide "free and appropriate" education, as required under federal law. The authorities disputed the first Carter-funded placement we located, for example, with a claim that none was required.

Most often, officials offered no placement at all. We were forced to find schools, on our own. They disputed all but two. Even those, they approved only after losing the first year. Until recently, we received only one offer, at a horrendous facility. We then bore the burden of proving it inappropriate. Easily accessible reasons abounded in public records and news reports. But few would have known how to proceed or as thoroughly collected the data necessary to trounce the opposing parties. (Next we needed to prove the appropriateness of the facility we chose 15 months earlier, when officials had failed to reply to desperate pleas for suggestions. We had then received only dead silence.)

Miraculously, public school officials recently offered a genuinely "free and appropriate" placement --- an exceedingly excellent one --- but not until we had cleared innumerable obstacles and hurdles. And we needed to clear some of those hurdles again during the following annual IEP review process.

Such experiences create incalculable angst for parents and students alike. We're certainly not alone. With unending thanks to Heaven, we had sufficient skills, knowledge and resources to cope.

Especially during economically difficult times, localities pay attorneys to fight parents, rather than fund better special needs accommodations and schools as required by federal and most states' laws.

Rarely if ever figured in public cost equations are the enormously expensive back-end consequences of not properly educating these kids. Since U.S. prisons are filled with young "special" people whose needs were never, or not properly addressed, we know for a fact that the vast majority of parents, especially disadvantaged and low-income single-parents, cannot successfully contend with everything thrown at them in cases that "go sour," if they ever even get to a committee on special education.

Moreover, the incarceration rate as a percentage of the general population is reportedly higher in the U.S. than any other Western nation. With this statistic in mind, special education budgets nationwide should be pointed in a different direction --- filling kids' needs, not fighting parents so as not to fill them.

In conclusion, ours is only one example to parents starting to march up the learning curve. Arm yourselves extremely well. Get as much information as possible. Especially, reach out to parent advocacy groups or agencies addressing the needs of adopted and special needs children. It IS possible to buck the system without hiring expensive legal assistance, although I personally know of only one parent who did, for his child with Asperger's Syndrome. He was diligent and dogged, and that case was fairly straight forward.

That said, parents who refuse to give up can definitely obtain help and hope. It can be done. Don't give up.

Unfortunately, however, I must again agree with BookMan that while this book contains much valuable information, it only addresses the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

First of all, let me say that there is a critical need for this type of book. However "Nolo's IEP Guide:Learning Disabilities" is,sadly, not that book. I have been a therapeutic foster parent, still serving as an educational surrogate, have raised a large family with both a mentally challenged child and 3 children who were ADHD and tremendously gifted, as well as being an adult with ADHD.
My daughter is currently dealing for the first time with the public school system's IEPs for her daughter who is dyslexic. I was hoping to provide her with a simple resource she could use to feel more confident in getting her daughter the help she is entitle to receive.
Reading through this book, I was STUNNED to see the glaring mistakes concerning ADHD. Totally wrong information about getting your child diagnosed, mistakes on statistical information, WRONG info on treatments, and worst of all the labeling of ADHD children as "learning disabled". What the heck?!!
All of these are easily researched by anyone online. There is ZERO reason for a "guidebook" to be published containing these errors.
If you have never been to an IEP meeting, there is some basic information that is helpful. If you are a veteran parent, pass on this.

before you sign papers at a meeting at school, know what they are, know what they imply, know what they will do to the future of the student, into what box those papers place him tighter than a supermax prison, with no chance of release

do not sign
read this book.

NOLO is an excellent series for bringing the law home. Laws, like those Wall Street junk bonds and derivatives and hedge funds, are purposefully designed to be so complex and mysterious as to require a high price professional, who does not understand as well, to implement, laws which the legislators who voted them into law themselves did not understand.

NOLO breaks it down as well as possible.

Everyone who knows someone in school, everyone in public school, needs this book.

Bottom line:
do not sign

Unfortunately, as a special education teacher there is not much new here. This book will certainly be helpful to parents of students with learning disabilities, but as a teacher looking for ways to expedite my IEP meetings it was lackluster.

A lot of pages were spent on the laws surrounding special education. I am more concerned about the actual child. I would have liked to have seen more examples of exemplary IEP goals in all the performance areas (reading, writing, math, daily living/adaptive skills, etc.) Instead I got page after page of due process laws and every other law imaginable.

Overall, this is a helpful book that I will share with my student's parents in the coming school year, as needed. Other than that I will look elsewhere to find a book that will help me write a more effective IEP which will, in turn, benefit my students.

As a parent of two kids with IEPs, this book is key. We already have the 4th edition of the book, and we refer to it as we work through the special education process. As school districts continue deal with the pressure of less and less funding each year, being an effective advocate for your child has never been more important. You simply can't hope for the school to provide the right services for your kids, so you need to know your rights and how to effectively work with the system.

This book walks you through the IEP process, including tips on writing goals, and using the complaint process. Special education law is quoted in the appendix, there are sample letters and checklists for hiring an attorney. One minus is that there is no mention of special education advocates. We hired one and she's been very helpful. There's tips on how to interact with the school district and how to behave in meetings. It is all solid key advice. Everyone in the room will know the process inside and out. You will not. You are an easy mark to get walked on (as we have been) unless you get prepared to deal with the system. You need to know how to hold the schools accountable - smiles, cordiality, and warm feelings from the staff don't teach your child or get him prepared for the world. An education does. Don't let them off the hook easy by keeping your standards low or non-existent because they will meet them 100% of the time.

I docked this book 1 star mainly because there seemed to be no difference whatsoever between this edition and the 4th edition. Also there is no section in the beginning of the book indicating what's changed. This is important for families like mine who will be in this business for the next decade plus, given that the law is never stable. I would suspect that if you're on a budget that the 4th edition will meet your needs just fine.

Schools don't have to provide the "right" services for your special needs child. They only have to provide "appropriate" services. That's a lot of wiggle room. Squeaky parents get the grease - and the services. If you show up to your IEP meeting prepared you'll be head-and-shoulders above the other parents, and your chances of getting what your kid needs in a resource-constrained world go up. This book will help you a lot. For us it has paid for itself 100 fold.

We decided to put out kids in a standard school that had special ed classes. I read this book and...pretty much read the whole damn book to the teacher. She called me a few days later and decided to rewrite her curriculum to better fit the needs of my son. He is INCREDIBLY calm now and we have also learned more. This book is clearly important to any parent--weather they have a child with learning disabilities or teachers. Much Love.

This is an excellent guide for parents of students with Learning disabilities. The author, Lawrence M Siegel, offers clear explanations of special education law and how it applies to a particular child. The key sections of the Individuals with Disabilities Act, IDEA Regulations, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are included in an appendix. However, the author explains the law and the rights of parents and students with learning challenges so clearly that you will not even need to go there. One of the great strengths of this book is that the author, a special education attorney and advocate, guides parents in their written and verbal communications with school personnel in such a way that their concerns will be heard; their expectations will be within the scope of the law and therefore perceived as not only reasonable but obligatory; and they will convey respect and appreciation for school staff while at the same time acknowledging that parents have insider knowledge of their child's needs which deserve a central place in the IEP planning process. Attorney Siegel anticipates, and deftly assists parents to avoid, all the stumbling blocks they might encounter in the IEP process, and helps nervous and stressed parents negotiate for the must appropriate education for their children by clearly laying out what works and what doesn't.

There is a valuable chapter on how the means of identifying learning disabilities have changed since IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)was implemented in 1974. There are now alternative measures to the Severe Discrepancy formula which identified students with learning disabilities as those with a wide gap between cognitive or IQ test scores and achievement test scores. I would have liked to see some discussion of the Response to Intervention model, in which students who are at risk for learning difficulties are given special instructional interventions. The student's response to these interventions is sometimes used to determine whether a student needs special education services. RTI is controversial, especially if the interventions and observations go on so long that needed services are delayed. However, the traditional discrepancy model has its own problems. For example, students with Asperger Syndrome often have achievement test scores which are higher than their IQ scores might have predicted, and yet, they still have learning problems in need of intervention.

There are two other issues that future editions of this book would do well to address. The first concerns the burgeoning homeschooling movement. In most states, homeschooled students are eligible for special services from the public school, but often do not know how to access these services, or are wrongfully denied access. An exceptional resource for such families is the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. Their website outlines the rights of homeschool families in each state regarding receiving school special education services. Members receive legal representation when disputes arise.

The second issue concerns the perennial question: what happens after the IEP is signed? As a parent of a special needs student and an Education Therapist, I know firsthand of many situations in which the IEP becomes a "dead document," duly signed and sitting in a file but never acted on. Sometimes, teachers do not even know an IEP is in place, or feel too overwhelmed to carry it out. It would be helpful if the next edition of this book offered parents some guidelines in terms of knowing whether the IEP is being implemented, and what steps to take if it is not.

Overall, this book will be an excellent companion for parents of struggling leaners to be the most effective advocates possible for their children.