The whole purpose of special education is to facilitate the unique educational needs that some students with disabilities have. However, sometimes the focus shifts from meeting these particular needs to just managing the child’s challenging behaviors. As the parent of a special needs child, you have the right to insist upon appropriate educational adaptations to help your child succeed in school. If you believe your child needs services or accommodations he isn’t receiving, you’ve got to speak up. You can begin by scheduling an IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting with your child’s teachers and therapists.
How do I know whether an accommodation is appropriate to request for my child?
Here are three guidelines to consider:
- It should be naturally associated with the child’s disability or condition. In other words, it would make sense to request that a child with a visual disability have a seat closer to the chalk board or have materials adapted to suit her visual needs. But it wouldn’t be fair to ask that this same child be allowed to have assignments waived or to ignore certain classroom rules.
- If the need were not met, the child would be at a significant disadvantage academically or socially. The accommodation should even out the playing field so that the child can learn along with her peers. It should not give her an unfair advantage or single her out unnecessarily.
- The need should result from the disability itself, and not from bad behaviors or poor choices the child is making. This can be a grey area. But, for example, I recently read about a child who was charged with selling drugs to students at school, and an attorney was able to argue that this behavior was related to his language impairment. Supposedly the language impairment made him feel isolated from friendships, and in order to gain acceptance he fell victim to his more adept peers’ suggestions. The logic might sound reasonable on the surface, but the problem is that eventually any disability or condition could explain away any behavior, or suggest that any classroom adaptation was a legitimate need.
How do I go about getting the accommodations?
Some simple accommodations only require a phone call to your child’s teacher to make the request. If your child’s teacher is hesitant, or if you feel your child needs specific services or a larger adaptation, schedule an IEP meeting as soon as possible. You have the right to do this at any time. Carefully state your reasons for making the request. Listen carefully to the counsel of your child’s teachers, school officials, and therapists. If they disagree with you, take notes. Why do they disagree? It’s possible your child might require additional testing or assessments to demonstrate a legitimate need.
If you disagree with decisions being made about your child’s education, click here.
For examples of accommodations for your child, look at my “ten ways” blogs for the following conditions:
Kristyn Crow is the author of this blog. Visit her website by clicking here. Some links on this blog may have been generated by outside sources are not necessarily endorsed by Kristyn Crow.