Trainings of Dispute Resolution Professionals

The Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden in ...
The Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden in Stockholm is the highest administrative court in Sweden. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)













I love my job.  Because of it, I frequently get to speak at conferences and do trainings.  Special education law is a great field because it is constantly changing. As we have said here before special ed law is a lot closer to metaphysics than it is to contract law.  

I really enjoyed a training that I did last week.  It was for a state education agency and their administrative law judges,mediators and complaint investigators. I'm doing another ALJ training next week.  (In some states, we are called hearing officers.  In others we are called ALJs.) Although I am referred to as the "trainer," I always learn something from the participants.  The participants often are active during the session- asking questions and offering solutions that work for them.  Last week was no exception.

When I work with my fellow hearing officers, I am always impressed by the quality of their work and their dedication to their craft.    It is rewarding.

There have been many suggestions that the special education due process hearing system be gutted, or substantially changed.  What do you think?
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Is Special Ed Creating Independent Adults - Part II

English: U.S. Census Bureau Regions, Partnersh...
English: U.S. Census Bureau Regions, Partnership and Data Services Program. A map of the US Census Bureau Regions. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)















In a recent post  we noted that about a third of adults receiving government assistance had disabilities of some type. This caused us to question whether transition in specific and special education in general were succeeding with respect to the goal of creating independent adults.

Well last week our friends at the U S Census Bureau provided more numbers to cause us to repeat these questions. They have released the Disability Employment Tabulation which has a wealth of statistical information about people with disabilities in the workforce.  You can review the deep well of information  on the Disability Employment Tabulation through this link.

Here is a small sample of the in formation available:

Between 2008 and 2010, individuals without disabilities were about three times more likely to be employed than individuals with disabilities. Overall, individuals with disabilities accounted for 9.4 million, or 6.0 percent, of the 155.9 million civilian labor force. 

More than half of all workers with a disability were concentrated in four general occupation groups: service workers (except protective services) with 18.2 percent, followed by administrative support (15.1 percent), sales workers (10.4 percent) and management, business and finance (8.9 percent).

Among specific occupations, janitors and building cleaners had the highest number of employees with a disability at 315,000, or 11.8 percent of all workers in that field, followed by drivers/sales workers and truck drivers with 263,000 people, cashiers with 256,000 and retail salespeople with 223,000.

Among occupations with 100,000 or more people, dishwashers had the highest disability rate at 14.3 percent, followed by refuse and recyclable material collectors (12.7 percent), personal care aides (11.9 percent), and janitors and building cleaners (11.8 percent). The rates for refuse and recyclable material collectors, personal care aides, and janitors and building cleaners were not statistically different from one another. 

More than half of workers with disabilities (52 percent) earned less than $25,000 in the previous year, compared with just 38 percent of workers with no disabilities. This translates into an earnings gap where individuals with disabilities earn about 75 percent of what workers without disabilities earn.

Overall, janitors and building cleaners were among the most common occupations for individuals with a disability for non-Hispanic whites (184,000 people), non-Hispanic blacks (60,000) and Hispanics (54,000).
Individuals with disabilities accounted for 6.3 percent of the male civilian labor force and 5.7 percent of the female civilian labor force.

The three most common occupations for men with disabilities were drivers/sales workers and truck drivers (246,000); janitors and building cleaners (217,000); and laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (171,000). For women, they were cashiers (195,000); secretaries and administrative assistants (189,000); and nursing, psychiatric and home health aides (172,000). The number of male laborers and freight, stock, and material movers was not significantly different from the number of female nursing, psychiatric and home health aides.

Any thoughts?




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Harkin Amendment Would Blunt Sequester Cuts to Special Ed

Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa
Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
























Senator Tom Harkin has introduced an amendment to HR 933 that would mitigate the effects of the sequester in special education.  Here is a summary of the amendment.

If you are concerned about the sequester and its effect upon the education of children with disabilities, you should contact your Senators and representatives and ask them to vote for the amendment.  Our friends at the Council for Exceptional Children have established this tool to make it very easy to effectively contact your senators about this issue. You should personalize your message to reflect your feelings.

So what do you think about this Amendment?
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Is Special Ed Making Independent Adults? New Study By Census Bureau

English: Seal of the United States Census Bure...
English: Seal of the United States Census Bureau.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
























According to the Census Bureau, among the 46.0 million adults who received income-based government assistance in 2011, 30.4 percent of them had a disability.  The report issued last month is entitled Disability Characteristics of Income-Based Government Assistance Recipients in the United States: 2011

“On average, people with disabilities have lower employment and earnings; therefore, understanding what assistance people with disabilities receive may help governments better coordinate and administer their programs,” said Bernice Boursiquot, a Census Bureau statistician and co-author of the report.

States west of the Appalachian Mountains had higher rates of disability among recipients of income-based assistance. In comparison, states in the Southwest and along the Eastern Seaboard had lower rates.  West Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas were three of the top five states for disability prevalence in the total population, as well as in the total population receiving government assistance. In West Virginia, 26.8 percent of people with disabilities reported having ambulatory difficulty, defined as severe difficulties walking or climbing stairs. 

You can view the entire report here.

One question for special education: how does this reflect on IDEA transition programs?  Is special education succeeding in making people with disabilities more independent?  Your thoughts?



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Sequestration Will Hurt Kids With Disabilities

English: View of Capitol Hill from the U.S. Su...
English: View of Capitol Hill from the U.S. Supreme Court Česky: Pohled na Kapitol z budovy Nejvyššího soudu Spojených států (Photo credit: Wikipedia)















Sequestration starts today unless the Congress acts.  It will hurt the education of children with disabilities!

How will IDEA be affected? Under sequestration, federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act will be reduced by $1,053,600,000 in 2013, or 28 percent of the total reduction to education programs. 

You can view an analysis and explanation by our friends at IDEA money watch here.

You can see the amount of money that your state  and the projected number of special ed staff will lose on this chart.

Now would be a good time to call your congressmen and senators and tell them to fix this.
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Breaking: New 20 Year Study on Effects of Bullying

English: Image for mental health stubs, uses t...
English: Image for mental health stubs, uses two psych images - psychiatry (medicine) and psychology (Photo credit: Wikipedia)









Bullying of children with disabilities continues to be the hot button issue in special education law. The Special Education Law Blog has previously run an in depth series of posts on bullying of children with disabilities.  Here is the index to that series.

Recent news concerning the effects of bullying on children in general provides more insight into the harmful effects of this nasty phenomenon. The effects may be worse than previously suspected.


In breaking news, a study was released last week that followed children who were bullied or were bullies or both for a period of twenty years. The study by William E. Copeland, PhD; Dieter Wolke, PhD; Adrian Angold, MRCPsych; E. Jane Costello, PhD was published in the JAMA Psychiatry Journal and can be reviewed here. A summary by DukeHealth.org can be read here.

The study found that bullied children grow into adults who are at increased risk of developing anxiety disorders, depression and suicidal thoughts. Those who were both bullies and victims had higher levels of all anxiety and depressive disorders, plus the highest levels of suicidal thoughts, depressive disorders, generalized anxiety and panic disorder. Bullies were also at increased risk for antisocial personality disorder.

What are your thoughts?
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Special Education Law 101 - Index to Series


Index to Special Education 101 Series

Special needs education transport services in ...Image via Wikipedia
















A reader once suggested that I provide an index wen I run a series. I agreed that this is an excellent idea, and I try to add one at the end of our series. Here is the index for the Special Education Law 101 series which recently concluded.  Clicking on the name of a particular post in the series will bring you to the actual post.

Here goes :


Part I Sources of Law September 10, 2012



Part II FAPE September 18, 2012



Part III FAPE continued September 26, 2012





Part VI IEP Issues October 20, 2012



Part VII Related Services October 26, 2012


Part VIII  Transition November 2, 2012


Part IX Discipline   November 16, 2012


Part X Unilateral Placements November 6, 2012 



Part XII Stay Put   December 12, 2012




Part XV Burden of Persuasion  February 1, 2013


Part XVI: Hearing Procedures I  February 6, 2013


Part XVII Hearing Procedures II  February 13, 2013



We hope that you enjoyed the series! 


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Sequestration Kills!

Sequestration - How Would it Impact the Everyd...
Sequestration - How Would it Impact the Everyday Lives of Americans? (Photo credit: Third Way)













How's that for a post title!

Sequestration is Washingtospeak for the automatic across the board spending cuts that are so extremely draconian that Congress thought they would force the combatants (formerly known as representatives of the public) to compromise on deficit reduction.  They have a deceptive name for everything, don't they?

Unfortunately, these folks don't know the meaning of compromise.  So in ten days we face the Great Sequester.  Remember the fiscal cliff...it's back!

Here is what the White House says will happen if sequestration occurs.  Here is the warning from our friends at the Council for Exceptional Children.  

Contact your congressman and senators.  Tell them not to let sequestration happen!
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