Sequestration Will Hurt Kids With Disabilities

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.

Breaking: New 20 Year Study on Effects of Bullying

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?

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 IV Least Restrictive Environment October 3, 2012

Part V Identification and Eligibility October 10, 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 XI Compensatory Education December 6, 2012

Part XII Stay Put December 12, 2012

Part XIII Legal Representation January 14, 2013

Part XIV Expenses and Attorney's Fees January 25, 2013

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!

Sequestration Kills!

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!

Educational Law

Sequestration Will Hurt Kids With Disabilities

Breaking: New 20 Year Study on Effects of Bullying