Special Education Law

You’re parents of a bright child with learning differences.  You’ve gone along with the school district’s recommendations – approving various “pull-outs” and “push-ins” while dutifully signing off on recommended IEPs each year – but still your child isn’t achieving his or her academic potential.  The school district is acting more like an adversary than an educator.  You feel the weight of your child’s future on your shoulders and don’t know where to turn.  The good news is that the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) entitles your child to a “free and appropriate” education, and that there is other legislation (such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) specifying the right to access curriculum.  Our firm will strongly advocate for your child’s right to obtain an education tailored to his or her unique needs, that addresses your child’s individual strengths and weaknesses, and that is formulated to enable him or her to pursue meaningful academic advancement.

While we strive to achieve the goals sought by parents and guardians through negotiation and collaboration, we are willing and able to apply the well-honed litigation skills we have developed in the broad spectrum of legal specialties referenced in this website.

More specifically, our firm focuses its involvement in the following areas of special education law:

Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and IEP Meetings

An IEP is a written program prepared for a public school student deemed eligible for special education services.  An IEP is required to assess that student’s specific needs, identify present levels of performance, formulate academic goals and objectives (against which the student’s academic progress can be tracked) and set an academic course formulated to give the student access to grade level curriculum.  An IEP is hammered out in a meeting involving a “team” made up of parents/guardians, teachers and various specialists employed by the school or school district.

Because obtaining a well-conceived and effective IEP is key to the academic success of a special needs student, our firm makes it a practice to prepare for and vigorously participate in IEP meetings on behalf of parents/guardians and students.

Our participation in an IEP meeting could spell the difference between obtaining and rapidly implementing a proper IEP and having to engage in a formal due process hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (which is discussed below).

Obtaining and Understanding Assessments Needed to Establish Eligibility for Special Educational Services

A parent/guardian cannot obtain any special educational services – or even get a school district to engage in an IEP meeting – without having convinced it that the student is eligible for special education services.  The first step in the process involves convincing the school district to obtain assessments of suspected areas of disability.

If the school or school district balks at providing needed assessments – or concludes, contrary to the findings of commissioned assessments, that a child is not eligible for special education services – then this must be vigorously challenged.  This may involve obtaining assessments from experts outside the school district (such as private neuropsychologists, audiologists and speech and language therapists), and strategizing with parents/guardians regarding whether to seek reimbursement from school districts for the cost of outside assessments.

We can also assist a parent/guardian in understanding the results of assessments, such as psycho-educational assessments provided by school psychologists (with respect to cognitive, academic, auditory and visual processing, attention issues, vocational skills and social/emotional skills), as well as assessments by speech pathologists, motor/sensory processing assessments by occupational therapists and educationally-related mental health assessments.

504 Plans

504 Plans are written plans for children with a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act who are not eligible for an IEP.  We will assist parents/guardians in obtaining 504 Plans that properly identify the accommodations – such as extra time on tests, modified homework and having tests read to children – needed to ensure that students have access to the curriculum sufficient to allow them to receive appropriate educations.

Behavior Support Plans (BSP)

BSP Plans are written plans developed for students who have been identified as having behavioral issues that interfere with their ability to function in an academic setting.  This firm will intervene on behalf of families in obtaining the assessments needed to formulate BSP Plans that identify possible issues, and work with schools to develop BSP Plans that provide students and school personnel with the tools and supports needed to improve and maintain behavior.

Compliance Complaints to the California Department of Education (CDE)

When a school district violates federal or state laws concerning special education, or when a school district fails to implement a child’s special education program, we can assist parents in preparing and submitting compliance complaints to the CDE.

Due Process Hearings

While this firm actively and skillfully endeavors to obtain needed assessments and eligibility determinations, effective IEPs and required special education services – and exhausts all possible avenues of resolution – what is offered by a school district may fall short of what parents/guardians deem necessary.

In the event of such an impasse, a parent/guardian is entitled to a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, who makes a legal ruling either in favor of the school district or in favor of the parent/guardian.  Such hearings are called “due process hearings,” and somewhat resemble a civil trial in state or federal courts (although they are a little less formal and don’t involve juries) – witnesses are called and arguments are made by the disputing parties or their representatives.  An adverse ruling from an Administrative Law Judge can be appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Suspensions/Expulsions

In order to suspend or expel a student, a principal or superintendent must determine that the student has violated a specific rule in the school district’s code of conduct, and specified procedures must be followed.

We offer assistance to parents/guardians in addressing these issues, including the crucial question of whether a student’s learning or other disability – or some other factor that impeded the student’s access to the curriculum – had a part in the conduct complained of by the principal or superintendent.

If you need help with any of the issues mentioned above, contact this firm by calling Stephan A. Mills, Esq. at (310) 473-8100, or by email at smills@zmlawpc.com