As a parent of a special needs child, what changes have you seen in the education system over the last 20 yrs?

I am a college student working towards a dual major in special/elementary education. For our final project, we need to interview an attorney about changes in the special education laws over the last 20 years, but many of the attorneys that I contacted are fairly new to the practice and can only tell me what is already in my textbooks. I would love to get some opinions from parents who have experienced it! Thank you for your help!As a parent of a special needs child, what changes have you seen in the education system over the last 20 yrs?
To really find your answer, you have to go back a little further. Look for online references to an institution called Willowbrook, which was blown open back in the 70's. That was when the world first discovered that their were people who were incarcerated who were not ';mentally retarded';, and many of them could have had normal lives...IF their needs had been correctly identified.





In the last 20 years, parents became an integral part of the IEP process, and were allowed to not only suggest input to their children's education, but to advocate for their children, requesting out of district placements if needed.





Currently, the special needs community faces a real crisis. With the pending budget cuts, it is difficult to convince a district to allow any special accommodations, even though that is the law.





A parent has to show that their child is in fact able to do better, and only then can they get the help they need. Some parents prefer inclusion---others see a different need.





My daughter just graduated high school with an amazing GPA, and superb SAT scores. She had attended two different schools for ';special needs';, but was able to perform on a par with the district students---and in some cases beyond them.





She starts college next week---with a scholarship for students who attain academic excellence.





Had I left her in district, she would have fallen through the cracks.As a parent of a special needs child, what changes have you seen in the education system over the last 20 yrs?
The fact that they HAVE to educate your child in the Least Restrictive Environment-which mostly means with their non-disabled peers. This can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. You can't simply plop an LD child into a regular classroom and expect them to keep up with the class with out supports in place. and that's where it gets tricky. Who decides what is needed? Who decides if it's working? Who decides if more is needed? It has been my experience that most of the time, school districts don't want to pay for these classroom supports, so they lie and say that your child is doing ';just fine'; when you know they aren't. Then begins the costly battle of taking the school to court to prove it. The district has their own lawyers, the parents have to pay for theirs, plus doctor's evaluations, and expert witnesses. Then there can be retaliation against the child. Just like everything else in this country, dollars decide.
The Federal government passed the IDEA Law 2004. This law is the most detailed and changed some things for SPED students, parents and teachers.





A website to find out more about it is:





http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/law.htm
You can get great help at this message board --





Some of them even know sped lawyers personally --





http://millermom.proboards.com/index.cgi鈥?/a>

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