Special Needs Education & Disability Rights

Families of children with disabilities are handed a system full of acronyms and told to negotiate inside it, usually across a table from people who do this every day while the family does it once. The rights are real — the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act all carry enforceable obligations — but they are not self-executing.

This practice area exists because the gap between what a student is entitled to and what a student actually receives is usually a gap in advocacy, not in law.

What this includes

• IEP development, review, and revision — including preparing you for the meeting and attending it with you
• Section 504 plans and eligibility disputes
• Independent educational evaluations (IEEs) at public expense
• Manifestation determination reviews and discipline of students with disabilities
• State complaints, mediation, and IDEA due process hearings
• Least restrictive environment and placement disputes, including private placement
• Extended school year (ESY) services and compensatory education claims
• Restraint and seclusion incidents
• ADA and Section 504 discrimination in public accommodations, housing, and employment
• Guardianship, and the less restrictive alternatives — supported decision-making, powers of attorney, representative payee
• Special needs trusts and ABLE accounts that protect SSI and Medicaid eligibility

How these cases usually run

1. Records review — the evaluations, the current IEP or 504 plan, progress data, and the discipline file.
2. An honest assessment of what the record supports and what it does not.
3. Written advocacy to the district first; most disputes resolve here and cost the family far less.
4. Formal process — state complaint, mediation, or due process — where the district will not move.
5. Parallel planning so that a benefits-eligible young adult does not lose SSI or Medicaid on their eighteenth birthday.