Published on
April 20, 2010 by
Jennifer Laviano
So, I have been following the new series Parenthood with interest. Yes, I loved the movie, and I like enough of the cast members to have tuned in. But I started to commit to watching it weekly when I saw they were incorporating a story line about a family grappling with their child’s diagnosis of [...]
Filed Under Current Affairs
Tags: Add new tag, Autism spectrum disorders, Connecticut Special Education, Connecticut Special Education Law, Eligibility determinations, Eligibility under IDEA, evaluations, giftedness, Meaningful Parental participation, Parent networking for disabilities, special education, Special Education Law and Advocacy
Published on
April 17, 2010 by
Jennifer Laviano
One of the most frustrating aspects of my job as a parents’ side special education attorney is trying to help my clients regain trust in the system. Sometimes, this is nearly impossible. As I’ve said before, by the time a parent of a child with special education needs has made the difficult decision to hire [...]
Filed Under Occasional Rants
Tags: Add new tag, Connecticut Special Education, Connecticut Special Education Law, Eligibility determinations, evaluations, FAPE, IDEA claims, IEP Meetings, IEP Team meetings, Meaningful Parental participation, special education, special education attorneys, Special Education Law and Advocacy, special education lawyers
Published on
October 7, 2009 by
Jennifer Laviano
Parents of children with special needs routinely tell me that they don’t understand their child’s IEP Team. But what if this were LITERALLY true? For parents of children with disabilities who are either deaf or who don’t speak English as a first language, these complex, and often contentious, IEP Meetings must seem even more overwhelming. [...]
Filed Under Tips for Parents
Tags: Accommodations for parents under IDEA, ASL interpreters at IEP meetings, Connecticut Special Education Law, developing the IEP, Foreign language interpreters, Interpreters at IEP Meetings, Interpreters for the hearing impaired at IEP meetings, Meaningful Parental participation, parental participation in the IEP process, special education, Special Education Law
Published on
June 26, 2009 by
Jennifer Laviano
As I near the end of a brutal IEP “Season,” I am humbled, once again, by how my clients do it. It is one thing for me, whose job it is to represent them at these meetings and to make sure their rights are being protected, to feel overwhelmed and frustrated by how unfair the [...]
Published on
June 11, 2009 by
Jennifer Laviano
T-minus 12 business days until the end of June, and therefore the close of yet another whirlwind Annual Review IEP Season. Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to make it without another few rants. In my special education law practice in Connecticut, I attend most of the Annual Reviews on behalf of my clients this [...]
Published on
May 22, 2009 by
Jennifer Laviano
It’s not even June yet, but my tolerance for the gamesmanship that accompanies so many Annual Review IEP meetings is getting lower by the day. In particular, it never ceases to amaze me how very quickly some special education administrators want to yank services from a kid the moment it becomes clear that they are [...]
Published on
May 10, 2009 by
Jennifer Laviano
I simply do not understand the attempt by so many school districts, and their counsel, to portray the genuine concern of parents of children with special education needs as exaggerated, or worse, fabricated. Having practiced special education law in Connecticut for many years, and represented hundreds of families in that time, I am just [...]
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“But Quentin Tarantino is VERY Successful!”
As a parents’ special education attorney in Connecticut, I hear outrageous statements that parents are told by their school districts on an almost daily basis. But, sometimes, I am told something that passes the realm of outrageous, and crosses into ridiculous. Such statements mislead or misrepresent the school’s legal obligations, and always in a way [...]