Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide

I purchased the e-book because I needed the book fast before a meeting with the school. I like that it was available in both formats. This book is a MUST READ for any parent of a child with a suspected disability. It is written in a clear and easy to understand style. It gives you the information you need to understand the process of determining eligibility for special education services and/or a 504 plan for modifications. It gives good tips on getting yourself organized and how to deal with other parties such as the school administrators. It explains what an IEP is and what an IEP should include. It explains basic statistics and how results can be looked at in several different ways. Before this book I had no clue what my rights as a parent were. I did not know where to go to get that information, either. This book tells you. It is empowering. If you are debating whether or not it is worth it...buy it. Don't hesitate. Buy it now. Seriously.

I found Wrightslaw online as I was searching in desperation for ways to navigate the waters of special education in US public schools; a cold and murky ocean I never anticipated needing to enter. The website's articles were incredibly helpful but I needed much more. This companion book was recommended over and over, and not always by the authors! All over the internet were grateful parents pointing towards this book. Now, I am one of them! Using the information I read here led to well-written letters and successful negotiations with our school personnel. As a stay-home mom who is naturally anxious, uncomfortable with schools and somewhat feisty, I could have really ruined things for my boys as I went through the whole process, *if* I'd gone into their spec-ed meetings ignorant of the procedures and full of my own emotions and tensions. Thanks to Pete and Pam and their clear, easy to follow and detailed information, I was able to go into the meetings informed, confident, calm and cooperative, and all sides were able to win. It's frustrating watching kids who are smart and motivated struggle in school; it's extremely rewarding figuring out why and getting them the help they need. I could never have done so alone.

This was recommended to me by a local parent who knew this Attourney?. He helped her for the whole process is a fantastic advocate for parents and children. Highly recommend him and his book.

This book has been so helpful in preparing me for transitioning my daughter into preschool. It is very accessible and so easy to understand - you don't need to be a scholar or a lawyer to understand your child's special education rights! A lot of the information pertains to older school age children, obtaining evaluations and using existing test scores to help you down the path of special education, but i still found a lot within these pages that applies to my toddler who is transitioning out of state-provided autism therapy and into a public preschool. Another nice feature is the 'homework assignments' and how-to information on organizing your child's files, understanding test scores and statistics, and creating a master plan for your child's education. It's homework that you'll want to do!

This book offers a systematic approach to obtaining, tracking, and evaluating information about your child's education history, needs, and school assessments. It also includes relevant law, and a discussion about the national culture of school systems that highlights the fact that the schools are not designed for kids with learning differences or special needs. Parents don't need to take school ignorance or indifference personally - it's a waste of energy to go down that path when you realize it is not about you or your child - but is a part of the pervasive beliefs embedded in national education culture that everyone should learn the same way, and anyone who doesn't is a bad person, etc. Putting aside the fear, blame, anxiety, and resentment frees up mental real estate that can be better used for taking measured, methodical action steps - an inexorable force (your applied will to get your child an education) meets an immovable object (schools that don't care, don't know how to help, and/or don't have the resources, and/or view you and your child as inherently evil wombats). In my opinion, the book is an essential resource - very critical to understanding how to get support for your child. My caveat there is that I'm not sure that 1) even with the best intentions and execution it is possible to get blood from a stone, even if that stone is legally obligated to provide blood; (by the time this is accomplished, the child will have flunked out of school and deteriorated past the point of retrieval?) 2) as an adult with ADHD, I found the information extremely challenging to wade through. It took me eight hours just to read the first 20% of the book, much of which triggered me emotionally, and was hard to understand. I am a forest-first-then-trees learner. It's easier for me to learn if I can see the context first, the big picture. This book is organized for people who learn best when information is presented in a piecemeal sequence - who are able to assemble the pieces themselves and understand intuitively what those pieces add up to. It would have been easier for me to use the book if there were an overview of the entire process at the beginning. There is not. It was extremely painful and difficult for me to wade through this book. It took months to get through - not days, not weeks - months. There has to be a faster, easier way. Despite the fact that CHADD recommends this book, it is not, in my experience, even remotely ADHD-friendly. If you have a different learning style, or if you do not have ADHD, you will probably find it extremely useful, well written, and well organized. I highly recommend this book for its content and the ways it can contribute to your sanity as you attempt to navigate a frustrating process through an indifferent or even hostile system, but not for its structure or presentation.

I have an autistic son and this book has been my savior. It is a must have for anyone entering into the "world" of special needs. I have many other books but I constantly refer to this book in the end. It walks you step-by-step on how to write letters requesting information from your child's school and provides templates for many other well written letters you may need to use. This book is not a complicated read..it reads fast and is easily understandable. I bought the Wrights Law book also and was able to read this book and refer to the Law book at the same time. As you delve into the special education system you will want to get books that help you write more complex IEP goals..but trust me you will be digging into your stack of books reaching for this book over and over again

This book and another book were so incredibly helpful and encouraging to us as parent advocates. We were able to use these to not only help our son while he was in the public school system, but we were able to help other parents as well. This is a must-have book if you have a child with disabilities who is in public school. You have to be an advocate for your child, or they will just pass through the system--unless they are high-functioning and self-motivated kids. This book allows you fulfill your biblical mandate: To speak up for those who don't have a voice.

I love this book!!! Great information for anyone wanting to understand the complexity of special education!

Thank you Amazon i am a struggling student and the discounted books are a godsend. They are quick to arrive and have all the content i need for my studies.