Bridge2Excellence advocates for special needs students in the Miami inner-city. A 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation. All donations are tax deductible. Find out more about Bridge2Excellence at HelpThisKid.org
Hopefully your IEP meeting will go well. Are you prepared for your child’s IEP meeting this year? We can help. Since last March when the U.S. Supreme Court decided the landmark decision, Endrew F., which gave students with disabilities more rights, you should have changed the way you prepare for IEP meetings. Students are now entitled to be challenged regardless of the severity of their disability. It may seem like an obvious point, but before that 2017 decision, barely more than a babysitting service were acceptable. Here’s some tips on what you should do to prepare: Come ready to [...]
Being granted accommodations for high-stakes standardized tests is no easy task, especially if your child is a high-achiever who has learned to successfully compensate for a disability. Fortunately, during the Obama administration there were some positive legal developments that have made the law both clearer and more favorable to high-achieving applicants. When testing companies deny accommodations to high-achievers, the reasons are usually the same. Here are those reasons and several strategies to combat those denials. "Eleventh Hour" Disabilities Testing companies to which you submit an accomodation request get hundreds of applications for extended time for every test sitting; they often don’t [...]
If a child has been sexually harassed or abused by a peer or adult in school, she needs to know her rights. Sexual harassment is all too common in middle and high schools across the country. A recent professional survey found that nearly half of all students had been sexually harassed in school. Being harassed can affect a girl's ability to focus on her work, feel secure and confident and ultimately succeed in her studies. Here are some answers to common questions. What do you mean by sexual harassment? Sexual harassment at school can include making verbal or written comments, making [...]
Today our triplet clients had another huge win against the Miami-Dade County School District - the fourth largest in the country. We're so thrilled to report that Judge Joan Lenard of the Federal District Court of the Southern District of Florida denied the school board's motion to dismiss our case. Our clients, who won a due process case against the district under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, filed a complaint in federal court to enforce that win and the school district tied to get the case dismissed. Today that motion to dismiss the case was denied. This is a great development because if [...]
Three students, who are triplets suffering from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Learning Disabilities (LD), have filed suit against Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) claiming school officials at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology at Florida International University (MAST@FIU), an elite STEM magnet school, have harassed and discriminated against them because of their disability. This law firm, Making School Work, PL represents the boys and filed suit on their behalf under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The suit alleges that MAST@FIU officials routinely refused to accommodate their severe ADHD and LD and did not make the high-tech devices and materials available to other [...]
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An Administrative Law Judge of the State of Florida Division of Administrative Hearings (Case Nos. 145679E, 145668E, 145669E) ruled last month that the MiamiDade County School Board, which oversees the fourth largest school district in the country, violated the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for failing to adequately educate very intelligent triplets with learning disabilities and ADHD at a wellregarded STEM magnet high school, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST@Florida International University). The students met the rigorous academic and behavioral admissions requirements of the school, but quickly landed on academic probation when the school failed to implement the accommodations [...]
Today Allison Hertog and Samantha Carella spoke to the Miami-Dade and Monroe Chapter of the Florida Psychological Association about Helping Disabled Students Obtain their Legal Entitlements: Grades K-12 and Beyond. Ms. Hertog and Dr. Carella spoke for nearly three hours including actual case studies on which they collaborated to help special needs students improve their educational performance. The topics involved advocacy in K-12 public schools as well as helping high-achievers with disabilities obtain accommodations on high-stakes exams. Their PowerPoint presentation is available here. FLPA Presentation
