Education/IEP info and website

[Guest guest]

Hello all--

I'm a teacher, and finishing up a doctorate in education--not special ed.,

but I know enough to possibly be helpful. My son, who just turned 8, has

high-functioning autism, and serious, serious, gastrointestinal

disturbances. The following is a website that is really useful:

http://nclid.unco.edu/nclid/ssn/indexpop.php

Also, nearly all states have parent advocate organizations--here in Nebraska

it's called PTI Nebraska. They are run by parents of disabled children, and

they give workshops on Advocacy, IEP's--all kinds of topics. Sometimes they

even provide a person to be an educational advocate at the child's IEP

meeting. They are very well versed in the law regarding special ed. (I

learned all this on my own, by the way, not in a classroom...)

I'll apologize in advance if this is a repeat of something already written.

I've been too swamped to read all the messages lately. Things are slowing

up a bit, so if anyone has a specific question, I could possibly be of

help--but if you google " parent advocacy groups special needs " and include

your state, I'll bet some contact info would pop up and someone who knew the

state laws could give really concrete advice. Personally, we've never had

problems with the schools, because of my status as a graduate student in the

field--I've never been afraid to very, very politely insist on what I feel

is best for . Now problems with the insurance companies--that's a

whole other story for a day when I have more time to type! :-)

Have a great weekend--

and fam