Legal Actions You Can Take When A School Fails To Provide Reasonable Accommodations For Your Child
If your child has a learning disability, but there are accommodations that can be made so that your child can succeed at school, it is essential that your child's school provide these accommodations. But unfortunately, some schools do not understand or respect the needs of each individual student and may fail to provide the necessary accommodations. If this is the case, you may be forced to involve a special education attorney.
Documentation is Important
When your child is not receiving the care they need, it's important to document this. Consider writing a letter to the proper authorities and make sure that your letter is factual. Do not write a letter if you are feeling very emotional. You will want to contact the principal first. If this does not work, the next step is to contact the special education director. Make sure that the letter makes it clear that you have already written to the principal and that you were ignored.
How to Force a Response from the Higher Authorities
If you are not able to get a response from the proper authorities, the next step might be to contact a special education lawyer. When you involve a lawyer in your case, the interactions with the school are likely to become much more formal. They are likely to also hire a lawyer. However, they will take your claims much more seriously.
An attorney will provide you with advice on how you can best enforce the mandate that your child be given access to accommodations. In many cases, you will need to turn to the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights.
Alternative Accommodations
When you begin to take legal action, your child's school might become interested in offering alternatives to the accommodations that you wish they would provide. You will want to be open-minded about the alternative accommodations, but you will also want to consult with your special education lawyer about whether these alternatives will be in the best interest of your child.
In some cases, a teacher might refuse to make accommodations because they do not want to add to their workload. However, you might be able to overcome this apprehension by having your child improve their grades through extra credit work that is not difficult for the teacher to grade. But regardless, your child is entitled to have reasonable accommodations made and a special education lawyer can make sure that this happens.
For more information, contact a special education attorney near you.