Procedural violations of the IDEA alone are usually not a basis for a court to find a student has been denied a free appropriate public education (FAPE). A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeal for the 2nd Circuit, however, found multiple procedural violations, did deprive a student of educational benefits he was entitled to under the law. K.T., a now twenty-year old autistic student, began attending a public special education school in the Bronx, New York in 2009. His mother, L.O., filed for due process in December 2011 after K.T. began to refuse to attend school. L.O. claimed the three IEPs developed for her son were inappropriat…

Money. I promised to return to this. I am very familiar with the leading advocates and parent-side special education lawyers in Northern New Jersey. Based on that knowledge, I can tell you that the average non-attorney parent advocate charges about half the hourly rate of the average parent-side education attorney. Assuming that you have all the money in the world (and you don’t, or you’d just pay for your child’s education needs and forget about it), you should still pick the right professional for the job based on the factors discussed above. But if, like most people, you often have to make choices to fit your budget, you should co…