Autism can crush a Mississippi elementary or secondary school student's progress if the school does not provide appropriate special education services. The same can be true for a Mississippi college or university student with autism if the school does not reasonably accommodate the disability. The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team can help if your K-12 autistic student faces issues getting special education services from a school in Jackson, Gulfport, Southaven, Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Olive Branch, Tupelo, Meridian, Greenville, Clinton, Pearl, Horn Lake, Oxford, Madison, or anywhere else across Mississippi. Our attorneys can represent your K-12 autistic student in the Desoto County School District, Rankin County School District, Jackson Public School District, Harrison County School District, Madison County School District, Lamar County School District, Jackson County School District, Jones County School District, Tupelo Public School District, Vicksburg Warren County School District, Lee County School District, Gulfport County School District, or any other Mississippi school district. We can also help if, instead, you are an autistic student in need of reasonable accommodation from the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Jackson State University, or the University of Southern Mississippi. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now.
Autism's Educational Challenge
Let's face it. Autism has to be among the hardest of disabilities with which to deal when the challenge is educational attainment through consistent academic progress. Unlike many physical disabilities, autism hides its mental disabilities from the classroom teacher or school administrator, who may not know or appreciate its extraordinary impact and challenges. The classroom generally depends on effective communication and interaction when communication and interaction deficits define autism. The classroom environment is also often changing, and procedural and stimuli changes can burden the autistic student. The repetitive stereotypical movements of a person living with autism may conversely distract other students and disrupt instruction. Those characteristics of autism make it a daunting challenge for the autistic student. Let us help you or your Mississippi K-12 student obtain the appropriate school relief. Don't give in to autism's challenges. Help is available.
Mississippi Autism Assistance Programs
Mississippi legislators and state and local education agencies offer abundant assistance to parents of Mississippi K-12 autistic students. The Mississippi Department of Education maintains an Office of Special Education devoted to serving autistic students and other disabled students. The Office provides local Mississippi K-12 schools and districts with unique education resources and technical assistance while holding them accountable to state disability regulations and the federal IDEA law. The Mississippi Department of Education also offers an elaborate, multi-volume Procedure Manual for implementing those state and federal provisions. The Procedure Manual carries out the Mississippi State Board of Education's Rule 74.19, which in turn carries out the requirements of the federal IDEA law for Mississippi to receive substantial federal special education funding. Your Mississippi K-12 autistic student does not lack for state resources in the battle to accommodate and serve your student's autism disability. Let us help you invoke those resources.
Federal Laws Promising Mississippi Autism Services
Mississippi's Office of Special Education acknowledges that it commits to providing autism services and accommodations in part to access the substantial federal funding available for special education services. The Mississippi laws, policies, rules, and regulations track the federal IDEA law while ensuring that Mississippi's K-12 schools also comply with Title II of the federal ADA. Mississippi surely cares on its own about serving students with autism and other disabilities. But the fact that Mississippi laws, rules, and regulations track the federal IDEA law so closely proves that the state wants to access those federal funds for your autistic student's benefit. Do not let your student's K-12 school cry poverty in answer to your requests and demands for reasonable accommodations and special education services. Federal funding under the IDEA law is there for that purpose.
The IDEA Law and Autism in Mississippi K-12 Schools
As a parent of a Mississippi K-12 autistic student, you may well have already heard of the IDEA law. The acronym IDEA stands for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. If you haven't heard of the IDEA law, then you are probably already familiar with its vital implementation tool, the individualized education plan or IEP, as teachers and parents of disabled students commonly know it. If your autistic student is receiving special education services, then your student likely already has an IEP. If your student does not have an IEP, your student's autism should readily qualify your student for an IEP and its special education services. The IDEA law's Section 300.8(c)(1)(i) expressly includes autism among the disabilities qualifying for special education services. The IDEA law, like the medical profession, defines autism by its early onset, generally before age three, and its symptoms of repetitive stereotypical movements, communication and interaction deficits, and adverse response to stimuli changes. Let us help you qualify your Mississippi K-12 student under the IDEA law's autism provisions.
ADA Title II and Autism in Mississippi Schools
Another federal law covers Mississippi K-12 public schools and Mississippi colleges and universities that receive federal funding. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits disability discrimination in education. Although many think of the ADA as requiring handicap ramps and similar facility modifications for individuals who use wheelchairs or others with physical disabilities, autism can be a qualifying mental impairment under the ADA, like the IDEA law, if the autism substantially limits a significant life activity like brain function, which autism readily does. The ADA does not require an IEP and special education services. Instead, it requires reasonable accommodation, which depends on the availability, affordability, and non-disruptiveness of services and accommodations. The IDEA law is the preferred avenue for relief in K-12 programs, but ADA is the only avenue for relief out of the two laws in higher education, and the outcome may be similar in both cases.
Mississippi State Laws on Autism Services
The Mississippi state legislature has done its part to support special education services, enacting a comprehensive set of enabling statutes at Mississippi Code Sections 37-23-1 et seq. Mississippi Code Section 37-23-3 specifically defines an exceptional child deserving special education services to include a child with autism. The critical Mississippi authority for enforcing IDEA law rights, including the right to an IEP, are procedures the Mississippi Office of Special Education adopted to carry out the IDEA law under Mississippi State Board of Education Policy 74.19. Those Mississippi state procedures for special education services include the following features, also found in the federal IDEA law:
- Chapter 3, Section 1, requiring Mississippi public K-12 schools to provide disabled students with a free appropriate public education (FAPE);
- Chapter 4, Section 1, requiring Mississippi K-12 schools to implement an individualized education plan (IEP) for disabled students;
- Chapter 5, Section 1, requiring Mississippi K-12 schools to educate disabled students in the least restrictive environment; and
- Chapter 7 requires Mississippi K-12 schools to follow procedural safeguards to resolve disputes over special education services.
Mississippi K-12 School Child Find Duty
Importantly, your autistic student's Mississippi K-12 school has the affirmative obligation to identify whether your student has autism as a disability qualifying for special education services. Your student's school should not be placing the burden on you to come forward with the demand that the school provide your student with special education services. School officials should have the skill and expertise and do, in fact, have the position to observe whether a disability like autism may be interfering with your student's classroom learning. The IDEA law's Section 300.111 accordingly requires the school to implement a child find program. Child find programs must follow reasonable procedures to ensure that the school identifies all students potentially in need of special education because of a qualifying disability. If your student's school officials refuse to consider whether your student's delayed learning or other struggles have to do with autism as a learning disability, we can help you enforce these school child-find obligations. Don't let the school blame you for failing to come forward demanding special education services.
Mississippi K-12 School Duty to Evaluate Autism
Your student's Mississippi K-12 school also has the responsibility under the IDEA law to evaluate your student for autism or another learning disability. The school's obligation extends beyond simply identifying your student. The school must also refer your student to a qualified professional for evaluation, testing, report, and recommendation. The IDEA law's Section 300.304 also requires the school to pay for your student's evaluation with the available federal funds. You should receive the evaluator's report, which includes the autism diagnosis and the evaluator's recommendation for services. That report is your tool in negotiating an appropriate IEP for your student. You may, of course, present your own examiner's evaluation, diagnosis, and recommendation. However, the school has an obligation to refer and pay for the evaluation, whether you have an evaluation already or not. Evaluation can be a powerful tool. Let us help enforce these evaluation rights.
Parental Consent to Mississippi Autism Evaluation
If you wonder whether you want your Mississippi K-12 autistic student to undergo the school's disability evaluation, you may make your own decision on that choice. The school should not be sending your student for evaluation without your consent. The IDEA law's Section 300.300 mandates that the school refer a student for evaluation only with parental consent. Your ability to grant or withhold consent can become your strategic tool in the management of the evaluation process. If, for instance, the school names an evaluator whom you do not believe to be qualified and independent, then you can withhold consent. If the time or place of the evaluation is burdensome, or the evaluation terms are embarrassing or invasive, then you may withhold consent. You may alternatively propose your preferred evaluator, indicating your willingness to consent. We can help you control the process of evaluation through your consent rights.
Mississippi K-12 Autism Second Opinions
Sometimes, a first evaluator will miss an autism diagnosis or fail to make appropriate recommendations. Some evaluators may prove their bias or conflict of interest, favoring the school and disfavoring the student while refusing to recommend needed services because they know the school will object and stop sending further referrals. No matter the cause for a poor evaluation, if you believe that your student's evaluator misdiagnosed your student and failed to recommend appropriate special education services, you have the right to a reevaluation. The IDEA law's Section 1414 grants you the right to a reevaluation, whether because of errors in the original evaluation or because of changes in your student's condition. You may require the school to pay for an evaluation by your chosen examiner for a second opinion. You may then use the second opinion to advocate for appropriate special education service in your student's IEP team meeting.
Parental Consent to Mississippi Autism Services
You may find yourself disagreeing with the evaluator's recommendation for special education services or with your student's IEP team's decision on what services to provide. If you believe that the recommended services are inappropriate, unhelpful, or even harmful to your Mississippi K-12 autistic student, then you may withhold your consent to those services. Your student's school should not provide any special education service to which you object. The school must have your consent to special education services. The IDEA law's Section 300.300 is the specific provision that requires parental consent for special education services. Your right to grant or withhold consent gives you a strategic tool to negotiate better services. We can help you in any such dispute.
Scope of Mississippi Autistic Student K-12 Services
The above discussion shows how the IDEA law gives a parent of an autistic student in a Mississippi K-12 school several tools to advocate and negotiate for appropriate special education services. But what if the school flat refuses? The IDEA law is more than just a set of helpful procedures. The IDEA law also includes a general mandate as to what a K-12 school receiving federal funding must supply in the way of special education services. The IDEA law's Section 1401(9) and Chapter 3, Section 1, of the Mississippi Office of Special Education Procedure Manual require the Mississippi K-12 school to provide your autistic student with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). That requirement means the school cannot shortchange your autistic student on instruction simply because your student needs instruction in a different form, format, or facility. We can help you enforce the FAPE requirement through school and district procedures, and through state and federal agencies, and even the civil courts, as necessary.
If, instead, you are a Mississippi college or university student facing challenges from your autism, which your school has refused to reasonably accommodate, the ADA's Title II likewise has enforcement mechanisms through your school's procedures, federal agencies, and, if necessary, the federal courts. Let us help you gain reasonable accommodation from your Mississippi institution of higher education so that you can overcome your autism's academic challenges.
Available Mississippi Autistic Student Services
Students suffering from learning challenges because of autism don't necessarily get whatever special education services and disability accommodations that they demand. Generally, those services must be reasonably available, reasonably affordable, and reasonably non-disruptive of the school's instructional program. The services you or your student request must also be reasonably effective in addressing the autism's academic challenges.
Within those limits, the Mississippi K-12 school serving your autistic student may have to modify your student's classroom, shielding overhead lights, reducing noise, and reducing distracting movements from things like fans or even the movements of teachers and students. Alternatively, the school may have to provide compensatory eyewear or hearing protection or permit your student to change seats or postures. The school may have to afford your student a flexible schedule permitting your student breaks from class or relief from certain class activities. The school may alternatively have to institute a set of behavioral prompts and rewards under an applied behavioral analysis (ABA) plan. Special tools, writing utensils, readers, note-takers, furnishings, and other services and accommodations may also be appropriate. Fidget items, peer modeling and mentoring, and adult coaching and mentoring are among other tools and services that may be available and appropriate. Let us help you gain the appropriate services for your K-12 autistic student or for you in higher education.
Your Autistic Student's Mississippi K-12 IEP
Among all the above tools and strategies for improving your Mississippi K-12 autistic student's special education experience, the individualized education program (IEP) is the key tool. Do not overlook or shortchange your student's IEP process. Participate as fully as you are able, and get our help if your student's school is not permitting and supporting your participation in ways that lead to better autism services. The IDEA law's Section 300.321 and Chapter 4, Section 4 of the Mississippi Office of Special Education's Procedure Manual guarantee you the right to be on your student's IEP team or committee. The same or related provisions also guarantee you the right to notice of every IEP team meeting so that you can attend and participate. We can help you enforce your IEP team rights so that your student gets the needed IEP special education services.
Mississippi K-12 IEP Goals and Measures
An IEP is not just a piece of paper satisfying federal and Mississippi special education requirements. It is also a tool for measuring your student's academic progress and adjusting the special education services your student receives to ensure satisfactory academic progress. The IDEA law's Section 300.320 and Chapter 4, Section 6 of the Mississippi Office of Special Education Procedures Manual require your student's IEP to include goals and measures for academic progress. The goals should generally match the school's academic standards for non-disabled students or your student's maximum capacity for academic development. The measures enable you and your student's teachers to track whether your student is meeting those benchmarks. Pay attention to goals and measures, requesting an IEP team meeting and adjustment of the IEP's services whenever your student is not meeting the goals. Let us help you enforce these IEP rights.
Mainstreaming Mississippi K-12 Autistic Students
When writing the IDEA law, Congress was well aware of the concern that schools may unnecessarily isolate autistic and other disabled students outside of the regular classroom to reduce the necessity for special education aides and services in the classroom. Warehousing can embarrass, deprive, and harm a student, removing structured instruction, classroom stimulation and accountability, and peer social support. Mainstreaming into the regular classroom is generally more beneficial for disabled student development when special education services are available. Congress included in the IDEA law a special anti-warehousing provision. Under the IDEA law's Section 300.114 and Chapter 5 of the Mississippi Office of Special Education's Procedures Manual, your autistic student's Mississippi K-12 school must provide your student with instruction in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Removing your student to an isolation room is not generally the least restrictive environment unless your student's condition is so severe that special education services cannot keep your student in the regular classroom. We can help you advocate and enforce these mainstreaming rights.
Premier Mississippi Autism Rights Enforcement
If you or your K-12 autistic student face challenges getting disability services and accommodation, don't leave the issue to chance. Get the skilled and experienced help you need for the best possible outcome. The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available across Mississippi to enforce the IDEA law's procedural safeguards, codified in the law's Section 300.504. Those safeguards allow us to invoke informal conciliation conferences and mediation, negotiate with school officials for early voluntary relief, request formal hearings to challenge unfavorable decisions, take appropriate appeals if you have already lost the initial hearing, and seek civil court relief in appropriate cases. Even if you have already lost all hearings and appeals, we may also be able to negotiate alternative special relief through the school's general counsel's office. Our attorneys have helped hundreds of students across Mississippi and the nation to enforce their school rights and address their school issues. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to tell us about your issues involving autism spectrum disorder.
