The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available in Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Wheeling, Martinsburg, Fairmont, Weirton, Beckley, Clarksburg, and other West Virginia locations to advocate effectively for autistic student IDEA law special education services and ADA reasonable accommodation. As the parent of an autistic West Virginia K-12 student or as an autism spectrum disorder sufferer yourself in a challenging West Virginia higher education program, you know the difference that services and accommodations can make. You should also know that federal and West Virginia laws, rules, and regulations mandate those services and accommodations for qualifying autistic students.
Let us help you enforce those federal and West Virginia educational disability rights. Our attorneys can appear on your West Virginia K-12 autistic student's behalf in the Kanawha County Schools, Berkeley County Schools, Wood County Schools, Cabell County Schools, Monongalia County Schools, Raleigh County Schools, Harrison County Schools, Putnam County Schools, Mercer County Schools, Jefferson County Schools, Marion County Schools, Wayne County Schools, or any other West Virginia school district. We can also appear on your behalf at West Virginia University, Bluefield State University, Fairmont State University, Marshall University, or any other West Virginia institution of higher education to advocate your own rights. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now for our premier representation.
The Educational Challenge of Autism
The challenge of autism is like no other disability challenge when it comes to education. Autism seems, unfortunately, designed to make traditional West Virginia K-12 or college or university education as difficult as possible. Both the educational disability laws and the medical profession define autism by symptoms, each of which goes directly against the grain of traditional classroom education. Autism typically involves communication deficits when the classroom is all about constant communication. Autism also involves interaction resistance, especially face-to-face, when schools foster constant face-to-face interaction. Autism also involves reactions to changing stimuli, such as when school environments constantly change a student's instruction, classroom, and other settings and stimuli. Autism also involves early onset, meaning that autism sufferers typically struggle in school from preschool onward. We know autism's academic challenges. Let us help you or your West Virginia K-12 student overcome those challenges by enforcing educational disability rights.
West Virginia Autism Assistance Programs
West Virginia agencies and educators make strong commitments to providing your student's K-12 school teachers and administrators with special education training and technical assistance programs, including programs focused specifically on equipping teachers to serve autistic students. The West Virginia Department of Education maintains an Office of Special Education that the Department devotes to providing the special education training required under the federal IDEA law. The West Virginia Department of Education also maintains a Standards-Based Individualized Education Program (SB-IEP) to bring teachers and parents together to serve disabled students, including autistic students. The West Virginia Department of Education also supports and promotes West Virginia University's Center for Excellence in Disabilities, which promotes statewide autism resources. The West Virginia Department of Education also promulgates and enforces multiple policies on special education. Don't let your student's school officials complain of a lack of technical knowledge or special education resources.
Federal Laws on West Virginia Autism Services
The West Virginia Department of Education designs the above autism special education resources to comply with federal special education laws, triggering substantial federal special education funding. The West Virginia Department of Education's Office of Special Education expressly accepts responsibility for implementing federal special education laws within the state. The Office of Special Education acknowledges in the same breath that its federal compliance initiatives enable West Virginia to allocate substantial federal taxpayer funding to the state's local school districts to pay for special education services. We can help your autistic West Virginia K-12 student enforce the following federal laws through the West Virginia Department of Education's implementing regulations.
The IDEA Law and Autism in West Virginia K-12 Schools
The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the law that mandates that your autistic student's West Virginia K-12 school provide your student with an individualized education plan (IEP) for special education services. You probably know of the IEP process, especially if your autistic student already receives special education services. The IDEA law details IEP requirements for students with a qualifying disability. Your autistic student should not face substantial difficulty qualifying for an IEP because the IDEA law's Section 300.8(c)(1)(i) expressly includes autism as a qualifying disability. The IDEA law's autism definition tracks the medical criteria for autism diagnosis, including (1) early onset generally by preschool age, (2) interaction and communication deficits, (3) stereotypic repetitive movements, and (4) adverse reactions to stimuli changes. We can help you qualify your autistic student for IDEA law protections and services.
ADA Title II and Autism in West Virginia Schools
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a second law that protects your autistic West Virginia K-12 student. The ADA is an anti-discrimination law, not a special education law like the IDEA law. Title II of the ADA prohibits disability discrimination in education, not just in elementary and secondary schools, like the IDEA law, but also in higher education. Like the IDEA law, the ADA expressly includes autism in its definitions for qualifying disabilities. Your student's autism need only be sufficiently severe as to substantially limit your student's brain function. If you or your student qualify for ADA protection under that standard, then the school must reasonably accommodate the disability so as not to discriminate against the autistic student. Let us help you or your student enforce ADA rights at any West Virginia education level, along with IDEA law rights for West Virginia K-12 instruction.
West Virginia State Rules on K-12 Autism Services
Like many other states, West Virginia fulfills its IDEA law obligations to trigger federal special education funding, primarily through state agency administrative rules. The West Virginia legislature enacted West Virginia Code Section 18-20-1d, requiring that all state K-12 schools follow the IDEA law's IEP model. The West Virginia Department of Education used that statutory mandate to adopt a comprehensive Legislative Rule 126-16-1, accepting its statutory responsibility to enforce the federal IDEA law. The West Virginia Department of Education then adopted its Policy 2419 as an addendum to Legislative Rule 126-16-1, detailing those IDEA law requirements that the Department enforces at K-12 schools throughout the state. West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1 and its Policy 2419 include the following IDEA law requirements:
- Policy 2419 Chapter 1 requires West Virginia K-12 schools to provide free appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with autism or other qualifying disabilities;
- Policy 2419 Chapter 2 requires a Child Find program to train West Virginia K-12 teachers to identify students needing special education services, whether for autism or other disabilities;
- Policy 2419 Chapter 3 requires West Virginia K-12 schools to refer for evaluation those disabled students whom the Child Find program identifies as potentially in need of special education services;
- Policy 2419 Chapter 5 requires West Virginia K-12 schools to form an individualized education plan (IEP) team for students with autism or another qualifying disability;
- Policy 2419 Chapter 5, Section 2j, requires West Virginia K-12 schools to educate students with autism or another qualifying disability in the least restrictive environment; and
- Policy 2419 Chapter 10 requires West Virginia K-12 schools to supply procedural safeguards for parents disputing special education services.
West Virginia K-12 School Child Find Duty
The IDEA law's Section 300.111 and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 2, require your autistic student's West Virginia K-12 school to adopt a Child Find program. Child Find programs mean just what their name implies. Child Find programs train teachers to recognize autism and other disabilities based on their classroom observations. Teachers are in the best position to see a disability's impact on learning, even better than the parent because the teacher is in the classroom. That's why the IDEA law places the obligation on the teacher and school, not on you. Of course, you may notify the school of your student's autism and need for special education services. But if you fail to do so, your student still deserves the services because the onus is on the school.
West Virginia K-12 School Duty to Evaluate Autism
The IDEA law's Section 300.304 and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 3, require your autistic student's West Virginia K-12 school to be referred. The Child Find program identifies students with a suspected need for special education services. The IDEA law's referral requirement places the obligation on the school to have a qualified professional diagnose your student's autism. Of course, you may submit your professional's own diagnosis, but whether you do so or not, the school retains the legal duty to provide a qualified evaluation. We can help you enforce the school's evaluation duty.
Parental Consent to West Virginia Autism Evaluation
The IDEA law's Section 300.300 and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 3, Section 3, require your student's West Virginia K-12 school to get parental consent for the above disability evaluation. You have the right to grant or withhold consent to an evaluation. Why would you refuse evaluation? Your student might not need special education, might do better persevering without services, may do better without the embarrassment or distraction of a diagnosis and IEP, or may wish to preserve reputation and avoid labeling. Or you may disagree with the school's choice of evaluators or find the evaluation time, place, or terms to be burdensome or inappropriate. Your right to withhold consent can give you a bargaining chip to influence the school's choice of a qualified, independent, and unbiased evaluator, perhaps one whom you trust and prefer.
West Virginia K-12 Autism Second Opinions
The IDEA law's Section 1414 and West Virginia Administrative Code Rule 109.05.j require your autistic student's West Virginia K-12 school to reevaluate your student if you so request. Why would you request reevaluation? The initial evaluator may have misdiagnosed your student's autism, failed to recommend needed services, or otherwise exhibited bias or a conflict of interest, favoring the school over your student's needs and interests. Your student's autism may have changed. Or your student's instructional challenges may have changed, warranting a new evaluation recommending new or different services. We can help you enforce your student's reevaluation rights.
Parental Consent to West Virginia Autism Services
The IDEA law's Section 300.300 and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 5, Section 2, require your parental consent for special education services to your autistic student. Once again, why would you withhold consent to services? Your student might not need what the school wishes to provide, which could distract, burden, or embarrass your student or remove your student from the regular classroom. You may also prefer other services, such that withholding consent to the school's services may influence the school to adopt your choice. The point is that you control whether your student receives the services the school prefers. We can help you enforce that consent right.
Scope of West Virginia Autistic Student Services
The IDEA law's Section 1401(9) and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 1, determine the scope of special education services. Together, they require free appropriate public education (FAPE) for students with autism or another qualifying disability. The FAPE construct levels your autistic student's playing field, ensuring the school teachers and officials aim to educate your student to the same academic and behavioral standards for non-disabled students.
If, instead, your issue involves your own autism and the need for accommodation at your West Virginia college or university, then the ADA's Title II determines the scope of your available accommodations. The ADA requires schools to reasonably accommodate autism and other qualifying disabilities. ADA interpretations generally look at the availability, affordability, effectiveness, and disruptiveness of the requested services. ADA guidance also encourages a flexible, interactive process between the student and school to negotiate acceptable accommodations. We can help you strategically deploy these core constructs to obtain the specific special education services your West Virginia K-12 student needs or the reasonable accommodations you need in your West Virginia higher education.
Available West Virginia Autistic Student Services
Just what special education services your West Virginia K-12 autistic student actually receives may depend on how your student responds to the several different approaches to autism remediation. Autism remediation efforts often focus on either behavioral, social, instructional, environmental, or psychological approaches or a subtle mix of those measures. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is an empirically based approach that offers protocols to reward positive responses. Psychological approaches tend to offer counseling, psychotherapy, journaling, and similar self-learning or introspective measures. Social approaches tend to offer peer and adult modeling, coaching, mentoring, and similar support. Environmental approaches may modify classroom lighting, sound, or movement or provide eyewear or hearing protection, among other stimuli controls. Pharmacological approaches focus on medications and their adjustment. Your autistic student's West Virginia K-12 school may be able and willing to offer an effective mix of these approaches, depending on your student's needs and responses.
Your Autistic Student's West Virginia K-12 IEP
The IDEA law's Section 300.321 and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 5, require your student's West Virginia K-12 school to adopt an individualized education plan (IEP) for your student. The same laws and rules make you a member of the IEP team that develops and adopts your student's plan. Your student's school officials must also include your student's regular classroom teacher and special education teacher on the IEP team. You are also entitled to notice of IEP meetings to participate. Value your IEP rights. Your student's IEP is the legal document that we can help you enforce for your student's benefit. Ignore IEP team meetings only at your student's peril. If you are unable to attend a noticed IEP team meeting, request an adjournment and rescheduled the day and time.
West Virginia K-12 IEP Goals and Measures
The IDEA law's Section 300.320 and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 5, require your autistic student's IEP to include your student's autism diagnosis, the special education services the evaluator recommends, the services the IEP team adopts, and, most significantly, your student's academic and behavioral goals and objective measures for those goals. In practice, your student's IEP team may use a template to ensure the IEP includes all requirements. Make sure that your student's IEP goals match grade level and graduation standards if your student is capable of meeting those standards with special education services. Then, monitor your student's IEP goals and measures to ensure that your student is making satisfactory academic progress. If your student is not making adequate progress, then request an IEP team meeting to adjust the special education services. Hold the school accountable for helping your student reach your student's benchmarks for grade advancement and graduation. And let us help you enforce these IEP rights.
Warehousing West Virginia K-12 Autistic Students
You may have heard of the issue of warehousing autistic students and other disabled students. Before Congress passed the IDEA law, removing disabled students from the regular classroom to isolation rooms was a common practice. This warehousing of students enabled schools to instruct non-disabled students in the regular classroom without providing special education aides and services to disabled students who languished in the isolation room. Warehousing removes classroom stimuli, accountability, structured instruction, socialization, and other rewards. Warehousing can also embarrass and discourage the isolated student, who may lose out on critical instruction. Monitor your autistic student's special education services to ensure that the school is not unnecessarily removing your student from the classroom and thereby depriving your student of instruction and development opportunities. Your student may need periodic removal, but don't let removal be the solution when special education services could keep your student in the regular classroom.
Mainstreaming West Virginia K-12 Autistic Students
The IDEA law's Section 300.114 and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 5, Section 2j, require your autistic student's West Virginia K-12 school to instruct your student in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The LRE construct is Congress' solution to warehousing. The LRE construct basically requires schools to mainstream disabled students back into the regular classroom if special education services can keep them there without disrupting the instruction of other students. The temptation of schools can be to remove the autistic student from the regular classroom at the first sign of an issue, often without providing mandated or available special education services. Removal can save a school time, trouble, and expense. But it can also harm your student. Let us help you enforce the IDEA law's LRE construct to keep your student persevering with special education services in the regular classroom.
Procedures for West Virginia Autistic Student Services
The IDEA law's Section 300.504 and West Virginia Department of Education Legislative Rule 126-16-1, Policy 2419 Chapter 10 offer procedural safeguards for parents who have a dispute with the school over special education services. Procedural safeguards can include conciliation conferences, mediation, formal hearings at the district level, administrative appeals to the district or to a state agency, and civil court review in appropriate cases. We can help you invoke these and other procedural safeguards for your West Virginia K-12 autistic student's best benefit.
Premier West Virginia Autism Rights Enforcement
The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available across West Virginia to help you or your autistic K-12 student get appropriate disability accommodations and services that state and federal laws, rules, and regulations require. If you have already exhausted all procedural safeguards, we may be able to obtain alternative special relief through the school's general counsel's office. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to tell us about your autism spectrum disorder school issues.
