Special Education

Young student excited sitting on a carpet in a classroom
  • DRM’s Education Team’s Live Q&A Sessions (2020-Present): Disability Rights Maryland’s Education Team began hosting live Q&A sessions to help parents and families understand their children’s rights to special education services amid COVID-19. Click to watch past sessions on our YouTube channel.
 

Handbooks, Parent Guides, and Know Your Rights Materials

  1. Special Education Rights: A Handbook for Maryland Families and Professionals – 13th Edition (2020): A 58-page handbook designed as a guide for helping families navigate the special education system and IEP process. Includes sample forms and letters.
  2. The School Discipline Process: A Handbook for Maryland Families and Professionals (2017): a 44-page handbook about the school discipline process for all students, especially those with disabilities.
  3. Know Your Child’s Rights: A Guide to the Suspension & Expulsion Rights of Your Child in Maryland (June 2020)
  4. Know Your Rights: Interacting with Police in Schools (November 2017)
  5. Know Your Rights: Student Suspension Rights in Maryland (September 2016)
  6. In the Name of Treatment: A Parent’s Guide to Protecting Your Child From the Use of Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusions. This 18-page handbook produced by the Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion (APRAIS) can be downloaded here.
  7. Know Your Rights: Meaningful Progress (2021): How do I know if my child is making meaningful progress? (Guide #8) 
  8. Know Your Rights: School Discipline (2021): A brief guide for parents of children with disabilities who are receiving special education amid COVID-19 (Guide #7) 
  9. Extended School Year Services(2021): What are extended school year (ESY) services? (Guide #6)
  10. Compensatory Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic(2021): A brief guide for parents of children with disabilities who are receiving special education amid COVID-19 (Guide #5).
  11. Special Transition Planning and Special Education Services for Students Exiting School(2021): A brief guide for parents of children with disabilities who are receiving special education amid COVID-19 (Guide #4)
  12. Special Communication with the IEP Team and Data Collection During the Pandemic (2021): A brief guide for parents of children with disabilities who are receiving special education amid COVID-19 (Guide #3)
  13. Special Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic(2020): A brief guide for parents of children with disabilities who are receiving special education amid COVID-19 (Guide #2).
  14. IEP Modification/Amendment or Individualized Continuity of Learning Plans: Preserving The Rights You and Your Child Have Under the Law(2020): A brief guide for parents of children with disabilities who are receiving special education amid COVID-19 (Guide #1).
  15. Disability Rights Maryland and Parent’s Place of Maryland Collaborative Guide to Special Education for Maryland Parents and Families(2021)
  16. Virtual Services Parent Guide (2023)

 

Additional Resources

  1. State Special Education [IDEA] Complaint Toolkit by The Parents’
    Place of Maryland (2023)
  2. Sample Maryland State Department of Education Complaint – Staff Shortages (2021)
  3. DRM’s Systemic Compensatory Education Complaint(2021)
  4. Sample Maryland State Department of Education IDEA Complaint (2021)
  5. Sample Behavioral Observation Log(2021)
  6. Changes in Maryland Law Regarding Parental Consent in the IEP Process(2017): A two-page fact sheet explaining the new rights that parents have in the special education process regarding decisions about alternate assessments, certificates of program completion, placement in non-credit bearing programs, and restraint/seclusion.
    1. Related:Maryland State Technical Assistance Bulletin
  7. Together Beyond the School Day: Tips for Parents and Caregivers (August 2016)
  8. Out of School Time (OST) Information Booklet (August 2012)
  9. Obtaining Special Education Services for Children with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)(January 2011)
  10. Chronology of the Vaughn G. special education lawsuit against Baltimore City Public Schools: This document sets out the history of the case from 1988 to 2008.
  11. Extended School Year Services: An advocate’s guide to the legal issues involved in obtaining ESY services for school-aged children. This 28-page outline was developed with a grant from, and posted with the permission of, the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Services (now known as the National Disability Rights Network).