Individuals who serve as surrogate parents fulfill an important role in the life of a child with a disability. Surrogates have become increasingly important in special education because a growing number of children are living outside their family for some period of their lives. Like parents, surrogates of children with disabilities are granted a…

Every child is unique and learns in different ways. Some children are identified as needing special education services to support his or her learning at school. Parents can play a major role in shaping the services a child receives. This guidebook has been written for parents, guardians, and surrogate parents of a child (ages 3 to 21 or…

In this Information Research Cadre, Teresa Blythe responds to the following research question: For those states that have residential schools for the Blind/VI and Deaf/HI students, have they developed policies and procedures for residential placement of these students? To develop this response Blythe conducted web research utilizing numerous…

This toolkit was created to make transition planning easier and offers easy-to-understand information about the purpose of transition planning, the goal and importance of age-appropriate assessments, and the required rules that are used by schools. It also includes information on the community partners that can provide youth with supports as…

Investigating programs and full-time personnel which provide special needs services at the postsecondary level in Minnesota Area Vocational-Technical Institutes (AVTIs), a study assessed variability in practitioner use of individual student diagnostic information and prescriptive services in individualized education program (IEP) development and…

This booklet is intended to facilitate the full participation of Minnesota parents of children with disabilities in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. The booklet begins with a brief discussion of what an IEP is and why it is needed. The guide then presents a copy of Minnesota's IEP form, with the form sections on the left hand…

This booklet is intended to facilitate the full participation of Minnesota parents of children with disabilities in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. The booklet begins with a brief discussion of what an IEP is, when IEPs must be in effect, IEP meetings, the IEP team, and parent participation. It next stresses the necessity of…

This booklet summarizes the rights and responsibilities of Minnesota parents of children with disabilities and offers guidelines on how best to advocate for their child. Introductory material briefly describes the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) Center and its programs. The booklet then summarizes federal court decisions,…

This document is the report of one phase of a Minnesota study to examine the problem of misrepresentation and overrepresentation of African American, American Indian, and Latino students in special education. Phase 2 of the study involved seven focus groups comprised of minority parents throughout rural and urban areas of Minnesota. Focus groups…