It shows how far I have come in the world of special education to understand how huge this new U.S. Supreme Court ruling is.
I had no idea until relatively recently how much some parents of kids
with disabilities have to battle to receive appropriate services for
their children within the public school system. But until you're in
that world, there's just no way to know.
In
this case, parents Jeff
and Sandee Winkelman believed their son Jacob, who has autism, would
benefit from placement in a private school that specialized in autism.
Instead, the school district placed Jacob in a public school. Under the
U.S. Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, children have the right to receive a "free, appropriate
public school education". The key word there is "appropriate", as often
what the school district determines is "enough" for a child is a far
cry from what the parents, who know the child best, feel should be
provided. Jacob ended up going to the private school anyway, to the
tune of more than $50,000. They could not even afford a lawyer to
represent them to fight for what they believed Jacob needed.
The new ruling allows parents to sue their districts without a
lawyer, thus keeping the costs down of fighting for their children's
rights. While I certainly am not an advocate for the increasing
litigiousness prevalent in our society today, I certainly am in favor
of protecting the rights of children who really need the extra help. I
have yet to really need to go to bat for my son Eric,who's three, has
Down syndrome, and attends a public special-education preschool, but
you can bet that when and if I feel he needs more than the school
district is willing to provide, I'll be grateful, as many parents
already are, for any help I can get.
