This session will explore the decision-writing process and how various considerations factor into the judge’s or hearing officer’s final decision. These considerations include the use of effective prehearing management strategies to frame the legal issues for hearing and decision, intentional choices made for purposes of readability and promoting audience access to content, and finally—the necessary elements of a complete decision.

This session will provide a systematic analysis of the current status of the competing adjudicative approaches for FAPE claims that are in the implementation, rather than procedural or substantive, category. The analysis explains each of the three competing approaches, along with the lead federal appeals court decision for each one – quantitative (Van Duyn), mixed (L.J.) and qualitative (Bobby R.). It also provides the applicable federal appellate and federal district court decisions for each approach on a circuit-by-circuit basis. Finally, as part of the welcome question-and-answer discussion, the analysis identifies the unsettled questions for which IDEA hearing officers can thoughtfully contribute to a more coherent and complete decisional framework in each jurisdiction, such as the relationship between these approaches for determining whether there is a denial of FAPE and, if there is, the applicable approach for calculating the remedy of compensatory education.

Dyslexia, a specific learning disability affecting reading and spelling, has spurred significant legislative action across the United States, with 49 states enacting dyslexia-related laws in the past decade. This presentation will begin with an overview of dyslexia, explaining its educational challenges and how it affects students. It will then explore the landscape of dyslexia laws at both the state and federal levels. A case study of Connecticut will highlight the intersection of dyslexia and reading laws, while the session will conclude by examining the unintended and intended consequences of these laws, particularly in relation to special education dispute resolution.

Who is a parent under the IDEA? What happens when married parents disagree? What happens when divorced parents disagree? What happens to children being raised by a grandparent or other individual but with parental rights still intact? These are some of the many questions we will explore as we dive into some of the complicated family law questions that impact our cases.

This session will discuss the obligation imposed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide related services to students with disabilities. The session will begin with a brief review of the statutory background and fundamental cases, then go into recent caselaw and ongoing controversies. The session will discuss the relationship between the duty to educate in the least restrictive environment and the need to provide related services to make less restrictive placements successful. It will also take up remedies for failure to furnish related services.