Examples of Community Resource Centers

• Northern Virginia Training Center's Regional Community Support Center, Fairfax, VA
• Regional Evaluation and Assessment for Community Habilitation (REACH) Clinic, Hogan Regional Center, Hathorne, MA
• University of Louisville School of Dentistry / Hazelwood Center’s Developmental Dentistry Program,  Louisville, KY
• Hazelwood Campus / Medical Clinic and Homes, Louisville, KY
• Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Medicine’s Developmental Medicine Program, New Brunswick, NJ
• Fircrest Residential Habilitation Center, Shoreline, WA
• Tachachale Dental Clinic, Gainesville, FL
• Higginsville Habilitation Center, Higginsville, MO

The Microboard Alternative

It is difficult to believe that a father with a 28-year record of active advocacy for the choice of facility-based care and adamant objection to community placement for his daughter with profound/severe intellectual disabilities would voluntarily remove his daughter with cerebral palsy from a state run facility where he was president of the parents’ association and place her in a community home.

Yet, Bill Haas, the former chair of VOR’s State Coordinator Committee and principal author of the VOR manual detailing how to effectively challenge forced community placement has in fact done just that.

The desire to find a permanent alternative to a state run facility that would permit his family to direct and control his daughter's care brought Bill Haas to consider the Microboard program. Like many community homes for people with mental retardation or developmental disabilities, the Microboard is paid with Medicaid dollars.

To read more about the Microboard model and how it is working for his daughter, Bridget, click here.

Special education web resources

Wrightslaw
Parents, advocates, educators, and attorneys come to Wrightslaw for accurate, up-to-date information about special education law and advocacy for children with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. You will find articles, cases, newsletters, and special education resources about dozens of topics in the Advocacy Libraries and Law Libraries. Wrightslaw is ranked #1 in education law, special education law and special education advocacy.

IDEA Statutes and Regulations

Does Full Inclusion Violate Federal Law?

Author:  Bev Johns

We face an increasing problem of a local school or school district adopting
a philosophy of "full inclusion".  For the following reasons "full
inclusion" violates Federal law and Federal regulations, despite some
school administrators saying all students with disabilities have the
"right" to full inclusion in the regular classroom.

Special Ed Demand Grows

Schools grapple with degree to which they're responsible for social, as well as academic, skills

By Sara B. Miller | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, August 24, 2004

She was a bright 9-year-old with a high IQ and a flair for creative writing. When she grew anxious and refused to do homework, her parents and school were at a loss. No one considered it a learning disability, until sixth grade when she tried to commit suicide. She was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological disorder that can interfere with basic social skills.

Still, looking at her academic record, officials in her Maine school district said that while she needed extra support, they saw no reason to place the girl - known as L.I. in court documents - in special education. After all, she'd been able to learn despite her difficulties.

But her parents disagreed with the decision, and have filed a civil rights suit in federal court in Maine.

Focus on Special Education

VOR's February 20, 2004 edition of the Weekly E-Mail Updated focused on Special Education. Offered was a collection of articles and other resources for families of children with special needs. Specifically,

1. About this issue: Special Education
2. VOR Position on Special Education: Choices for a lifetime; Options for all
3. Laws and Special Education
4. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
5. Does "Full Inclusion" Violate Federal Law?
6. Don't Take Sides on Inclusion
7. No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
8. NCLB Analogy: No Dentist Left Behind
9. Against full inclusion: Special Ed Suit Is Filed in Orange County (excerpts)
10. Case for inclusion: Chicago's schools warned on special ed (excerpts)