Law Commons^™

The Learning Disability Mess, Ruth Colker

Ruth Colker

This essay explores the problems that have plagued society since 1975 when Congress first tried to define what is a “learning disability.” The statement that “No one really knows what a learning disability is” rings as true today as in 1975. Rather than solve this problem with an improved classification scheme, Professor Colker recommends that schools, testing entities and the federal government should place less weight on which students are classified as “learning disabled.” Plodders University should become the norm, where students are admitted based, in part, on their scores on exams taken under extended time conditions.

Settling Idea Cases: Making Up Is Hard To Do, Mark Weber

College of Law Faculty

Like most other legal disputes, most cases brought under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) settle. But although IDEA, the federal law governing special education, was enacted a generation ago, litigants still lack guidance how the mechanisms of settlement should work, what the settlement agreement should look like, and what to do if one side of the dispute fails to live up to its agreement. Settling an IDEA case entails unique issues—and unique pitfalls—that make the topic even more challenging than the settlement of other cases. IDEA has a mediation provision with extensive requirements and a one-of-a-kind prehearing settlement …

Introduction To Symposium On Reconstructing Education In New Orleans Post-Katrina, Robert A. Garda Jr.

Robert A. Garda

No abstract provided.

Settling Idea Cases: Making Up Is Hard To Do, Mark C. Weber

Mark C. Weber

Like most other legal disputes, most cases brought under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) settle. But although IDEA, the federal law governing special education, was enacted a generation ago, litigants still lack guidance how the mechanisms of settlement should work, what the settlement agreement should look like, and what to do if one side of the dispute fails to live up to its agreement. Settling an IDEA case entails unique issues—and unique pitfalls—that make the topic even more challenging than the settlement of other cases. IDEA has a mediation provision with extensive requirements and a one-of-a-kind prehearing settlement …

Shutting Off The School-To-Prison Pipeline For Status Offenders With Education-Related Disabilities, Joseph B. Tulman, Douglas M. Weck

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Autism In The Us: Social Movement And Legal Change, Daniela Caruso

Faculty Scholarship

The social movement surrounding autism in the US has been rightly defined a ray of light in the history of social progress. The movement is inspired by a true understanding of neuro-diversity and is capable of bringing about desirable change in political discourse. At several points along the way, however, the legal reforms prompted by the autism movement have been grafted onto preexisting patterns of inequality in the allocation of welfare, education, and medical services. In a context most recently complicated by economic recession, autism-driven change bears the mark of political contingency and legal fragmentation. Distributively, it yields ambivalent results …

Decriminalizing Students With Disabilities, Dean Hill Rivkin

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Equitable And Adequate Funding For Special Needs Children In Louisiana, Robert A. Garda Jr.

Robert A. Garda

Comprehensive and coordinated special education remains a major problem across public schools in Louisiana. One issue arises due to the fact that special education money in some districts is allotted at the district level instead of following students to the schools they attend, resulting in inconsistent support for schools serving students with multiple types of disabilities. Money is not allocated based on student needs and the neediest students do not receive the services the funding is intended to provide.

Louisiana Appleseed and the Louisiana Bar Foundation have recruited volunteer attorneys to: (1) research Louisiana Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) formulas and …