Know Your Rights ! ! !

by: Jo Ann Lense, csw

Budget cuts, welfare reform, corporate and institutional downsizing. The academic and work environment we've become accustomed to is disappearing before our very eyes. Okay, now let's focus this conversation. You are a parent who has a child in elementary school, junior high school., high school , maybe even college and your child is in need of special services because of their learning disability/difference (LD) or attention deficit disorder (ADD). Good luck having their academic or psychological needs meet in this day of shrinking academic and social services. What you must become aware of is that the academic institution your child, adolescent, or young adult attend must meet your child's academic needs. How you ask, when you ask, why you ask. The answer comes in two parts. First, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act which was incorporated into Law (Public Law 94 - 142) in 1975. and second, the Americans with Disabilities Act which was signed into Law. July 26. 1990.

The Rehabilitation Act of t973, Public Law 94 - 142 academically protects all individuals between the ages of three (3) and twenty-one (21). This legislation states that the school system has to provide appropriate remedial services and reasonable accommodations to students who are either learning disabled (LD) or who have an attention deficit disorder (ADD). Students who have, or are thought to have, learning disabilities or ADD can be referred for a full psycho - educational evaluation which usually has four major components: (1) family, developmental, and educational histories; (2) intellectual assessment (1.Q.'s); (3) academic assessment including reading, writing, and math; and (4) assessment of underlying processing strengths and weaknesses such as verbal memory, visual-motor integration, sequencing, and so on. The school should be monetarily responsible for psycho-educational testing. Remember, fight for you and your child's rights ! ! !

After the student has been psycho educationally evaluated, which assesses the students academic strengths and weaknesses, reasonable accommodations must be made by the academic institution. Noted below are several reasonable modifications that elementary, secondary , and post-secondary (which is supported by Section 504 (Public Law 93.112) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) , schools must provide their students with LD or ADD with a fair , inclusive, and appropriate education.

1. Extending time allowed to complete an assignment or program.
2. Adapting the method of instruction, tutors, proctors during examinations.
3. Substituting one course for another required course.
4. Modifying or waiving foreign language requirements.
5. Providing double time on all exams, including PSAT's, SAT's; Regent's Exams; etc ...
6. Modification of examination procedures in order to appropriately measure the student's integration of learned material without contamination from the areas of deficit.

For the those over twenty-one years of age, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Public Law 101 -336 protects you in the academic and vocational/employment arena. As stated by the Taskforce on the Implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) "the ADA is the most comprehensive federal law ever enacted addressing the civil rights of person with disabilities. Generally, the ADA prohibits employers, organizations, and businesses from excluding people from jobs, services, leisure activities and benefits because of a disability.

Know your rights, fight for your rights, protect your rights and utilize your rights ... The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA were written for you ! ! !