The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) is issuing this guidance to provide charter schools, States, State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), other public agencies, parents, and other stakeholders with information regarding the rights of children with disabilities attending charter schools and their parents under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA or Act).
This document is designed to help parents, students, and the charter school community better understand the rights of students with disabilities under Federal disability-related laws. This includes information about Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
This section from the Training Manual: Collaborative Problem Solving and Dispute Resolution in Special Education, focuses on communication skills which are essential for effective collaboration, including collaborating with parents and families within the development and implementation of high-quality educational programming. This section of the training manual covers types of communication, receiving information, sharing information, and barriers to effective communication.
A Tale of Two Conversations is a two-part video, originally developed by the Office for Dispute Resolution in Pennsylvania, showing actors playing a parent of a child with a disability and a school administrator. The meeting was requested by the parent and takes place in the administrator’s office. Take One shows the parent and administrator talking about the child’s special education program. They are talking, but not listening. Their communication is unproductive.
This brochure offers specific communication skills that may be helpful to parents as they develop and maintain partnerships with their child's school. This document was originally published in May 2004 and developed in partnership with the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY). This resource is available in multiple languages
In this multi-part webinar from the Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE) presenters Lorig Charkoudian, Ph.D. and Erricka Bridgeford of Community Mediation Maryland introduced participants to the concepts and strategies of Inclusive Listening, a system for listening and reflecting for mediation and facilitation. Inclusive Listening has been developed over the last 15 years by mediators and trainers in Maryland. Inclusive listening honors participants' experiences, supporting them to have the conversation in an authentic way.
This module, Parents: Supporting Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic, from the IRIS Center offers tips to support your child’s learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Working Together Series from CADRE includes five interactive self-directed courses that provide families and educators with strategies for working together and through conflict. Anyone supporting children or youth with disabilities may benefit from this series, however; the setting in which collaborative problem solving and conflict resolution takes place within this series is typically the school or IEP meeting. Facilitation materials are also available.
This webpage from the Center for Parent Information & Resources is available in both English and Spanish. It can help families of students with disabilities to learn about special education, how special education services can support your child, and how parents can be an effective partner with your child’s school.