Guides: Education and Disability Clinic: Resources: Home

Secondary Sources and Practice Guides

Use these resources to get an overview of special education law and specific legal issues your clients may have. Some contain detailed step-by-step guidance and sample letters for parents and attorneys.

Special Education Law in a Nutshell by Ruth Colker
Call Number: West Academic ebook and at LRC Reference Reserve Materials (KF4209.3 .C66 2018)
ISBN: 1683285891
Publication Date: 2017-10-31
This Nutshell presents a very timely overview of legal topics relating to special education services for students in K-12 education. Topics covered include: historical background, Section 504 coverage, IDEA coverage, child find, evaluations, IEPs, disciplinary issues, due process hearings, and state administrative complaints. The chapters include model forms, sample evaluations and IEPs. It also includes discussion of the Supreme Court's two recent decisions from the 2016-17 term. Finally, it provides examples from a variety of state practices to give the reader an excellent sense of the interaction between state and federal regulations in this complex area of the law.
A Guide to Special Education Advocacy: What Parents, Clinicians, and Advocates Need to Know (E-book)
Call Number: Copley Internet - KF4209.3 .C64 2009eb
An electronic book downloadable by USD users. Includes an appendix with sample letters that parents may use when requesting due process hearings, records, and evaluations, or when placing a child unilaterally into a private school.

Special Ed Connection
Access to SpecialEdConnection.com® is strictly limited to subscribers authorized by LRP Publications, Inc. with valid access credentials and subject to the terms of such subscriber's license agreement.

Special Education Law by Laura F. Rothstein; Scott F. Johnson
Call Number: LRC Reading Room KF4210 .R68 2014
ISBN: 9781452241098
Publication Date: 2013
Special Education Law and Litigation Treatise
Call Number: LRC Clinic KF4210 .W4 2017
Analyzes and defines key elements of special education law in language appropriate for both lawyers and non-lawyers. Available for use only in the legal clinic.
Special Education Law Case Studies by David F. Bateman
Call Number: KF4209.3 .B374 2019
ISBN: 9781475837674
Publication Date: 2019-01-12
Tremendous changes have occurred over the past decade in the provision of services to students with disabilities. Federal mandates continue to define requirements for a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of lawsuits filed against school districts regarding the provision of educational services for students with disabilities. Case studies are a helpful way to understand these difficult issues. The case studies presented here are actual students eligible for special education and related services. The case studies are represented not to tell districts and parents that this is the only way questions about special education law can be answered, but to provide likely answers along with commentary for analysis. The cases were developed to help new (and experienced) special education leaders and supervisors survive the pressures of working with students with disabilities while working to provide appropriate services and prevent litigation.

Approaching Education and Disability Clinic Research

Resources for the clinic are different than those used in Legal Writing and Research. In addition to statutes and caselaw, you will need to use administrative law sources.

Federal and state regulations

CFR and Federal Register
California Code of Regulations and Notice Register

Agency policy materials and decisions

U.S. Department of Education
- Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
- Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
California Department of Education, Special Education Division
- Website includes California-specific resources and information
- Searchable special education administrative hearing decisions from 1993-2005
Office of Administrative Hearings, Special Education Division
- Searchable special education administrative hearing decisions from 2005-present
California Department of Disability Services (DDS)
- Includes information about Early Start and Regional Centers

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