Early Years and Initial Placement
A family came to us when their son was ready to start kindergarten in a Maryland public school. They had questions about the process for determining where their child should attend school. The student had a profile of significant cognitive disability, but he was well liked and easy to have in a classroom. The school system’s inclination was to place him in a general education classroom.
The parents agreed with this plan. Like many families, they believed their son would benefit from exposure to non-disabled peers. The least restrictive environment principles of IDEA support educating students alongside their non-disabled peers when appropriate. In this case, placement in the neighborhood school also allowed the student to attend the same school as his siblings, which was a definite benefit for the family.
The law firm of Joseph and Rabb had been involved from the beginning. We connected the family with an experienced psychologist evaluator who assessed the child when he was young and established a baseline understanding of his needs and abilities.
Success in First and Second Grade
The student entered first grade at his neighborhood elementary school and did very well. He was not performing at the same academic level as his classmates, but the school provided pullout services that worked with him on specific academic skills. This arrangement worked well for a couple of years. Our firm strategized with the family while turning day-to-day IEP and school communication to a highly experienced special education consultant who managed routine matters during this period.
When the General Education Setting No Longer Fit
As the student got older, it became clear that he was not understanding what was happening in the general education classroom. The school team and family worked well together, and the family was appreciative of everything the school staff did to support their child. However, by third grade, the student was not benefiting from general education instruction because he could not access the content. He had significant adult support in the classroom, but he simply was not able to complete or truly understand the work.
The peer interactions also proved less meaningful than hoped. His general education peers were kind to him and tried to include him, but he did not really understand their games. Developmentally, he was not in the same place as his classmates. The social benefits of inclusion were not materializing in the way they had in earlier years.
The parents also recognized that there were certain skills their son needed to learn that there was not time to address during the general education school day. These included functional skills like reading words on signs to keep him safe, such as the word “exit,” and other life skills that would allow him to navigate his environment independently.
School Staff Constraints and Attorney Involvement
The school staff who worked with the child daily cared about him a great deal. However, they felt restrained by unofficial school system “policies” and pressures in what they could say during IEP meetings. They had concerns about whether the general education placement was still appropriate, but they did not feel empowered to recommend a change except privately among themselves and even in confidence to the parents.
When it became time for the family to consider requesting a change of placement, our attorneys began attending IEP meetings directly. We had been involved in strategizing throughout, but this was the point where legal advocacy was needed to negotiate an IEP that would fully support the child’s needs as an upper elementary student.
We leveraged our relationships with the district’s office of special education to raise concerns about ensuring the IEP team respected the classroom teachers’ professional opinions. The staff needed support to express their true assessments without fear of contradicting system preferences. We made clear that allowing a child to remain in a setting simply because he was loved in that building was not sufficient. His educational needs deserved proper consideration.
A New Placement and Renewed Progress
After extensive communication with the office of special education and ensuring staff felt supported in expressing their professional judgments, we were able to make significant changes to the IEP. The plan was revised to provide substantially more support and to place the student in a specialized classroom designed for students with his profile.
The specialized classroom addressed the skills he actually needed to learn. Academic instruction focused on functional skills that would help him stay safe and navigate the world. The setting also allowed for social interactions with peers who had similar interests and abilities, giving him the opportunity to develop friendships that were developmentally appropriate.
The new team grew to love this student just as the previous team had. The parents were relieved and happy with the outcome. Their son was finally receiving an education he could truly benefit from, in a setting that matched his needs rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to inclusion.
About the author
Nicole Joseph is a special education attorney at The Law Offices of Joseph & Rabb. She has spent 22 years advocating for children with disabilities, first representing hundreds of children at Disability Rights Maryland and now in private practice. Her work includes placement and least restrictive environment disputes, where the question is not whether a child is welcome in a classroom but whether that classroom can actually teach them. She is also a parent who has been through the special education process.
About The Law Offices of Joseph & Rabb
The attorneys of the Law Offices of Joseph & Rabb have represented Maryland students and families for more than twenty years. In addition to the hundreds of children we have represented, our attorneys helped write school discipline regulations used across the state, consulted on the Ready to Read Act which ensures that young children in Maryland are screened for reading concerns, have served as members of the boards of educational nonprofits, and are members of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. Every one of us has also been a parent navigating this system.