Zirkel and new link

[ajasfolks2]

Want to put this here until I can find it already posted and other discussion.

Cannot recall if we've got this here --

http://spedsolutionsgroup.com/resources/Zirkel-McGuire_Article_in_JSEL.pdf

[guess]

This publication is 2010. In 2014 we are in a post-Tustin world where Ninth Court opinion held the IDEA need not be exhausted before 504/ADA claims are made. SCOTUS denied the petition for writ of cert so the Ninth court decision stands. Having said that one would probably need to point this out to officials because it's new.

While the Zirkel paper does a great job of outlining the processes for dispute it doesn't seem to detail the process of eligibility and the sort of testing or additional medical that might be required in order to show eligibility for the IDEA, at least for the school. You'll notice he farmed out the developmental disability to the IDEA example, and anaphylaxis as a physical disability protected by civil rights law for equal access. In these examples the first child has a special education placement (not meaning an actual place per se), whereas sister under 504 is general education with modifications for access.

I'm not 100% sure but to my knowledge 504 would not address any issue of placement but would address LRE meaning general education. Child #1 going through the IDEA eligibility is most likely going through a battery of adaptive tests, potential or likely IEE, FBA, BIP, speech, motor function and may have a placement of something like 40-60% general education with typical peers, an aide hopefully with the appropriate training to support the child's diagnosis.

Know going in that the number of days a school can take to evaluate is typically a more lengthy process than 504. At the end if you disagree with placement, which you may, the whole process starts over again. She ain't built for speed, Captain.

Consider also if the violation is equal access it's still going to be a 504/ADA process meaning get good at excising and cogently drafting a complaint that whoever at OCR will be reading it will not assume you're filing an IDEA-based complaint.