Abstract
The authors were honored to participate in a panel on “Understanding the IEP” at the Richmond Public Interest Law Review’s Symposium on October 27, 2023. The recommendations and strategies in this article are rooted in decades of combined experience and anecdotal observations from two special education attorneys and three special education advocates who serve Virginia’s children and families and help to develop appropriate Individualized Education Programs (“IEPs”) pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”). Recent criticism of Virginia’s system of special education and related services by state and federal agencies has laid bare deep-seated inconsistencies in how schools in the Commonwealth identify, evaluate, and serve students with disabilities. Moreover, inadequate guidance from the Virginia Department of Education (“VDOE”) about the IEP development process has left both schools and parents confused and frequently at odds. In this article, the authors outline the history of the IDEA, in the context of the Civil Rights Movement, to meet the educational needs of students with disabilities. The authors then lay out the fundamental elements of an IEP; identify the central deficits in Virginia’s system of special education and related services and their impact on the development of IEPs; provide practical guidance for attorneys and advocates using vignettes based on authentic encounters in the field; and offer suggestions for how various processes related to IEPs can be improved in the Commonwealth.
Recommended Citation
Hank Bostwick, Courtney Pugh, LaTonya Slade, Sara Platenberg & Melissa Waugh,
The Challenges of Meeting the Needs of Virginia Students with Disabilities Through Individualized Education Programs,
27
Rich. Pub. Int. L. Rev.
269
(2024).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/pilr/vol27/iss2/10