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One of the most important rights parents have and should know. Your child's placement can remain the same until you and the school come to an agreement.

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The "stay put" provision is one of the most important legal rights in special education law.

"Stay put" rights apply when you dispute a change the school wants to make to your child's IEP.

When you invoke this right, your child's current placement can remain the same until you and the school resolve the dispute.

If your child is receiving special education and related services , you have important legal rights. One of these rights is the "stay put" provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

This right comes into play when you disagree with (or "dispute") a change the school district wants to make in your child's educational placement . The term "placement" means more than simply a location. It includes the services set forth in the IEP , such as occupational therapy or counseling.

If you dispute a proposed change to your child's placement, the "stay put" provision allows your child to do just that- stay put. Your child will continue to get the same amount of services while you and the school complete a process.

Most of the time, parents and schools work together to make decisions about a child's education. But disagreements sometimes arise. Maybe the school wants to reduce or eliminate services. Or maybe they want to move a child from a general education class to a more restrictive environment.

If you want your child to "stay put" while you dispute a proposed change to the IEP, here's what you need to know.

Avoid COVID Slide with tips and tools designed to help your child return to the classroom.

To use your "stay put" rights, you must take action quickly.

Parents generally must invoke their "stay put" rights before a change occurs. Federal law requires the school to send you prior written notice of the proposed change. When you receive the notice, you need to take action to show that you're disputing the change. For example, you might file a due process complaint or request mediation.

Keep in mind some states have more protective "stay put" laws. In these states, "stay put" may go into effect automatically, without any action on your part. In other states, you can invoke "stay put" rights without filing a formal complaint. Check with your Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) for your state's specific rules.

The school must follow the "stay put" rule until your dispute is resolved.

If you ask for a due process hearing , it might take months before a hearing officer decides your case and any appeals process is completed. During that time, the school can't change your child's IEP. It must stay put until the case is resolved.

The school can move your child for up to 45 school days (even if you disagree with the move) if the current placement is likely to result in injury to your child or others. For example, if your child was dealing drugs or carrying a weapon, the school can make the change temporarily.

During those 45 school days, the school is required to provide services to address the child's behavioral problems.

There are a number of ways to resolve disputes.

"Stay put" rights protect your child if the school wants to change your child's educational placement (which includes services included in an IEP).

Asserting this right ensures that your child continues to get the same amount of services while you and the school resolve a dispute.

To use your "stay put" rights, you need to act within 15 days of being told about a proposed change.

About the Author

About the Author

Andrew M.I. Lee, JD

is an editor and former attorney who strives to help people understand complex legal, education, and parenting issues.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Bob Cunningham, EdM

serves as executive director of learning development at Understood.

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"Stay Put" Rights: What They Are and How They Work

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The "stay put" provision is one of the most important legal rights in special education law. "Stay put" rights apply when you dispute a change the school wants to make to your child's IEP. When you invoke this right, your child's current placement can remain the same until you and the school resolve the dispute.

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Information about Special Education law and advocacy for children with disabilities.

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individuals with disabilities education act. free appropriate public education

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Wrightslaw is the leading website about special education law and advocacy, offering free access to thousands of articles, cases, resources about special education topics, books by Peter Wright and Pamela Wright, and special education law and advocacy training.

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A place where parents can find books to read, search, comment and buy books on their child's specific needs.

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Family friendly information and materials for parent centers

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An organization that promotes partnerships with families of children with special needs in order to improve healthcare and policies for children.

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Family Voices is a national family-led organization of families and friends of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) and disabilities. We connect a network of family organizations across the United States that provide support to families of CYSHCN. We promote partnership with families at all levels of health care-individual and policy decision-making levels-in order to improve health care services and policies for children.

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Family Voices is a national grassroots network organization of families and friends of children and youth with special health care needs and disabilities, promoting partnership with families-including those of cultural, linguistic and geographic diversity-in order to improve healthcare services and policies for children.

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Federation for Students with Special Needs

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Federation for Students with Special Needs

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Provides information support and assistance to parents of children with disabilities, professional partners and their communities

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NEWS UPDATES:

Adapting to Change - Letter from our Executive Director

The theme of this newsletter is Adapting to Change, and you can read about all the ways the Federation has adapted to our current world while remaining true to the vision of our founders. While our mission remains as important as ever, we constantly are looking for new ways to ensure that all children have the opportunities to reach their potential. Some of the new offerings you will see from the Federation include Mindful Mondays for educators to take a moment of self-care; monthly Family Connections in English and Spanish for parents and caregivers to have time to talk with each other. MassPac Monday, Wellness Wednesday and Focus Fridays - our twice weekly Facebook Live events to offer timely information, advice and regional meetings and educational forums to support families of children with special health needs.
Read this article and more in the Newsline Fall 2020 Edition
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Parent Consultant Training Institute Update!

Interested in participating in our next remote Parent Consultant Training Institute (PCTI)? Click on this link to complete our PCTI interest survey to receive information about Winter 2021 course dates and times!

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Stream the Rising to the Challenge 2020 Gala

The Federation for Children with Special Needs thanks you for a magical evening at the Rise to the Challenge gala. The event was our very first virtual gala and was livestreamed on FCSN's Facebook and YouTube channels.

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Save the Date: Visions of Community 2021 Conference

Save the Date and Join us virtually for the 18 th Annual Visions of Community 2021 Conference on March 6, 2021. This is a conference for Families of Children with Special Needs and the Professionals Who Serve Them. Exhibit Hall to feature vendors and service providers from across the commonwealth. Visit VOC Page HERE

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The theme of this newsletter is Adapting to Change, and you can read about all the ways the Federation has adapted to our current world while remaining true to the vision of our founders. While our mission remains as important as ever, we constantly are looking for new ways to ensure that all children have the opportunities to reach their potential.

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Provides national leadership and opportunities for individuals with disabilities, to develop independence, confidence and fitness through community sports, competition and educational programs.

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Our Mission and Vision

Move United's mission is to provide national leadership and opportunities for individuals with disabilities to develop independence, confidence, and fitness through participation in community sports, competition, recreation, high performance sport and educational programs.

Every day, we work hard to pursue our vision that "every person, regardless of ability, has an equal opportunity to participate in sports and recreation in their community."

Our Purpose

Since 1956, Move United has focused on one goal: To improve the lives of wounded warriors, youth and adults with disabilities by providing sports and recreation opportunities.

Disabilities include those with visual impairments, amputations, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, head injury, cerebral palsy, other neuromuscular/orthopedic conditions, autism and related intellectual disabilities.

These sports opportunities transform the people we serve, highlighting the potential in each of us, embodied in our motto: "If I can do this, I can do anything!"

Our Strength

Our unique structure as a community-based chapter network allows Move United to reach people across the country, through a grassroots approach that supports local chapters in identifying the needs of the communities they serve.

Our Impact

Move United annually serves 100,000 youth, wounded warriors and adults through a nationwide network of over 170 community-based chapters in more than 40 states nationwide. Over 60 different sports are offered, including alpine and Nordic skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, kayaking, water skiing, sailing, scuba, surfing, rafting, outrigger canoeing, fishing, hiking, golf, athletics, archery, cycling, running/wheeling, rock climbing, equestrian and others.

More at: Early History

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Our Mission and Vision Move United's mission is to provide national leadership and opportunities for individuals with disabilities to develop independence, confidence, and fitness through participation in community sports, competition, recreation, high performance sport and educational programs. Every day, we work hard to pursue our vision that "every person, regardless of ability, has an equal...

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Tips and information for parents of children with special needs.

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Back-to-School Tips for Parents of Children with Special Needs

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Our Top 8 back-to-school tips for parents emphasize communication, organization, and staying up-to-date on special education news.

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Provides accurate and up to date information about learning disabilities and ADHD.

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Developing good organizational skills is a key ingredient for success in school and in life. Although some people by nature are more organized than others, anyone can put routines and systems in place to help a child become more organized. The Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities has compiled a list of strategies that parents can use to help their child develop good organizational skills.

In the first chapter of her book, Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner, Kathy Kuhl explains how she came to the realization that school wasn't working for her son and decided to do what she never thought she could: stay home and teach him.

tudents' emotional responses to challenging situations can influence their concentration, perseverance, application of learned skills, and interactions with others. Even with safe and supportive classroom environments, students often have difficulty because they lack the communication skills to address challenging situations.

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LD OnLine: The world's leading website on learning disabilities and ADHD

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LD OnLine is the leading website on learning disabilities, learning disorders and differences. Parents and teachers of learning disabled children will find authoritative guidance on attention deficit disorder, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dysnomia, reading difficulties, speech and related disorders.

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Provides research and information for parents of children with special needs.

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Disabilities - My Child's Special Needs - Parents - ED.gov

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15 great children's books.

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BY Mingy

Has your child ever asked you why Jeff can't talk, why Olivia can't walk, why does Jeremy wave his hands?
Are you at a loss about how to explain special needs to your child?

Here are 15 great books that you can read to your child or classroom that will help explain special needs to children. If you have any suggestions please share! Comment below.

Also: Check out these great posts from the special needs book and video series

1. 12 amazing special needs stories you need to read!

2. Does Hollywood get it right? 11 Special needs movies to watch

3. 12 special needs novels that will touch your heart

4. The top 15 Special Needs Documentaries

5. Explaining special needs to your child 15 great children's books

by Arlene Maguire
Delightful rhymes combined with rich watercolor illustrations take the reader on a journey of discovery. Each page portrays positive images of children with various disabilities. Winner of an iParenting Media Award, this book illustrates that beyond our physical limitations is a world of unique gifts for each of us to share. Teachers and parents love to read this book aloud to promote understanding and tolerance at school and at home.

by Pat Thomas
This delightful picture book explores questions and concerns about physical disabilities in a simple and reassuring way. Younger children can find out about individual disabilities, special equipment that is available to help the disabled, and how people of all ages can deal with disabilities and live happy and full lives.

by Kari Dunn Buron
The thought of losing control can cause major problems for children who live with anxiety. Now, parents, teachers and children have a helpful tool that gives young children an opportunity to explore their own feelings with parents or teachers as they react to events in their daily lives.

Engaging and easy to read, this illustrated children s book is filled with opportunities for children to participate in developing their own self-calming strategies. Children who use the simple strategies in this charming book, illustrated by the author, will find themselves relaxed and ready to focus on work or play!

David, the older siblings, wryly shares his experiences - the worry, impatience, feeling left out, being talked down to my grownups - and the positive ways in which he has built a unique relationship with his brother. Fully illustrated and sensitively written, this is a story that can help other siblings share their feelings and reassure them that their role in the family is very important.

In this touching story, Emma helps her father as much as he helps her to realise that Isaac is the baby they dreamed of. The book concludes with a set of commonly asked questions about Down syndrome with answers for children and how it might affect their sibling and family. For ages 3-7.

by Diane Burton Robb
Adam starts school, and although he loves stories, he can't seem to get the words to make sense. Over the next few years, he slowly despairs of ever learning to read. Instead, he imagines that he is being held captive by an evil king who torments him with vowels. His parents hire tutors to help, but it isn't until a specialist comes in at the beginning of third grade and diagnoses him as dyslexic that things start to look up.

For Adam, it has become a much bigger problem than just learning how to read-he must also find the self-confidence that years of failure have robbed from him. His new teacher helps him see that reading will always be hard for him, but that it is possible. The pastel illustrations adequately convey Adam's emotions. Although the text often tells rather than shows the boy's plight, the subject matter is handled with respect for his feelings at every stage of the process, and does not oversimplify or sugarcoat the difficulties of dyslexia.

by Eliza Woloson
Isabelle and Charlie are friends. They both like to draw, dance, read, and play at the park. They both like to eat Cheerios. They both cry if their feelings are hurt. And, like most friends, they are also different from each other. Isabelle has Down syndrome. Charlie doesn't. Written by Isabelle's mother, this charming tale encourages readers to think about what makes a friendship special. My Friend Isabelle also opens the door for young children to talk about differences and the world around them. It's a wonderful story to read at bedtime or to share at school. Lively full color illustrations dovetail beautifully with the text to bring the simple story to life.

by Maria Shriver
When 8-year-old Kate meets a boy who seems somehow different, she feels funny inside. After talking with her mom, though, Kate begins to understand that Timmy is just like her in many ways. Timmy has special needs; he takes longer to learn than Kate, and can't walk or run as well. But he also "loves his family, he wants friends, he goes to school, and he dreams about what he wants to be when he grows up." Kate and Timmy meet, and the seeds of a friendship are planted.

For all those children who ask their parents why someone looks or acts "different," author and journalist Maria Shriver's What's Wrong with Timmy? provides a base for discussion. Kate's mother models appropriate behavior, speaking to her daughter calmly and directly, and providing examples from her own life to help Kate understand about Timmy.

But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

by Jennifer Elder
Different Like Me introduces children aged 8 to 12 years to famous, inspirational figures from the world of science, art, math, literature, philosophy and comedy. Eight-year-old Quinn, a young boy with Asperger's Syndrome, tells young readers about the achievements and characteristics of his autism heroes, from Albert Einstein, Dian Fossey and Wassily Kandinsky to Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Banneker and Julia Bowman Robinson, among others. All excel in different fields, but are united by the fact that they often found it difficult to fit in-just like Quinn.

Fully illustrated in color and written in child-friendly language, this book will be a wonderful resource for children, particularly children with autism, their parents, teachers, carers and siblings.

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Explaining special needs to your child: 15 great children's books - Friendship Circle - Special Needs Blog

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Has your child ever asked you why Jeff can't talk, why Olivia can't walk, why does Jeremy wave his hands? Are you at a loss about how to explain special needs to your child? Here are 15 great books that you can read to your child or classroom that will help explain special needs to children.

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Facebook Parents of Special Needs Children

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Facebook Parents of Special Needs Children

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Family and friends can find support on this page.

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This is the best smile, on the cutest face I know. in addition to being TBI awareness month, March is also CP awareness month. Eli has quad spastic CP due to... his traumatic brain injury (from shaken baby syndrome). Quad (meaning all 4 extremities are effected) spastic (meaning very tight muscle tone with frequent spasms) cerebral palsy, which is a disorder of movement, muscle tone, and posture. CP can be congenital (meaning it's happened at birth) or in Eli's case acquired (meaning it happened after birth, usually do to trauma). Quad spastic CP is one of the more severe forms of CP. It has contributed to Eli's scoliosis, which he has titanium rods attached to his ribs and spine to counteract. It also contributes to organ compression, which is what the rods are to help prevent or slow down. Also due to his CP, Eli has a baclofen pump implanted into his abdomen, with a catheter that goes directly into his spinal cord to deliver minute doses of his muscle relaxers where they are needed most. Bc his legs were the biggest thing we had issues with (changing, diapering and positioning due the the spasticity) we planted the catheter for his pump lower so it would help the bottom part of his body. You can see his spinal rods and his pump and feeding tube on his body scan in the third pic. He also gets Botox and phenol injection in his right upper body and neck every six to 8 months. He is unable to sit unassisted or walk on his own. So he uses a wheelchair is fully dependent for his care. At almost 17 he's 3 inches taller than me and weighs right around 110 pounds, so lifting him is quite a work out!

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This is the best smile, on the cutest face I know. in addition to being TBI awareness month, March is also CP awareness month. Eli has quad spastic CP due to... his traumatic brain injury (from shaken baby syndrome).

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Inspiration and support to those with special needs and their families.

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Parents and Professional Sharing Their Experiences and Advice Have you ever needed advice, or wanted to see how someone else handled a certain issue or challenge that you now face....but you're not sure whom to ask??? ﻿Well....now you can send or post your advice needed question TO US!!! All of our children are DIFFERENT. And all of us are at different stages of our journey; and our PLAYING FIELD is NOT level regardless of where you live. Therefore, we all need each other. Please be advised that the information that is shared on this page is for general knowledge and information from parents and professionals. ****THE INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THIS PAGE IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE OR REPLACE MEDICAL ADVICE, OR TO PROMOTE, IN ANY MANNER, ANY OF THE MEDICINES/DRUGS. FOR DIAGNOSING A HEALTH PROBLEM OR DISEASE, PLEASE CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR OR MEDICAL ADVISER ABOUT MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS FOR PATIENT-SPECIFIC ADVICE. *****

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Parents and Professional Sharing Their Experiences and Advice Have you ever needed advice, or wanted to see how someone else handled a certain issue or challenge that you now face....but you're not sure whom to ask??? ﻿Well....now you can send or post your advice needed question TO US!!!

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Parenting Special Needs Magazine

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Blog, learning solutions for children with special needs.

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Schoolyard Blog | Teacher Resources | School Specialty

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Schoolyard Blog | Teacher Resources | School Specialty - Classroom must haves for teachers plus essential teacher supplies, lesson plans and activities.

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Classroom must haves for teachers plus essential teacher supplies, lesson plans and activities.

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Educational site that is interactive, where children can learn through play and exploration.

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Starfall Education: Kids Games, Movies, Books & Music for K-5 and above

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At Starfall, children have fun while they learn - specializing in reading, phonics & math - educational games, movies, books, songs, and more for children K-5 and above.

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Activities that parents can engage their young children in to develop speech and language abilities.

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Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development

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The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association offers these age-appropriate ways that parents can engage their young children to help develop speech and language abilities.

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A public learning laboratory exploring the world through science art and human perception.

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Reading comprehension resource for elementary students. Focussing on research based strategies, prior knowledge, making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, summarizing, evaluating and synthesizing.

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The Into the Book website will be retired on December 31st, 2023. Content will not be available after this date.

Student activities now available in English and Spanish!

Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for elementary students and teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Try the online interactive activities, or click below to find out how to get our engaging 15-minute video programs.

Please choose a language.

(Bilingual offers both English and Spanish texts, which you can switch between during each activity.)

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Into the Book is a multimedia package designed to improve elementary students' reading comprehension, as well as their ability to think and learn across the curriculum. For Grades 2-5.

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Daytime Emmy nominated award winning children's literacy website streams videos featuring award winning actors reading children's books alongside illustrations. Readers include Oprah, Rita Moreno, Viola Davis, Kevin Costner...