Special Education & School Rights
If your child has autism or another disability, federal law gives them powerful rights at school: a free appropriate public education (FAPE), an IEP or 504 plan, and protection from being expelled for behavior tied to their disability. Plain-English guides to what schools can and cannot do, how to get services and evaluations, and when — and how — you can push back or sue. Core rights are federal; some procedures and timelines vary by state.
All Special Education & School Rights guides
- IEP Disputes: Mediation, State Complaints, and Due-Process Hearings
The three ways to resolve an IEP dispute — mediation, a state complaint, and a due-process hearing — how each works, and when to use which.
- IEP vs. 504 Plan: Which Does Your Child Need?
IEP vs. 504 plan explained: the difference between the two, who qualifies for each, what protections they carry, and how to decide which your child needs.
- Can a Student With Autism or an IEP Be Expelled?
Can a student with autism or an IEP be expelled? Only after a manifestation determination. How the process protects disabled students from disability-based discipline.
- Restraint and Seclusion in Schools: What’s Legal and What Isn’t
What the law says about restraint and seclusion of students, especially children with disabilities: when it's allowed, what's prohibited, and how to respond.
- Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): Inclusion and Your Child’s Rights
The least restrictive environment (LRE) requirement explained: your child's right to learn with non-disabled peers, when removal is allowed, and how to push for inclusion.
- When Can You Sue Your School District?
When you can sue a school district over special education: the due-process requirement, exhaustion, Fry and Perez, and the remedies actually available.
- Tuition Reimbursement: Getting the District to Pay for Private School
When a school district must reimburse private-school tuition for a child with a disability: the Burlington/Carter test, the 10-day notice rule, and how it works.
- Landmark Special-Education Cases, Explained
A plain-English guide to the Supreme Court cases that shaped special-education rights: Rowley, Endrew F., Honig, Burlington, Carter, Fry, and Perez.
- What Is FAPE? Your Child’s Right to a Free Appropriate Public Education
What FAPE means under the IDEA: your child's right to a free appropriate public education, the Endrew F. standard, and what schools must actually provide.
- Compensatory Education: Making Up for Services Your Child Missed
What compensatory education is: the remedy that makes up for special-education services a school failed to provide, how it's calculated, and how to get it.
- Autism and School: What Services Your Child Is Entitled To
Autism is a qualifying disability under IDEA. What services a child with autism can receive at school — therapies, aides, behavior plans — and how to get them.
- How to Get Your Child Evaluated for Special Education
How to request a special-education evaluation: the school's Child Find duty, how to put it in writing, consent and timelines, and what to do if the school says no.
- School Suspensions and Expulsions: Your Child’s Due Process Rights
Every student has due-process rights before suspension or expulsion. What Goss v. Lopez requires, how the process works, and the extra protections for disabled students.
- The 10-Day Rule: How Schools Can and Can’t Discipline a Student With a Disability
The special-education 10-day rule explained: how many days a school can remove a disabled student, when it becomes a change of placement, and Honig v. Doe.