by Common Ground | Feb 28, 2013 | Courts
A federal appeals court has ruled that a Colorado school district must reimburse parents for the cost of an out-of-state residential treatment program. The case involves a high-school student, now an adult, with learning disabilities and severe behavioral and...
by Common Ground | Feb 28, 2013 | Q&A
By S. Paul Prior, Esq., Hinkle, Fingles & Prior, P.C., Attorneys at Law The Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) has adopted new rules that fundamentally change the ways in which adults with developmental disabilities are found eligible for services....
by Common Ground | Feb 28, 2013 | Snapshot
One in four adults—approximately 57.7 million Americans—experience a mental health disorder in a given year. One in 10 children live with a serious mental or emotional disorder. One-half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, three-quarters by age...
by Common Ground | Nov 13, 2012 | Capitols
The U.S. Department of Education has announced new steps to help close the achievement gap for students with disabilities by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, compliance-focused approach to a more balanced system that looks at how well students are being educated,...
by Common Ground | Nov 13, 2012 | Capitols
A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that charter schools nation wide enroll a lower percentage of students with disabilities than traditional public schools. In school year 2009-2010, the most recent year for which data are available,...
by Common Ground | Nov 13, 2012 | Capitols
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) received more complaints about disability-related issues from 2009-2011 than ever before. OCR enforces civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, disability and...
by Common Ground | Nov 13, 2012 | Capitols
A report released by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention suggests that victims of school bullying, many of whom are students with disabilities, are often distanced from learning, disadvantaged academically, and are...
by Common Ground | Nov 13, 2012 | Capitols
The U.S. Department of Education has reaffirmed the need for school districts to consider ‘least restrictive environment’ when determining work placements for students with disabilities during the transition years. In a letter issued in response to an...
by Common Ground | Nov 13, 2012 | Teachers
by Fred Gruber One of the main goals of our nation’s system of public education is to give all students the tools they need to succeed in adult life, and this is especially so for students with disabilities. For more than 35 years, The Individuals with Disabilities...
by Common Ground | Nov 13, 2012 | Students
by Bryan Dooley One of the first things I figured out after I graduated from high school and went to college was that college has a lot more responsibilities and work than high school. In high school, you may have had a whole posse (group of people to support you)...