[SmithL]

Isn't THAT special, in a short-bus kind of way.

[cgk]

ADHD is a disability now?

[aliquando]

Thank you Lord!!! Some common sense finally spews forth from a court room. Lemme guess who the two dissenters are. I won't even go into the validity of most add/hd claims. Most are just lazy parents and teachers who do no know how to deal with boys. If a say any more I will just P.O. some folks.

[Brilliant]

They needed the Supreme Court to settle that obvious point?

[alisasny]

I tend to agree as public school education should not always be life skills education as is what normally is the case with parents of severely disabled children. Parents are responsible for life skills and how being taught to eat sleep etc. falls in the public school education domain is beyond me.

So basically should public education include life skills? And if not, should public school funds support say 100 K a year education for parents to send their disabled child away?

Its a fine line I am sure.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

I'd be interested in reading the whole thing. On the surface I'm not sure I disagree. It's tough to deal with a behavioral problem, even if it is diagnosed as a medical issue. And schools can offer education, but they can't force a child to learn. It's not like installing software into a computer. So even if the parents prove, my child did not learn, they haven't proven that it was the school's fault -- that the school didn't offer the education. Maybe the little hyperactive, inatentive tyke just refused to learn. Where do you draw the line between can't and won't? Either way, how is that the school's fault?

[Cowboy Bob]

Wow! Maybe Justice Roberts is knocking heads with Kennedy and Souter - they voted the right way this time!

[Michael.SF.]

My wife works for the school district with special needs kids (far beyond ADD), this is a welcome decision.

[Michael.SF.]

"School districts are charged with responsibility to offer to each disabled child an individualized education program (IEP) suitable to the child's special needs. The proponent of the IEP, it seems to me, is properly called upon to demonstrate its adequacy," Ginsburg wrote.

Based on the above statement, Ginsburg seems to be missing the point of this case. Specifically:

An IEP is written for a student, after an evaluation of that child's needs. The assessment and the IEP are written by the same person and approved by the administration (at least in Contra Costa County, and likely in other districts). The IEP is written by a professionally trained and licensed therapists, the goals and program is designed to attain certain results, based on that child's capabilities.

If the IEP is not adequate, then the results will not be achieved (yes there are many variables at work here). But the people in position to best evaluate the overall results, are the parents. That is what this case seems to be saying.

[AmericanChef]

How do you type the sound of money washing down the drain? Special Ed should've been called Special Fund.

[MEGoody]

Retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the 6-2 court, said that when parents challenge a program they have the burden in an administrative hearing of showing that the program is insufficient. If schools bring a complaint, the burden rests with them, O'Connor wrote.

Sounds reasonable to me.

[RightWingAtheist]

[New Perspective]

Isn't THAT special, in a short-bus kind of way.

Disgusting comment.

[IndyInVa]

Your kid and my kid are just as "special" as these kids, yet we can't get custom-tailored programs to help our kids reach their potential. Why not?

Another question: If you had an extra $100,000 to spend on educating a kid, who would you choose to spend it on, a bright kid who might cure cancer someday, or a kid who will be lucky if he ever learns to tie his shoes? (Before you flame me, I am NOT saying that slow kids should not be educated or should be warehoused or ignored, just that we need to have a little common sense in the distribution of our assets.)

We need to examine our priorities in this country. The public education system would be a good place to start.