As Special Education Teachers, we know that following the laws of special education is almost as important, if not more important, than everything else we do on a day to day basis in the classroom.
With all the information that comes with these laws, I know it can be hard to keep up with.
So I have compiled a list of some websites that you can utilize to stay up to date on the laws of special education:
Websites to Subscribe to to Stay Up-To-Date in Special Education
The Intentional IEP
The Intentional IEP is a program and membership that I have created to help you with all things IEP related. The mission of The Intentional IEP is to save you, the teacher or service provider, time by taking one integral portion of the legal IEP process making it as simple as cut and paste based on the students present level of academic and functional performance.
I work with a team of people, who have a combined 200+ years of education experience from Pre-K to 12th grade, to develop an actively growing IEP Vault of thousands of pre-written IEP goals for you to use. This program includes information and goals for 40 different domains that can be found in an IEP. Everything from academic skills, behavior skills, life skills, communication, and gross/fine motor skills.
The Intentional IEP is a paid membership that gives you access to things such as IEP training for writing effective and INTENTIONAL IEPs that are compliant with the laws of special education. When you join with a yearly or monthly membership, you receive access to the IEP goal bank (which holds over 13,000 IEP goals), access to training and summer PD series, monthly mini trainings from expert guest speakers, and a members only resource area.
Wrightslaw
Wrightslaw is a website founded by Pete Wright, an attorney who represents children with special needs, and his wife Pam Wright, a psychotherapist who works with children and families, that provides free access to articles, legal cases, training, and resources about Special Education Law and advocacy.
This website has A LOT to offer, but they do a great job of breaking everything down into different sections for you to find any information you need, you can even search A-Z if there is a specific topic you are looking for.
The Council for Exceptional Children
The Council for Exceptional Children (also known as the CEC) is the largest international professional organization that is dedicated to improving not only the success of children and youth with disabilities, but also their gifts and talents. The CEC helps to advocate for appropriate governmental policies, as well as setting professional standards, provides professional development, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice. The CEC is known as THE go-to source for information resources and professional development for Special Education Teachers. The CEC is not only an international organization, but also has local units in all 50 states and even in Canada, as well as 18 options for Special Interest Division that focus on a specific topic, specialty area, role or exceptionality. The CEC also has student chapters at hundreds of colleges and universities.
Sign up for a free IEP masterclass: 3 IEP Writing Mistakes and How to Fix Them👇
Special Ed Connection
The Special Ed Connection is an online resource for guidance on all of your special education challenges giving you resources you need to keep current on education policy and legal developments.
Special Ed Connection subscription plans are based on the number of agency users and sites. Single user subscriptions are not available. Free preview access is for Special Education professionals who are interested in looking at Special Ed Connection for future acquisitions. If this is something you are looking at, I would recommend contacting your Special Education Department or school level administration first.
Is there a website that I didn’t talk about that you use or would like to know more information on? Let us know in the comments!
