Due Process MCPS - Attorney recommendations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I would get the school to perform the testing first and then request an independent evaluation if you disagree. The school system will more than likely pay for the evaluation.
Also have you formally requested that your child be tested for issues? You need to do this then the county is legally responsible to conduct meetings to get things going.

OP here - DS had formal, private testing done 6 years ago which we paid for. Has been on an IEP since then. School did their own testing for the purposes of the 3 yr IEP re-evaluation - that was 3 yrs ago. Their evaluation was weak at best.

I am certain that his first private evaluation did not uncover all of his LDs - very sure of it actually because he was way too young. This is why we need another evaluation.

Nothing is really seeming to help him - accommodations-wise. I know that MCPS cannot properly educate a child with the learning profile that my DS has. He needs specialized instruction because his brain is wired differently - like most of the kids referred to on this forum. his learning profile is failry complex (in my opinion)

FWIW, I am not really faulting MCPS for this because they are just not equipped. Add in the new common core standards and DS is quickly spiraling down.

FWIW, your child has a right to specialized instruction -- that is what the IEP is supposed to provide. But, you seem to be saying that your DC is getting mostly accommodations. IME, MCPS focuses on providing accommodations to address an area of weakness instead of providing specialized instruction to remediate that area of weakness. Your child has a RIGHT to the specialized instruction. It may be a different matter if your child's learning profile is so unique that MCPS doesn't know HOW to help your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you will find people who like one over the other. My preference is for Gruber. He got the job done for us.

I agree 100%.
We used Eig and found that he made multiple mistakes that were reckless/sloppy. His errors cost us more time and money. Both my spouse and I are attorneys but Eig was very defensive when we politely pointed out that he had missed a due date and made manyrookie errors on our behalf. Paula Risenberg, his partner was more detailed but we just did not care for the attitude in the Eig office. They rarely remembered our child's name.
Gruber was very detailed and knew OUR case inside and out, which is why we prevailed. It was easy to trust Brian because he was so meticulous with the critical details necessary to prevail.

[Anonymous]

Plus one on the above. We started out at Eig but then moved onto Gruber. Very happy with the results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I would get the school to perform the testing first and then request an independent evaluation if you disagree. The school system will more than likely pay for the evaluation.
Also have you formally requested that your child be tested for issues? You need to do this then the county is legally responsible to conduct meetings to get things going.

OP here - DS had formal, private testing done 6 years ago which we paid for. Has been on an IEP since then. School did their own testing for the purposes of the 3 yr IEP re-evaluation - that was 3 yrs ago. Their evaluation was weak at best.

I am certain that his first private evaluation did not uncover all of his LDs - very sure of it actually because he was way too young. This is why we need another evaluation.

Nothing is really seeming to help him - accommodations-wise. I know that MCPS cannot properly educate a child with the learning profile that my DS has. He needs specialized instruction because his brain is wired differently - like most of the kids referred to on this forum. his learning profile is failry complex (in my opinion)

FWIW, I am not really faulting MCPS for this because they are just not equipped. Add in the new common core standards and DS is quickly spiraling down.

FWIW, your child has a right to specialized instruction -- that is what the IEP is supposed to provide. But, you seem to be saying that your DC is getting mostly accommodations. IME, MCPS focuses on providing accommodations to address an area of weakness instead of providing specialized instruction to remediate that area of weakness. Your child has a RIGHT to the specialized instruction. It may be a different matter if your child's learning profile is so unique that MCPS doesn't know HOW to help your child.

OP here - thank you for helping me make that distinction between having an accommodation vs. having specialized instruction which is very much needs. I never really thought about it that way. His gaps are widening for sure. I would say that he is 2 yrs behind in reading and 1 yr in math. By the time he gets to HS, he will be so far behind that I am not sure he will ever catch up unless he gets more specialized help now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you will find people who like one over the other. My preference is for Gruber. He got the job done for us.

I agree 100%.
We used Eig and found that he made multiple mistakes that were reckless/sloppy. His errors cost us more time and money. Both my spouse and I are attorneys but Eig was very defensive when we politely pointed out that he had missed a due date and made manyrookie errors on our behalf. Paula Risenberg, his partner was more detailed but we just did not care for the attitude in the Eig office. They rarely remembered our child's name.
Gruber was very detailed and knew OUR case inside and out, which is why we prevailed. It was easy to trust Brian because he was so meticulous with the critical details necessary to prevail.

Thanks for this. I was planning to call a couple of attorneys next week - after we meet with the private psych.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you will find people who like one over the other. My preference is for Gruber. He got the job done for us.

I agree 100%.
We used Eig and found that he made multiple mistakes that were reckless/sloppy. His errors cost us more time and money. Both my spouse and I are attorneys but Eig was very defensive when we politely pointed out that he had missed a due date and made manyrookie errors on our behalf. Paula Risenberg, his partner was more detailed but we just did not care for the attitude in the Eig office. They rarely remembered our child's name.
Gruber was very detailed and knew OUR case inside and out, which is why we prevailed. It was easy to trust Brian because he was so meticulous with the critical details necessary to prevail.

Thanks for this. I was planning to call a couple of attorneys next week - after we meet with the private psych.

Def shop around. It is not uncommon in any kind of legal cast hat different lawyers will have different opinions about the merits of a case and the best way to resolve it. We used Gruber in a couple of cases and he was spot on in one situation and totally missed the mark (and misunderstood the law) in another. I know others who have used him and successfully gotten private placement. A lot depends on the facts of a situation and what forum you are trying to use.

[Anonymous]

anyone have any updated recommendations or information to share

[Kyra-V]

Just be aware that parents very rarely win these cases.

[Anonymous]

Have you looked at filing a state complaint? This can be done without a lawyer. I was surprised at how effective this tactic was in a recent dispute at Westland.

I think if you file a complaint, you can still file suit and then the complaint will be held in abeyance pending the results of the suit.

[Anonymous]

Kyra-V wrote:Just be aware that parents very rarely win these cases.

Untrue.

[Anonymous]

Is there a list of the cases? Or a list of the state complaints? Surely they must be public.

[Anonymous]

Go to the MSDE website. Under departments go to special education. They list the cases and complaint decisions there, although they are so heavily redacted you can't tell the schools. Unfortunately statistics show parents lose about 90% of the time in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

How does that compare with DC?

[Kyra-V]

Anonymous wrote:

Kyra-V wrote:Just be aware that parents very rarely win these cases.

Untrue.

As other posters have noted, what I said is true. I work in this area of the law and know it well. It is a huge uphill battle for parents, and most attorneys don't know their stuff.

[Anonymous]

I think the MSDE hearings list may be a bit misleading. Yes, if you actually wind up in court with MCPS, the statistics suggest that you will lose. However, in many cases, I think getting a lawyer and going to CIEP will get you what you want. If MCPS thinks that you have a reasonable chance, they will give in before it gets in front of a judge (and I'm sure there are no official statistics on this). I think they only take cases that far if they're pretty sure they're going to win, so what you're looking at on the MSDE site is a heavily cherry-picked sample with a lot of other factors playing in.