To help parents caught in this situation, the Council once again brought noted lawyer and author Peter Wright to Florida to present the Wrightslaw Special Education and Advocacy workshops in four locations throughout the state.
More than 600 participants learned the importance of determining a child's baseline abilities, intelligence or cognitive score and charting his or her progress or regression over time. Mr. Wright also stressed the importance of reviewing indices or sub-scores separately rather than looking only at the composite (or blended/average) score. Children can perform high in some areas but very low in other areas. Parents and guardians were cautioned not to rely on grades as an indicator of their child's performance or knowledge gained. Many factors influence grades, including grade inflation, the teacher's beliefs and perceptions about the child's effort, attendance, behavior, and attitude.

     Peter Wright talks with attendees at the workshop.

The importance of understanding baseline data becomes apparent when developing a child's Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), said Mr. Wright. Children need a strong foundation in vocabulary, reading comprehension, arithmetic, perceptual reasoning and coding or symbol search to succeed in school.
He stressed the importance of developing effective and measurable IEP goals and objectives, in cooperation with the student, parents or guardians, school professionals and other supporting professionals with knowledge and understanding of the child, such as a therapist. In quoting Robert Manger, psychologist, writer and educator, Mr. Wright told the participants, "If you're not sure where you're going, you're liable to end up someplace else. If you don't know where you're going, the best made maps won't help you get there." And, because as children grow and change, their educational needs will also change, the IEP must not remain static but reflect current and future goals as the child ages.