Peter Maher will be a presenter at the sessions on “IDEA Child Find and Eligibility” and “School Refusal/Avoidance and Other Attendance Issues,” during Lehigh University’s Virtual Special Education Law Symposium. The intensive one-week virtual program will provide a practical analysis of legislation, regulations, and court decisions relating to the education of students with disabilities and includes an overlapping two-day Section 504 Coordinators Institute. The symposium offers two parallel tracks—one for legally basic registrants and one for legally experienced participants—and is designed for special education coordinators and teachers, principals, psychologists, parent advocates, charter school personnel, attorneys (on both sides), hearing officers, state education agency personnel, and other individuals interested in a thorough exploration of the special education legal landscape.
For additional information and to register, please visit Lehigh University’s event page: https://wordpress.lehigh.edu/spedlaw/
The symposium will begin with a keynote address and Q&A by Laurie VanderPloeg, Director, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U. S. Department of Education, who will provide the latest federal perspective on COVID-19 and OSEP guidance. The symposium concludes on Friday with Dr. Zirkel’s National Case Law Update and COVID-19 Issues under the IDEA and Section 504.
The symposium offers the following “hot topics”:
- English Language Learners and the IDEA: The Round Peg and the Square Hole (Craig Goodmark, Georgia)
- The Bullying-Suicide Connection for Students with Disabilities (Michelle Moor, Massachusetts)
- Child Find: The Latest, Thorny Issues (Claire Raj, South Carolina)
- Compensatory Education: The Latest Wrinkles (Mary Ann Carroll, Rhode Island)
- School Refusal/Avoidance and Other Attendance Issues (Peter Maher, Connecticut)
- You Be the Judge: Dueling Attorneys (new scenario) (Andrew Faust, Dennis McAndrews, and Brian Jason Ford, Pennsylvania)
- Comparing Section 504 and the ADA with the IDEA: What Are Not Only the Significant But Also the Subtle Differences? (Dr. Perry Zirkel, Pennsylvania)
- Beyond the Basics: “Hot Topics” under Section 504 and the ADA (Julie Weatherly, Alabama)
For full information, see go.lehigh.edu/spedlaw. For any questions, email or call Shannon Weber or Donna Johnson at specialedlaw@lehigh.edu or (610) 758-5557.