Texas Students Still Fighting For Special Education Despite Federal Order To Fix Services

For over a decade, Texas illegally denied special education to tens of thousands of children with disabilities – services that are their right under federal law. State lawmakers took action and federal monitors stepped in. But the crisis isn’t over for many families.

By Laura IsenseeNovember 18, 2019 9:30 am, , ,

From Houston Public Media:

Last year, as a seventh-grader at Lake Jackson Intermediate, Carolinda Acevedo struggled in class – even though she loves learning. She’d stay up late to finish her homework, but then did poorly on state exams. She lost interest in her favorite hobby, making slime in all the colors of the rainbow. Her anxiety and mood disorder flared up so much that Carolinda had to be hospitalized, her mom Christina Acevedo says.

“I knew that she needed help,” Acevedo says.

She asked school administrators to evaluate Carolinda for special education. But staff at the Brazosport Independent School District determined she didn’t qualify, saying she wasn’t affected at school and still got good grades.

“I feel like my requests for help were falling on deaf ears and being delayed, and I was just sort of getting the runaround — when really my daughter just needed the support,” Acevedo says.

She asked for a second opinion but says the school district ignored her request for months.

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