The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to step into one of the most contentious and costly areas of special education law by accepting a case involving a parent's efforts to seek public reimbursement for a private school placement of his child. In this article, the author talks about the case entitled, "New York City Board of Education vs. Tom…

For years, Marilyn Arons, 67, has taught parents how to use the main federal special education law to get the most appropriate education for their children. And now, the role of experts such as Ms. Arons is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case that will be heard next week. The case, which began in 1997, involves New York state's Arlington…

This article reports on starkly contrasting portraits of special education that the justices are sure to hear on the first day of the new U.S. Supreme Court term. In a case from New York City, the 1.1 million-student district argues that school officials made every attempt to provide an appropriate education plan under the federal Individuals with…

Brian Schaffer, now a 21-year-old college junior, spent prekindergarten through 7th grade at Green Acres School, a 320-student Rockville, Maryland, private school where his parents say he had the benefit of small class sizes and teachers who could accommodate his needs, which included attention deficit disorder, speech and language delays, and…