As parents of a 3-year-old daughter with a disability, we are very concerned about the proposed regulatory changes to the State's special education laws. 

We are in the process of enrolling our daughter in school and are working to finalize her IEP.  We have taken great care to ensure that our daughter's needs will be met in a way that helps her to become the child she is capable of being.  To our surprise, our daughter's initial goals were written by school officials who had never even met her.  Fortunately, we currently have the ability to work with the school officials to revise the IEP where it does not match up with our daughter's needs or abilities. 

Giving school officials the ability to eliminate parental involvement in any way from the IEP process would be unconscionable.  We assure you that no one knows or understands a child with disabilities better than her parents.  Please continue to give us and parents of all children with disabilities the basic rights to collaborate with teachers in the best interests of our children.

We also vehemently oppose the proposed regulatory changes that would remove the current requirement that schools include benchmarks or short-term objectives in IEPs.  What a disservice it would be to our children if we did not hold teachers accountable for measurable goals to help our children learn and grow throughout the school year.

Our daughter has a very rare brain disorder that makes her the fun, wonderful girl she is.  However, her disorder limits her ability to speak.  Although it is difficult to know what her prognosis will be in terms of what “voice” she will use, in all likelihood, our daughter will communicate primarily through sign language.  We understand that the proposed regulations would require only that schools provide interpreting services to children who are deaf or hard of hearing.  Sign language provides a voice for many children who are not deaf or hard of hearing but who have other disabilities affecting their ability to communicate, like our daughter.  Please do not take away our daughter’s voice.

We also recommend that the use of the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” be replaced by the terms “intellectual disability” and “intellectually disabled” throughout the regulations.  Although once acceptable terms, “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” now carry a pejorative meaning.

We, as a nation, have fought for years for the civil rights of all people, including those challenged by disabilities.  Many of the proposed changes to the regulations would act as a huge step back in time, denying people with disabilities in Virginia basic civil rights.  We need to continue to move forward, striving to give all children the opportunities they need and deserve.