The Positivity Spectrum Legal Clinic
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) guarantees all disabled children a Free and Appropriate Public Education (“FAPE”). To achieve that outcome, families of autistic children must go through an evaluation and negotiation process with the school district in order to get an Individualized Education Program (“IEP”) in place. An IEP comprehensively outlines the supports and services that the school district must provide in order to ensure that the child receives FAPE. Unfortunately, due to a myriad of factors, including, but not limited to, budget cuts, lack of parental awareness of rights, and unwillingness of school districts to provide the needed supports and services for financial or other reasons, many autistic children are denied FAPE.
Furthermore, due to the unique needs of autistic children, and, in particular, the fact that many autistic children will need lifelong care, creating a thorough and comprehensive estate plan is essential for families with an autistic child(ren). It is of utmost salience that these families have all of the necessary end-of-life documentation in place, so that their autistic child(ren) are cared for, financially and otherwise, well after the parent(s) have passed.
Consequently, we are beyond thrilled to announce that The Positivity Spectrum is commencing a free legal clinic! We are so fortunate to have the support of local law students, practicing attorneys, autism experts, and therapy practitioners to help us make this dream a reality and to provide the necessary support to families with autistic children!
DISCLAIMERS
Our services are provided at no cost to you and are limited in scope. The attorneys who volunteer to supervise our clinic staff and law students are not your personal attorneys unless and until you enter into a separate written agreement with them. If your matter is too complex or beyond the scope of what we can help with through the clinic, we may refer you to one of our supervising attorneys’ private law firms or other legal services providers. If you choose to retain one of these attorneys separately, their services may not be free and you will be responsible for any fees you agree to.
For case management purposes, we often need a 30-day lead time to onboard a new client, we will consider shorter time frames but IEP meeting needs to be 30 days out.
We are currently only able to accept requests for assistance from residents of the following Northeast Ohio Counties: Cuyahoga, Summit, Lake, Lorain, Ashtabula, Geauga, Trumbull, Portage, Medina, Stark, Wayne, and Mahoning,
Types of Cases Accepted By the Legal Clinic
The case types outlined below are examples of the scope of representation the Legal Clinic is able to offer at this time. While not exhaustive, applicants for clinic services should review the below to determine whether their case or question qualifies.
- Special Education
- Pre K-12 Special Education Questions
- Failure to Evaluate / Child Find Violations
- Inadequate IEP / Failure to Provide Free Appropriate Public Education (“FAPE”)
- Denial of Related Services/Accommodations
- Transition Planning Violations
- Transportation as part of IEP
- Behavior Intervention Plan (“BIP”)/Functional Behavioral Assessment (“FBA”) – aside from Manifestation Determination Review (“MDR”)
- Exiting from IDEA to 504 or graduation
- Parental concern with Least Restrictive Environment (“LRE”) or allocation of time in classroom
- Parental involvement/consent
- Special Needs Trust
- Preservation of federal benefits/medicaid and SSI/STABLE account setup and guidance
- Simple will to fund the trust
Case Types Generally Not Accepted by the Clinic
- Special Education
- Early intervention/head start, college/university
- ADA/Section 504 Bullying & Harassment Claims
- Manifestation Determination Reviews (MDRs) and General Discipline
- Truancy Issues
- Improper Use of Restraint or Seclusion (Ohio law)
- Disputes Involving Private Schools (unless district responsibility is clear)
- John Petersen Scholarship/Autism Scholarship disputes
- Transportation for scholarship purposes
- District proposed change of placement
- Extracurriculars/interscholastics
- Special Needs End of Life Planning
- High net worth
- Full estate plan
- Complex wills, health care, durable power of attorney
- Medicaid waiver issues
Meet Our Legal Clinic Committee
Legal Clinic Intake Forms
To apply for assistance from the Legal Clinic choose the appropriate intake form below:
GENERAL INTAKE FORM– For questions about special education, IEPs, special needs estate planning generally.
CASE SPECIFIC INTAKE FORM– For specific legal services you are applying for the TPS legal clinic to provide- ex. IEP advocacy, preparation of a special needs trust, etc.
Completing an application for services in no way guarantees we will be able to assist you. We are a new service and our capacity will be determined on a multitude of factors. If we cannot assist you at this time, that does not mean we will not be able to assist you in the future. In order to build the Legal Clinic the community needs, we ask for your patience as we grow and scale our services.