A guide to understanding what you can do to help your exceptional child overcome disability-based harassment.

If your child has been determined eligible for special education and has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), then your child is entitled to FAPE under the federal law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). FAPE means that your child must receive an appropriate program including special education. The IEP is the plan that schools and parents use to determine what FAPE needs to look like for an individual child.

In North Carolina, State Board of Education Policy SS-A-007 provides that every local education agency (or school district) should have a staff person who can provide leadership and training to the school district in developing policies and procedures to deal with bullying and harassment. Each district should have policies and procedures to prevent, intervene, investigate, document and report all acts of bullying and harassment.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a civil rights law that can protect kids. Although every child that is eligible for IDEA is also protected under Section 504, some children who aren't eligible under IDEA can be eligible under 504. Is your child eligible? Does your child have a disability that limits a major life function? Would modification of the general curriculum (like large print text or peer tutors) help your child get the same benefit from his or her education that other, nondisabled children get? If yes, then your child may benefit from a 504 plan. Talk to your child's principal about a plan. Section 504 specifically protects students against disability based harassment. Is your child being targeted by bullies because he or she is a diabetic, or visually impaired or learning disabled?

The Office of Civil Rights in Washington D.C. investigates disability based harassment that is so severe it creates a hostile environment for children in which they cannot learn.

First, you should determine whether either (or both) of the laws that protect individuals with disabilities apply to your child. If your child does not have a disability, then you should consider using State Board of Education Policy SS-A-007 to help you handle the bullying.

If your child is eligible for an IEP, then you must determine whether the bullying is depriving your child to FAPE.

Ask yourself:

1. Is the bullying happening when my child should be getting instruction?
2. Is the bullying so severe that my child is not getting the benefit of his IEP?
3. Is my child not making progress towards his or her IEP goals because he is being harassed?

If you answered these questions yes, then you may be able to address the bullying through the IEP team, and we may be able to help you. You might also use Section 504 protections. If your child has a disability, but is ineligible for an IEP, then you might benefit from Section 504 protections. For more about how Section 504 can help you, keep reading.

First, contact you child's teachers and / or administrators and alert them to the situation. It is possible that the school staffs are not aware of the problem, or they do not know how bad the problem is. Give them the benefit of the doubt, and allow them to try to remedy the problem. If you do not see any action on the part of school administrators, call your district's central office and ask to speak to the staff person designated pursuant to SS-A-007 (or the person designated to help prevent bullying in the schools). Tell this person what has been happening. Ask that person for help in addressing the problem.

If these measures do not help, and if you think the bullying and harassment is so severe that it is interrupting your child's right to a free an appropriate public education, then call us.

If you child has a 504 plan, and the bullying is so severe that it has created a hostile environment and your child is prevented from getting the same education as his or her nondisabled peers, then you can call us or contact the Office of Civil Rights for more information.

800-421-3481 or 877-521-2172 TDD or online at OCR@ed.gov