Organizations

The California Department of Education offers pages upon pages of Special Education resources.

These links connect you to sites that offer a wide selection of other Special Education resources that may be of interest. Click on an image to learn more about the services offered by national, state, and district organizations.

	“The Autism Society, the nation’s leading grassroots autism organization, exists to improve the lives of all affected by autism. We do this by increasing public awareness about the day-to-day issues faced by people on the spectrum, advocating for appropriate services for individuals across the lifespan, and providing the latest information regarding treatment, education, research and advocacy.”

	“The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of individuals with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. CEC advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides professional development, advocates for individuals with exceptionalities, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice.”

	The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities.

	The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) works to ensure that the nation’s 15 million children, adolescents, and adults with learning disabilities have every opportunity to succeed in school, work, and life. NCLD provides essential information to parents, professionals and individuals with learning disabilities, promotes research and programs to foster effective learning, and advocates for policies to protect and strengthen educational rights and opportunities.

	The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) is the only national membership organization dedicated solely to meeting the needs of special education teachers and those preparing for the field of special education teaching.

	The National Education Association (NEA) posted a …”manual intended to serve many purposes such as clarifying which provisions of NCLB reference IDEA and impact the education of students with disabilities; raising key issues that need to be considered regarding the intersection of IDEA and NCLB; exploring how NCLB may affect IDEA’s reauthorization.”

	Education Week (an education editorial organization) deftly synopsizes the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in just a few paragraphs on August 4, 2004. … “Coming at a time of wide public concern about the state of education, the NCLB legislation set in place requirements that reached into virtually every public school in America. It expanded the federal role in education and took particular aim at improving the educational lot of disadvantaged students.”

	Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI) is “a collection of Internet accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields related to Special Education. This collection exists in order to make on-line Special Education resources more easily and readily available in one location.” (Note: there are a library of links connecting to another page of links put together by topic on this site.)

	San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has an exceptional website of pages of information including an Overview, Parent Resources, Educator Resources, Parent Guide to Special Education, Pre-School Special Education Services, Transition, Special Education Redesign and Inclusive Schools.

	“Parents, educators, advocates, and attorneys come to Wrightslaw for accurate, reliable information about special education law, education law, and advocacy for children with disabilities.”