Our Training Philosophy

We believe that public schools can be legally compliant with Section 504, IDEA, and the Texas dyslexia law and still remain child-centered.

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It's all about the kids...

We never forget that the people we train need tools not only to comply with the law, but also to work with parents and serve students with special needs.

 

Jose & Dave

Attorneys Jose Martín and David Richards represent school districts and special education cooperatives in Texas on issues involving the education of students with disabilities. Through working with regular and special educators for over 25 years, Dave & Jose have gained an appreciation of the need for public educators to develop a working knowledge of disability law issues. To meet that need, Dave & Jose created the Council of Educators for Students with Disabilities (CESD), offering high-quality disability law conferences in Austin, Texas. They participate in all CESD conferences, providing the legal perspective on Section 504, IDEA and Texas Dyslexia Law issues at those conferences.

They likewise provide presentations on disability-releated topics at schools, districts, and service centers, and at regional, state and national conferences across the country.

 

The Philosophy

You can’t comply with a law you don’t understand. Unfortunately, IDEA and Section 504 are not without vagaries and difficult concepts. Dave & Jose explain the law in simple, common-sense language, illustrated with frequent examples from real-world experiences. Rather than expanding on the law and its requirements from an academic perspective, they focus on the everyday implications of the legal framework, emphasizing compliance through awareness and planning. They supplement their presentations with detailed written materials that provide legal authority and additional explanation long after the presentation is over.

Different folks have different concerns and training needs.

There is no one-size-fits-all perfect IDEA or 504 training that meets the needs of every campus, region or state in the country. Just like services under the IDEA and 504, presentations (to be appropriate) must focus on unique needs and provide understanding in areas that matter to the presentation audience. Consequently, Dave and Jose will work closely with you to develop a training that covers the issues that matter to you and your audience. Further, when the size of the audience permits, Dave and Jose prefer to take questions from participants throughout presentations to establish an interactive format within which participants feel free to add their comments and thoughts to the presentation agenda. The result is a truly individualized learning experience.

 

So what can Jose & Dave talk about?

Virtually any area of interest in Section 504 and IDEA, or the Texas Dyslexia law.

 

Customized training is surprisingly affordable.

Once you’ve calculated the travel costs of sending staff to a conference (including registrations, lost travel time to and from the event, etc.) consider the option of bringing the training to you. For example, Jose & Dave have already had great success putting on statewide events in Hawaii, New Mexico and in Arkansas in conjunction with their respective State Departments of Education. As a result, hundreds of educators from these three states were able to attend a comprehensive training event (tailored to local needs) without having to get approval for out-of-state travel.

 

What else can you tell me?

In the pages that follow, you can learn more about Dave Richards and Jose Martín, see the types of workshops and presentations they have created for audiences of all sizes, and request a quote to build a training with written materials that meets your needs, on a campus, district, regional, state or national level.

We’d be happy to talk with you about designing an inservice program to meet your disability law training needs, featuring attorneys knowledgeable about compliance issues and the realities of day-to-day life in the public schools. If you need to train large groups and can’t afford to send them to our CESD Conferences in Austin,contact us to take take the training to you.