Are you confident in your abilities to litigate a special education lawsuit? If a parent approaches you to represent them against a school for inadequately accommodating their child are you prepared? This program will review the information attorneys need to know in order to effectively litigate cases involving students with special needs. It will cover the basics of reading and interpreting test scores so attorneys can use charts and graphs as evidence in court. Order today!

1. The Importance of Objective Measurement
2. Caveats on Interpreting Tests: What is Actually Being Measured?
3. Types of Scoring Methods (AE, GE, SS, SD, PR); Composite Scores and Subtest Scatter
4. Interpreting Test Scores
5. Charting Test Scores to Support Your Case

Continuing Education Credits:   

Continuing Legal Education

Credit Hrs    State    Credit Approval Expiration

* denotes specialty credits

Session Times: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM Eastern
Presenters: Dr. Ellen Braaten and Eileen M. Hagerty

1. The Importance of Objective Measurement
2. Caveats on Interpreting Tests: What is Actually Being Measured?
3. Types of Scoring Methods (AE, GE, SS, SD, PR); Composite Scores and Subtest Scatter
4. Interpreting Test Scores
   1. Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children
   2. Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement
   3. Woodcock Reading Mastery Test
   4. Test of Written Language
   5. KeyMath Educational Achievement Test
5. Charting Test Scores to Support Your Case

DR. ELLEN BRAATEN is the director of LEAP where she has the opportunity to provide direct clinical care through neuropsychological and psychological evaluations of children and adolescents; teach interns, residents and fellows about the field of pediatric assessment; develop programs that provide integrated services to children and families; and mentor the next generation of child psychologists and psychiatrists. Dr. Braaten's first book, Straight Talk About Psychological Testing for Kids grew out of the clinical experiences she had with families she evaluated, as well as with the experiences she had teaching psychology interns and psychiatry residents about the evaluation process. One of her most recent books for parents, Finding the Right Mental Health Care for Your Child, focuses on how to find the best treatment for a child's particular problem. The book Smart but Pokey addresses how to help children and families cope with the effect of slow processing speed and similar executive functioning deficits. She has also written a guide for clinicians, The Child Clinician's Report-Writing Handbook. As a follow-up to that book, she wrote The Child Clinician's Guide to Assessing Learning Disabilities and Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, The Child Clinician's Report Writing Handbook and Straight Talk about Psychological Testing for Kids. Dr. Braaten's clinical expertise, research and teaching focus on the intersection of learning disabilities and developmental disorders and co-morbid psychiatric conditions. She coordinates the child psychology internship training at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a pediatric neuropsychologist, her practice includes the assessment of children and adolescents with a wide range of psychopathology. In her clinical role, Dr. Braaten teaches parents, teachers and clinicians about the meaning of results and provides detailed instructions in how to translate the results in real-life settings by providing detailed treatment plans for clinicians, parents and educators. In her role as clinical educator, she works closely with psychology interns, child psychiatry fellows, general psychiatry residents, pediatricians, neurology fellows and attending child psychiatrists. She is an active mentor for her fellows, supervisees and early-career colleagues and has been awarded the Mentor of the Year three times and recently won a Partners in Excellence Award for her role as a mentor. Dr. Braaten is an assistant professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. She earned her B.S. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin, her M.A. degree from the University of Colorado and her PhD from Colorado State University. She completed her postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

EILEEN M. HAGERTY is a partner in the Boston law firm of Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, LLP. She concentrates her practice in special education law. Ms. Hagerty represents parents and students at all stages of the special education process, from pre-litigation advice through mediations, administrative hearings, court proceedings, and appeals. Before coming to Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, LLP in 1996, she spent more than six years with a small Boston litigation firm (Kern, Sosman, Hagerty, Roach & Carpenter, P.C.), of which she was a founding member. Ms. Hagerty also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, as a litigation associate at Bingham Dana LLP, as a special assistant district attorney for Middlesex County, and as law clerk to the Honorable Frederick B. Lacey of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Detroit and a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. Ms. Hagerty participates in various public service activities, including serving as chair of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Advocates for Children. Ms. Hagerty lectures and writes frequently on topics in special education law.

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Phone: 866-240-1890

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