For those who have gotten the dreaded call from school that your child is a problem you need to fix fast, parents often go into panic mode. Depression, denial, anxiety and fear are a few reactions, followed by questions as to how to fix a youngster. What the school phone call generally means is that a child is disrupting the flow of a classroom filled with up to 40 children, forcing the teacher to spend more time with one child than is available.

With 1 in 60 kids now diagnosed as autistic and countless others facing learning disabilities, problems arise in the effort to get every child an education in a supportive, learning environment. If you've received that call or know someone who has, the first thing you should be aware of is the school system cannot demand or force you to go bankrupt trying to fix that child. A great starting place to learn about parents' and children's rights is on the California Department of Education website: http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/qa/pssummary.asp

While not every child with a problem will require special education, public schools have a battery of tests to make that determination. If you are told by a principal or teacher to fix a problem and you have tried but feel you can't fix it, you can request that your child be tested and possibly qualified for an Indivualized Education Program (IEP).

This posting was created to help parents we heard from who are facing a family crisis in their child's education.