More Due Process for a Traffic Ticket? Why Schools Make Bad Courts

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The author, Juliet Hiznay, is a special education advocate and attorney in private practice in Northern Virginia. For information about her practice, visit http://jdhiznay.com/  Submitted as a comment to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Human Rights & Civil Rights for its December 12, 2012 hearing on “Ending the School to Prison Pipeline” As an attorney, … Read more

A Rationing System: Waiting Lists for Medicaid Waiver Services in Virginia

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The author, Juliet Hiznay, is a special education advocate and attorney in private practice in Northern Virginia. For information about her practice, visit http://jdhiznay.com/ 

All this talk in the national press about Medicare and Medicaid has me thinking about the state of things in Virginia for children with disabilities as it stands today. A short preview is: the state of things is appalling. We don’t have a rational system in the Commonwealth of Virginia, we have a rationing system. Yes, we are rationing care today.

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beating the summer blahs — kid-oriented activities for late summer

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The author, Juliet Hiznay, is a special education advocate and attorney in private practice in Northern Virginia. For information about her practice, visit http://jdhiznay.com/ 

It’s almost August and this is about the time when summer starts to fray on nerves, at least that has been my experience. This is even more the case for families with children with special needs. Does this sound familiar? Your kids are off schedule, lack routine, have trouble occupying themselves (“I’m bored.”), tired of jumping from camp to camp, exhausted from traveling, irritable due to an overload of “fun” in the sun, staying up too late at night — because it is hard to go to sleep when it is still light out and who wants to miss the Summer Olympics?

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