IDEA’s Impact on Education
and Individuals with Disabilities
Tami Jo Redinger
SPED 100
April 13, 2011
IDEA’s Impact 1
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has six major principles: zero
reject, nondiscriminatory multifactor identification and evaluation, Free Appropriate Public
Education (FAPE), least restrictive environment, due process safeguards, and shared decision
making (Heward, 2009). Each one of these principles has impacted the American education
system, the educators’ roles, and the lives of individuals with disabilities in the United States.
The first major principle is zero reject which means that “schools must educate all
children with disabilities” (Heward, 2009, 19). All schools are required to provide special
education services for children between the ages of 6 and 17. If a state is going to educate
children between the ages of 3 and 5 and 18 and 21, then they must provide special services for
children with disabilities in those age groups as well. Nondiscriminatory Identification and
Evaluation means that “schools must use nonbiased, multifactored methods of evaluation to
determine whether a child has a disability” (Heward, 2009, 19). Schools cannot make decisions
with only a single test score. If the child doesn’t speak English fluently, they must be given tests
in his or her native language. FAPE requires that an individualized education program (IEP) be
written. An IEP must be “developed and implemented to meet the unique needs of each student
with a disability” (Heward, 2009, 19). FAPE also requires “All children with disabilities,
regardless of the type or severity of their disability, shall receive a free appropriate public
education” (Heward, 2009, 19). The education for these children must be provided, at the
public’s expense. Least restrictive environment (LRE) requires that “students with disabilities be
educated with children without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate” (Heward, 2009,
19). It also says that that students with disabilities only be removed from the regular classroom
IDEA’s Impact 2
when they cannot receive an appropriate education in the general education classroom. Due
process safeguards requires that “schools must provide due process safeguards to protect the
rights of children with disabilities and their parents” (Heward, 2009, 22). Before evaluation and
placement decisions can be made, parental consent must be made. Shared decision making
requires that “schools must collaborate with parents and students with disabilities in the planning
and implementation of special education and related services” (Heward, 2009, 22). The parents’
and students wishes must be considered. In IDEA, formerly known as the All Handicapped
Children’s Act (AHCA), the schools must accept a child with disabilities; provide
nondiscriminatory and multifactored evaluations; provide FAPE; allow the student with
disabilities to learn with children without disabilities, if appropriate; schools must have student
and parental consent, and use safeguards.
IDEA has also had an impact on the roles of the educators. It has had much the same
effect on the educators as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (Turnbull). According to
Giangreco, Broer, and Edelman (2001) “There is no question that paraprofessionals play an
increasingly prominent role in educating students with disabilities in general education
classrooms” (75). Schools must pay for the care of their students with more severe disabilities
that require a paraprofessional or a professional. In the 1999 court case of Cedar Rapids versus
Garret, a local school district was told they are required to pay for one-on-one nursing care for a
student who was medically fragile (Heward, 2009). Because of the one-on-one care that is
required for students with more severe disabilities, the general education teachers do not have to
spend as much time with those students, than if they didn’t have one-on-one care (Giangreco,
Broer, and Edelman, 2001).
IDEA’s Impact 3
The lives of individuals with disabilities have been improved because of IDEA.
Individuals with disabilities can get help as early as infanthood because of it (Elbaum, 2010).
Before IDEA or AHCA, an individual with disabilities would have been lucky if they got
educated. “In the not-so-distant past, many children with disabilities were entirely excluded from
any publicly supported program of education” (Heward, 2009, 16). This included students that
had “bodily or mental conditions” (Heward, 19). In one such case a student with a physical
disability was excluded from the local school because he “produced a depressing and nauseating
effect” on the teachers and the students (Heward, 2009,19). Now, schools are required to accept
students with disabilities and allow them to learn in the least restrictive environment.
The six major principles of IDEA: zero reject, nondiscriminatory multifactored
identification and evaluation, free appropriate public education, least restrictive environment,
due process safeguards, and shared decision making, have all helped shape the American
education system in more ways than one. Without them, individuals with disabilities may not
have been accepted into schools and the educators’ roles wouldn’t be what they are today.
IDEA’s Impact 4
Bibliography
Elbaum, B., G, K. A., & Penfield, R. D. (2010). Evaluation of the battelle developmental
inventory, 2nd edition, screening test for use in states' child outcomes measurement systems
under the individuals with disabilities education act. Journal of Early Intervention, 32(4), 255.
Retrieved from
http://www.ezproxy.dsu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/758417608?acc
ountid=27073
Giangreco, M. F.; Broer, S.M.; Edelman, S. W. (2001) Teacher engagement with Students
with Disabilities: Differences Between Paraprofessional Service Delivery Models
http://www.atypon-link.com/TASH/doi/pdf/10.2511/rpsd.26.2.75?cookieSet=1
Heward W. L. (2009) Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education (9th ed.)
New Jersey, S4Calisle Publishing Services
Turnbull, H.R. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from SagePub website,
http://rse.sagepub.com/content/26/6/320.short