Week One
Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) an Overview
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Chapter 1 Objectives
At the end of this chapter you should be able to:
• Describe students who are in special education and the
professionals that work with them.
• Identify and define the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA)
• Articulate other federal laws that benefit students with
disabilities.
• Explain the outcomes these laws have helped achieve for
students.
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Values to Guide Teaching (Figure 1.1)
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Envisioning Great Expectations
Enhancing Positive Contributions
Building on Strengths
Becoming Self-Determined
Expanding Relationships
Ensuring Full Citizenship
Who Are the Students?
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• Approximately 6 million students
ages 6 - 21
• 369,596 infants and toddlers or 2.2% of U.S.
infants and toddlers
• 670,750 preschool children or 5.8% of the
preschool-aged population
Profile of Special Education
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• Approximately 2/3 boys and 1/3 girls in special
education
• Approximately 1.8% to 18 % of students in the
gifted and talented category in different statesOverall, 6.4 % of the school population
• Females slightly outnumber males in gifted and
talented category
Students 6 to 21: 2007
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Categories of Disabilities (Figure 1–2)
9%
8%
8%
46%
10%
19%
Specific Learning
disabilities
Speech Language
Impairments
Intellectual
Disability
Emotional/Behavior
al disorders
Other Health
Impairments
Other Disabilities
combined
Who Are the Students?
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Labeling
• Allows students with disabilities to receive
services
• Labels may be stigmatizing or result in
discrimination
• View children by their abilities not
disabilities
• Use person-first language
Who Are Special Education Personnel?
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• Special education is a high-demand occupation
• Districts often have unfilled teaching positions
• Many different professionals work with students
with disabilities:
– School social workers
– Occupational therapists
– Physical therapists
– Recreation and therapeutic
specialists
– Paraprofessionals
– Supervisors/administrators
– Psychologists
– Diagnostic/evaluation staff
– Audiologists
– Speech therapists
– Additional specialists
Overview of the Law and Special Education
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Two Types of Discrimination
• Previous discrimination:
▫ Exclusion
▫ Misclassification
• Consequences of Brown v. Board of
Education (1954)
Judicial Decisions and Legislation
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Court Cases
• Mills v. Washington, DC, Board of Education and Pennsylvania
Association for Retarded Citizens [PARC] v. Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania
• The courts ordered school districts to:
▫ Provide a free, appropriate public education to all students with
disabilities
▫ Educate students with disabilities in the same schools and
basically same programs as students without disabilities
▫ Put into place procedural safeguards so that students can
challenge schools that do not live up to the court’s orders.
• These decisions led to families advocating for a federal law to
guarantee rights and Congress to act
Introduction to IDEA
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• IDEA(originally called Education of All
Handicapped Students Act or PL 94-142) was
first enacted in 1975
• Original intent: Open schools to all students
with disabilities and ensure they had a chance
to benefit from special education
• Current focus: Provide a free, appropriate
public education to all students with
disabilities
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The Span of Special Education
• IDEA provides services from birth to age 21
(historically was from ages 6 to 18)
• IDEA has three sections:
▫ Part A sets out Congress’s intent and national
policy to provide a free appropriate public
education to all students with disabilities
▫ Part B serves children ages 3 to 21
▫ Part C serves students ages birth to 2
Special Education and Students’ Eligibility
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• Eligibility is based on need
• Special education services are provided
wherever there are students with disabilities
▫ Classrooms
▫ Students’ homes
▫ Hospitals and institutions
▫ Other settings
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Related Services (Figure 1–3)
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Assistive Technology
Audiology
Counseling services
Early identification
Family training, counseling,
and home visits
Health services
Medical services
Occupational therapy
Orientation and mobility
services
Parent counseling and
training
Physical therapy
• Psychological services
• Recreation and therapeutic
recreation
• Rehabilitative counseling
services
• School health services
• Service coordination services
• Social work services in
schools
• Speech pathology and
speech-language pathology
• Transportation and related
costs
• Vision Services
Students’ Eligibility
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• Part B
▫ 12 disability categories under which students
may be served
• Part C benefits children under age 3 who:
▫ Need early intervention services because of
developmental delays
▫ Have a diagnosed physical or mental condition
that has a high probability of resulting in a
developmental delay
▫ States have the option of serving at-risk children
IDEA Disability Categories
• Specific learning
disabilities
• Emotional disturbance
• Mental retardation
• Multiple disabilities
• Deaf-blindness
• Autism
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Other health impairments
Orthopedic impairments
Traumatic brain injury
Speech or language
impairments
• Hearing impairments
• Visual impairments
You will learn about these categories in Chapters 5 through 16.
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act: Six Principles
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Zero reject
Nondiscriminatory evaluation
Appropriate education
Least restrictive environment
Procedural due process
Parental and student participation
Zero Reject
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• Ensures all children and youth (3 - 21), no
matter how severe their disabilities, will
have an appropriate education provided at
public expense
• Applies to:
▫ Educability
▫ Discipline
Discipline
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Equal treatment
No cessation
Unique circumstances
Short-term removals
Manifestation determination
Response to no manifestation
Response to manifestation
Services in interim alternative educational
setting
• Weapons, drugs, and injury
Nondiscriminatory Evaluation: Two
Purposes
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• Does the student have a disability?
• What kind of special education and related
services does the student require?
• Assessment Requirements
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Screening
Prereferral
Response to intervention
Referral
Nondiscriminatory evaluation
Appropriate Education: IEP/IFSPs
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• Individualized education for each student with a
disability
• Developed collaboratively by the same people
involved in the evaluation
• Outcome oriented (include goals/objectives)
• Provide the foundation for the student’s
appropriate education
Appropriate Education
IEPs
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IFSPs
• Document for children
ages 0–2
• Describes the services
both the child and family
will receive
• Should be developed
within 45 days of referral
and reviewed at 6-month
intervals and every year
thereafter
IEP Team
Participants
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Parents
General educator
Special educator
School system
representative
• Evaluation interpreter
• Others
• Student
IEP
Conference Activities
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• Prepare in advance
• Connect and get started
• Review formal evaluation and
current levels of performance
• Share resources, priorities, and
concerns
• Share visions and expectations
• Consider interactions of
proposed students goals,
placement and services
• Translate student priorities into
written goals
• Determine placement,
supplementary aids/services,
and related services
• Address assessment
modifications and special
factors
• Conclude the conference
Least Restrictive Environment
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• Education with students who do not have
disabilities
• For early childhood, IDEA favors the “natural
environment”
• The rule: A presumption of inclusion
• Access to the general education curriculum
• Setting aside the presumption
• The continuum of services
• Extracurricular and nonacademic inclusion
Procedural Due Process
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Makes schools and parents accountable to each other
• Resolution session
• Mediation
▫ Not required by IDEA but strongly encouraged
• Due process hearing
▫ Similar to a regular courtroom trial
▫ Conducted before an impartial hearing officer
▫ Parents and schools are entitled to have lawyers
present
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Parent and Student Participation
• Parents are members of teams
• Parents receive notification before schools do
anything about their child’s education
• Parents have the right to use the three
dispute-resolution techniques
• Parents have access to school records
concerning student
• At age of majority IDEA rights transfer to the
student
Relationship Among 6 Principles
(Figure 1–7)
IDEA
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Federal Funding of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act
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• Congress grants federal money to state and
local educational agencies
• The federal money is insufficient to provide all
services
• States and local school districts must provide
their own funds
• Special education services are expensive
Six Principles of No Child Left Behind
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Accountability for results
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School safety
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Parental choice
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Teacher quality
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Scientifically-based methods of teaching
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Local flexibility
Also
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Aligned with IDEA because it seeks
improved outcomes for students with
disabilities
Other Federal Laws: Entitlements
and Antidiscrimination
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• Rehabilitation Act
▫ Allows people to seek vocational rehabilitation
services so they may work
▫ Provides services such as supported employment
programs and job coaches
• Tech Act
▫ Allows states to create statewide systems for
delivering assistive technology devices and support
to people with disabilities
Other Federal Laws: Entitlements and
Antidiscrimination
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• Section 504
▫ Applies to any program or activity receiving
federal funds
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
▫ Applies to other programs or activities
available to the public that do NOT receive
federal funds
Special Education Results
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Equality of opportunity
Full participation
Independent living
Economic self-sufficiency
Measured by:
• High school completion rates
• Post school employment rates
• Overall satisfaction with life