Special Education Laws

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a legal document used by schools in order to map out a plan of action for those that are in need of special education. An IEP is created for students who have been classified with a disability and are between the ages of 3 and 21. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a written statement of the educational program designed to meet a child’s individual educational needs. Every child who receives special education services must have an IEP. An individualized education program has the goal of setting reasonable improvement

It was revised and renamed in the 90’s. It was now named the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA in 1997. This act afforded many more rights and regulations to those with special needs and those that provided these services. While the basic premise of the original act was included, IDEA expanded, improved and outlined more specifically the duties of the service providers. Parents gained many new rights as well. They now were to attend all meetings pertaining to their child’s education and were allowed any and all documentation rather than only the relevant documents (ERIC, 1998). Students were to have measurable goals and participate in standardized testing. Not only are the needs of the student through to the age of twenty one within the educational system considered, but now, there are transition plans required to help students move from school to their adult life or college and beyond. Schools now have a specific plan for each student called the Individual Education Plan or IEP. And IEP often takes the talents of many service providers and thus a team is assembled (ERIC, 1998). Another really amazing part of IDEA is in the area of discipline. Students are not to be denied ongoing services due to behavior (ERIC, 1998). However, if the behavior was not determined to be related to their disability, the school is allowed to discipline the student in the same manner as a student without a disability. IDEA

The importance of the Public Law 101 – 476 (IDEA or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990) is that it was an update of the original special education law called Public Law 94 – 142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975). PL101 – 476 is the 1990 Amendments to PL 94-142 that highlighted the following upgrades: (1) renamed the legislation Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), (2) required that each student have, no later than age 16, an individual transition plan (ITP) as part of his or her IEP, (3) expanded the scope of the related services provision by adding two services: social work and rehabilitation counseling, and added the identification of autism and traumatic brain injury as distinct disability

During the early years of implementation of IDEA, schools and agencies made mistakes when determining who to serve through special education. “Sometimes schools placed students in special education based on a single test, administered and placed students using tests that were not reliable or valid, or used tests that were discriminatory” (Yell, 2016, p. 58). A procedure for a clear, accurate, and nondiscriminatory helps to ensure that schools do not repeat these early mistakes.

While all children can be referred for evaluation for special education, not all are found to be eligible. The student will be tested in all areas related to the child’s assumed disability by the multidisciplinary educational team. In order to be eligible for special education services, the child’s assume disability has to impact the child’s ability to learn. Parents represent the child’s interests. They need to stay informed and involved in their child’s education. IDEA of 2004 strengthened the role, as well as the responsibility, of parents and ensures that they and their families have opportunities to participate in their child’s education. IDEA also protects the rights of parents by ensuring that they can be members of the IEP teams. Parents can be involved in the evaluations and placements of their children and have a say in what happens.

IEP stands for an Individualized Education Program, it is a document, that was developed in conjunction with the parent/guardian, is an individually tailored statement describing an educational plan for each learner with exceptionalities There are five major points that are to address the present level of academic functioning personnel as present level of performance, annual goals and accompanying instructional objectives, educational services to be proved, the degree to which the pupil will be able to participate in general education programs, and plans for initiating services and length of services and length

There have also been landmark court cases like Brown v Board of Education and Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Pennsylvania (PARC) which as a result set the wheels in motion for special education reform. The Education for Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was amended and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA) in 1990, has had the greatest impact on special education in public schools. When the law was originally passed in 1975 it required all school districts that accepted federal funds to provide disabled students, ages 5-21, equal access to an education in the least restrictive (LRE) setting possible. Schools were to also disperse funds equally among all students and provide free of charge, the necessary

Special education students are delayed in there learning process. To resolve the gap in learning abilities Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) obliges by law that all public schools to create an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for every child that receives special educational services. IDEA inspires to create an effective relationship amongst the parents and school that boost an educational team with the goals of providing the student with proper services (Mueller, 2009). In Each IEP meeting it involves the IEP team, IEP sections that addresses the student with disabilities educational progress.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is an important law that was passed, which advocates for the needs of disabled children. Federal funding is given to the schools to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Each state works with the federal government to provide this service. It is the states responsibility to follow the laws and find appropriate placement for these children. (US Department of Education, 2007) These students go through a process called appropriate placement by going through a series of referrals, evaluations, and classifications to see which category they fall under. These students may suffer with learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, emotional disorders, cognitive challenges, autism, hearing impairment, visual impairment, speech or language impairment, and developmental delay. Once they find the category then the Child Study Team (CST) made up of a school psychologist, social worker, and a learning disabilities teacher consultant will decide if the student needs an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Then the consultant will decide if the student needs an Individualized Education Program (IEP). This program is offered to students struggling in school allowing them to be taught a different way in the school system. If the student needs an IEP the multidisciplinary committee will meet. The

For students with documented special needs, the school makes additional accommodation. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is "designed to protect the rights of students with disabilities by ensuring that everyone receives a free appropriate public education (FAPE), regardless of ability" (IDEA, 2012, Kid's Health). IDEA mandates that students are educated in the least restrictive environment possible. It also recognizes that every child is different, and giving each child the same education does not mean that every child will receive the same quality of education.

In 1991 the Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was replaced by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law was passed to provide free and appropriate public education to every child with a disability. It requires that each child with a disability “have access to the program best suited to that child’s special needs which is as close as possible to a normal child’s educational program” (Martin, 1978). The Individualized education program (IEP) was developed to help provide a written record of students’ needs and procedures for each child that receives special education services. The IEP will list all the services to be provided, the student's performance level, academic performance, and

IFSP focuses on individualizes supports for a child and their family to enhance the development of the child. It minimizes the need for special education.

This law will ensure that all students with disabilities receives the rights and services they require and deserve. It will also ensure that these children surpass the “de minimis” standard in their education. In closing, the article reads that, “a child’s ‘educational program must be appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances’ and that ‘every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives’ even if the child is not fully integrated into regular classrooms (Brown & Marimow, 2017).”

“The IEP, Individualized Education Program, is a document that is developed for each public school child who is eligible for special education” The IEP describes how the student learns, how the student best demonstrates that learning and what teachers and service providers will do to help the student learn more effectively. When developing an IEP the team will consider how their students specific disability affects their learning and come up with goals and objectives that will accommodate those needs and place the student in the least restrictive environment to achieve the goals and

There are millions of children that are passing through the United States school system every day, not all children possess the same traits, and not all children can learn at the same rate, and do not perform at the same ability. The fact that all children learn differently and some have difficulties learning in general classrooms, special education was put into place to try and take care of these issues. Special education programs were put into place to help all students with disabilities. These children range from general disabilities to more complex and severe disabilities. There has been a revolution occurring in the past several years with education systems, and special education. There have now been several laws that have been