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The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act

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THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT (IDEA)

IDEA is the main law addressing the education of children and adolescents with disabilities. It ensures all individuals with disabilities between the ages of 3−21 the right to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE), regardless of the nature or severity of the disability. Schools must therefore provide services to meet the particular educational needs arising from a disabling condition that cannot be met in the general educational program.

THE NATURE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

Special education is instruction tailored to the unique learning needs of an exceptional student. A host of characteristics may make a student ‘exceptional,’ including sensory, physical, cognitive, or communication abilities that differ from those of same-age peers in a way that is relevant to the student’s education. IDEA specifies 13 disability categories that call for special education if the student requires alternate materials, teaching techniques, equipment, and/or environments to learn as a result of a disability. Special education instruction is more controlled in pace, complexity, persistence, structure, reinforcement, teacher-pupil ratio, content, and progress tracking in comparison to what the student’s peers experience in the general education classroom. Some students will require accommodations, or changes to how they learn, whereas other students will excel from modifications, or changes to what they learn. Sample accommodations are

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