Special Education is a remarkable resource for parents of students with disabilites. Understanding what it is and what it can and cannot do is crucial to maximizing your use of this tool.
The late 1960’s and early 1970’s saw a huge battle waged by parents, educators and politicians who felt the standard educational system was neither fair nor appropriate for students with handicaps. At that time, students with severe physical or mental challenges were segregated into special classes or, more often, into special schools where their needs were met by trained personnel. But the segregation and the training of teachers were an issue for parents of less-severely handicapped students as well as those who were benefiting from the existing system.
1973 saw the signing of the Rehabilitation Act, a coup for the civil rights of the handicapped. In 1975, with the authorization by the US Department of Education of the first version of the federal law later known as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Special Education in its present form was born.
IDEA
The law states, in part, that all students, regardless of handicapping condition, are eligible to receive and must be provided with “free appropriate public education” (FAPE). In addition, the original IDEA contained regulations and formulae for determining the level of handicap and the type of teaching required to maximize the student’s potential. This gave birth to Child Study Teams, replacement classes, supplemental instruction, self-contained classes, and a raft of other modifications of the regular education programs already in existence.
IDEA has since been reauthorized, modified, added to and subtracted from. The most recent authorization occurred in 2004, and the details are available online from the US Department of Education or from your local school district. All parents have available to them all of the information in all of the public documents ever created.
Should you read it all? Most of it may not make sense to you. IDEA, like many government documents, is written in language that is, at best, difficult to comprehend. At worst, it leaves professionals and politicians free and almost compelled to discuss ad nauseum the interpretation of the various statements contained within. What you might benefit from is the booklet known fondly as “PRISE”—Parental Rights in Special Education. This is a short summary of the basics of IDEA, but leaves out Section 504.