History and laws of special education

¶ … history of special education and the laws associated with the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). We will discuss current and future challenges the act has had in the past, is having now, and will probably have in the future on the area of special education.

History of IDEA

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a American federal law that governs how that states and public agencies are able to provide early special education, interventions and other such related services to children with disabilities. The IDEA fits into the category of "spending clause" legislation. In this vein, it only applies to those States and local educational agencies that accept federal funding under the act. The IDEA Act rose from the family of federal case law that holds that the deprivation of a free public education to disabled children is a deprivation of due process. IDEA has grown in form and scope over the years. The act has been amended and reauthorized frequently. This was done most recently in December 2004. It contained several significant amendments. Its terms have also been defined by the regulations of the United States Department of Education ("History twenty-five years," 2011).

In its definition of the purpose of special education, the IDEA 2004 clarifies the Congress' intended outcome for each adolescent with a disability. The school districts must provide students with special needs be a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Such access to education prepares the student for further education, independent living and future successful employment possibilities.

Additionally, PL 94-142. Also, the act assures that the rights of youths with disabilities and their parents are protected, to provide assistance to States and localities in order to provide for educating children with disabilities and also to assess and facilitate the effectiveness of measures to educate children with disabilities ("History twenty-five years," 2011).

Current Status and Future Prospects for the IDEA Act

Just because a student may be eligible for help under the act, they need to qualify to receive the aid for children with special needs. In order for a child to be eligible for special education services, they must have a disability and also must need special education services and/or related educational services. If a child has a learning disability that does not require special education services, that child is not eligible for special education assistance under IDEA. However, they may be eligible for protections under the Rehabilitation Act in Section 504 ("Eligibility, " 2011).

The renewal of the act is confusing to say the least and confuses everyone from parents to attorneys and also educators. This makes for a very litigious environment for the act and is likely that many of these issues will either be settled in court with case law or will have to addressed in future versions of the law. Such areas of contention include: 1) Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs), 2) transition plans, 3) evaluations, 4) reevaluations, 5) parental consent, 6) special education teachers, child find, 7) private schools and charter schools, 8) early intervening services, 9) accommodations, 10) alternate assessment, 11) education records, 12) mediation, 13) Parent notice, 14) Prior written notice, 15) due process complaint notice, 16) due process hearings 17) Resolution sessions, 18) discipline, 19) positive behavioral intervention plans, 20) interim alternative placements, 21) manifestation review hearings ("Wrightslaw: Idea 2004," 2011).

The future of the act is featured in the 2008 update. There are still a lot of issues that were not fully cleared up. Much of the issues are at their base financial in nature, especially since the designation of someone as a person with right to compensation, special services or protection under the act (Friedline, 2011).

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 was then pledged to invest $100 billion in the facilitation of the provisions of the IDEA Act. In addition, the Department of Education has made the reporting requirements more routine and less burdensome over time. While the many of the original reporting requirements were a challenge to many of the states, since, many them have become normal to the school boards in terms of the states and school districts. The execution requirements have been normalized by developed systems that leave the school districts and the states with fewer time-consuming and expensive data collection responsibilities (ibid.).