The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Idea Special Education

Special Education: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): Special Education The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) What is the most significant way that federal regulations within IDEA give direction to solving the increasingly complex issues surrounding special education? Is there case law to support your response? The IDEA provides a set of regulations geared at ensuring that eligible students with disabilities have access to educational facilities just like other children their age, and that they are not victimized for their handicaps and disability.

These regulations are scattered across multiple areas including discipline, enrolment, individualized education programs, assistive technology services and so on. Basically, these regulations are geared at ensuring that children with special needs have access to a free and appropriate public education within the least restrictive environment. The most significant avenue through which the IDEA uses these regulations to resolve the complex issues surrounding special education is the court system.

The Act provides legal ramifications for aggrieved students and their parents, who may feel that the regulations provided by the IDEA have been violated, and their rights guaranteed under the Act have been infringed on. The court will often argue the facts of the case out and then provide new directions or reinforce existing ones with the aim of ensuring that the subject's legal rights are upheld.

There are numerous examples of cases demonstrating how the court system has been used to provide direction to parents, schools and school districts on the complex issues surrounding the education of children with special needs. One perfect example is the case of T.K and S. K. vs. New York City Department of Education (2011). In this case, a disabled student brought suit against the department for its officers' failure to remedy harassment and bullying from peers based on her disability.

The federal district court directed that school districts have a duty to investigate bullying or harassment allegations reported to have been committed against a student with special needs on the basis of her disability, and to consequently put measures in place to prevent a reoccurrence of the same. These duties of a school hold regardless of whether or not the school has an anti-bullying policy. The court further directed that such issues be given precedence in PPT meetings as they affect special education students' abilities to receive proper education.

Another illustration is that of Honig vs. Doe (1988), where two emotionally disturbed students sued their school for wrongful suspension (Weishaar, Weishaar & Borsa, 2014). The court directed that schools could not expel students with special needs for behaviors related to their disability. The court further gave a set of procedural guidelines designed to protect children with special needs and their parents, and to provide a clear description of what the role of both the parent and the school are in indiscipline cases involving a student with disabilities (Weishaar et al., 2014).

These are perfect demonstrations of how the IDEA uses the court system to address issues facing students with special needs. Question 2: Considering what constitutes equity for students with special needs, and acknowledging the different interpretations of equity for students with special needs, what proposal would you offer school districts? I would propose that school districts identify the basic categories of students with special needs, and then devise a model for ensuring equity in each individual category (Wilson & Horsford, 2013).

The models developed thereof should incorporate the collective effort of all stakeholders. This would increase the level of commitment and overall participation of all stakeholders involved. Moreover, it should focus on clear expectations for all stakeholders, and the developers should ensure that all stakeholders - schools, parents, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and so on understand what their role is in the same (Wilson & Horsford, 2013). Through the collective effort of these stakeholders, the school district could then come up with initiatives.