IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) was initially passed in 1975 by Congress to help those students who suffer from some kind of disability. It was amended in 1996 and again in 2004.
It is estimated that more than 6 million children fall into that category; they receive special services that allow them to participate successfully in regular and special classrooms. But there are millions more who have not been diagnosed and/or discovered, or who simply do not qualify even though they are in desperate need of specialized help.
There are two types of help available to those students according to the extent of their disability or disabilities. Yes, some students have more than one; for example, I have a 15 year old female student who suffers from severe hearing loss, speech disorder and mental retardation. However, the most common disability is without a doubt SLD or Specific Learning Disability. SLD is determined by comparing the child’s performance on several tasks with his actual potential. If the discrepancy is more than 15 points in any given area, for example reading comprehension or mathematical calculations, the student is classified as SLD.
The help is categorized as either Accommodations and/or Modifications. The first has to do with the way teaching is delivered to the student, for example giving him/her a written skeleton of the topic covered that day. The second is actually changing the contents of the lesson to make it more accessible and understandable. For example, the student may be given a word bank with simple explanations that are easier to understand. The main purpose is simply to level the playing field with the other students who do not have a disability.
Many parents are however bewildered by the technical terms used by the schools to explain what is being done to their sons or daughters who suffer from SLD or other learning problems. There are many good sites they can refer to and find answers to their questions. Of course, you can email me with your questions and I’ll be more than happy to try and answer every doubt to the best of my ability.
As a teacher in the special education field, I have discovered that many classroom teachers not only do not understand the concept of Learning Disability, but also reject the presence of challenged learners in their classroom. It is true that not all students with disabilities can function adequately in the general classroom; they can learn much more in special settings. But that is true only for the extreme cases, such as the young lady mentioned above who was diagnosed with three different problems.
I have worked as an inclusion teacher for 6 years, which means that I am present in the classroom to help those challenged students follow and understand the regular teacher. It is essential that I work closely with the regular teacher in coordinating our teaching strategies. It has been shown that special education children function much better when they are given the opportunity to work with other students their own age in a regular classroom. It not only helps them learn the core skills needed in life, Math, Science, English and Social Studies, but also the social skills that are essential in reaching a certain level of success in the community.
The strategy of including another teacher in the regular classroom may be an inconvenience for some regular teachers. Sometimes there are clashes between the two due mostly to incompatible personalities, which of course results in learning deficiencies for the students. Some teachers are insecure; others fear that the inclusion teacher will report their inadequacies to the administration. But the inclusion strategy is here to stay and schools must take into account the teachers’ preferences when pairing them. Unfortunately, very few schools actually give the necessary importance to the inclusion process to make it a success. The only people hurt as a result are the learning challenged students and that is unacceptable.
By: Jacques Sprenger
Posts Tagged ‘Individuals With Disabilities Education Act’
The Future of Challenged Students
February 27th, 20105 IDEA Requirements for Independent Evaluations at Public Expense
January 16th, 2010
Are you the parent of a child with autism or a learning disability that needs an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE), to determine their educational needs or services? Have you heard that parents can ask special education personnel in their school district to pay for an IEE at public expense? This article will discuss the 5 IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) requirements for an IEE at public expense.
1. IDEA 300.502 under (b) (1) states that parents “Have the right under this part to obtain an independent educational evaluation at public expense if the parent disagrees with the evaluation obtained by the public agency.”
2. Special education personnel may ask why you disagree with their evaluation, but they cannot require you to give an explanation of what you disagree with. In fact I recommend not telling them what you disagree with, because they may try and limit the IEE.
3. IDEA 300.502 (b) (2) states “that if a parent requests an independent educational evaluation at public expense, the public agency must without unnecessary delay either; 1. File for a due process hearing to show that its evaluation is appropriate, or 2. Ensure that an independent educational evaluation is provided at public expense. . .”
4. IDEA 300.502 (5) (e) states “If an IEE is at public expense, the criteria under which the evaluation is obtained, including the location of the evaluation and the qualifications of the examiner, must be the same as the criteria that the public agency uses when it initiates an evaluation, to the extent those criteria are consistent with the parent’s right to an IEE.” Many school districts try and put a lot of criteria on parents for IEE’s at public expense. For Example: geographic, cost, name of evaluator must be on a list etc.
5. Except for the criteria in 4 above, school districts may not impose other conditions or timelines on the IEE at public expense.
The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has stated, that school districts may develop criteria for IEE’s at public expense; with these two exceptions.
a. The school district cannot make criteria, that prevent the parent from getting an IEE at public expense. For Example: If you live in a small town, with no available evaluators, and your district states that the evaluation must be done within 30 miles; it would be impossible for you to find an evaluator. Or the special education personnel make the cost so low that you cannot find anyone to evaluate your child. This may prevent you from getting the IEE at public expense, so stand up to special education personnel.
b. School districts must allow parents, to prove that their child’s circumstances are unique, and require a waiver of the criteria. For Example: If you feel that your child needs to be seen by a Clinical Psychologist, the cost is probably going to be more than a psychologist would charge. If you can prove unique circumstances, why your child needs to be evaluated by a Clinical Psychologist, then the school district is supposed to pay for the Clinical Psychologist. Whether a school district is willing to do that, without a due process hearing, depends on your school district.
Remember any criteria that a school district makes for an IEE at public expense must not prevent the parent from getting the IEE; and they must allow for waiver of criteria if the child’s circumstances require it. A good independent evaluation can benefit your child by determining their disabilities or educational and related service needs.
By: JoAnn Collins
