Special Education Laws

Notes from the Spring 2007 CSUMB Special Education 560 class on introduction to special education from January 27, 2007 with Dr. Leilani Saez:


Major laws that influenced special education:

Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973:

• Disability meant a physical or mental impairment that limited one or more major life activity.
• It entitled children with disabilities to Free and Appropriate Education (AKA FAPE).
• It allowed for class accommodations to provide equal access due to student exceptionalities.
• Also prevented discrimination for employment and higher education for people with disabilities.

PL 94-124 or Education for All Handicapped Children of 1975:

• It required public schools to seek or provide appropriate, free, and individual services for children with disabilities.
• It was reauthorized in 1990 and 1997 as the Individuals with Disability Education Act (AKA IDEA).
• It was also reauthorized in 2004 as the PL 108-446 IDEA Improvement Act.
• It reflects special education services today.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990:

• It still considered disabilities to limit major life activities.
• It provides public access and transportation.

2004 IDEA entitlements for special education students:

• Assessments without discrimination,
• Individual Education Plans (IEPs),
• FAPE,
• Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) for students (LRE ranges from being full time in the general education class, to part time in the Resource room or Special Day Class, to full time in a special education class, to special education at home or in the hospital),
• Individual Transition Plans (ITPs),
• Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) for behavior problems unrelated to disabilities,
• students participate in state assessments,
• parental due process safeguards (examples: records access, independent evaluations, native language parental consent, hearing and mediation resolutions, Notice of Transfer Rights to Child at age 18),
• Child Find/Zero Reject (means that schools cannot reject student from special education),
• Use general education as much as possible for special education students.

2004 IDEA changes from previous authorizations:

• Paperwork reduction,
• Response for Treatment to Intervention (RtI),
• Learning Disability identification,
• 60 day time line to assess students for special education eligibility,
• Short term objectives and benchmarks not required for IEPs,
• Transition services begin at age 16 instead of 14,
• Experimentation with multi-year IEPs,
• No Child Left Behind (NCLB) priorities (examples: highly qualified teachers, research-based interventions, high student expectations, education in the general education curriculum as much as possible for special education students).