Children with disabilities deserve an education. When given the opportunity to learn at their level, they, too, can be productive members of society.
And thanks to IDEA, or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, children with disabilities no longer have to suffer with social stigmas or go unnoticed. Not only can they receive acknowledgment for their special needs, they can receive a quality education as well.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is not a new concept. It has been around for a quite a while. It was recently update in 2004 to keep up with the current trends of our time.
According to the revision, all people with disabilities must receive “a free, appropriate public education.” The plan ought to be conducted within the disabled person’s IEP or Individualized Education Program, which deals with the person’s needs in the Least Restrictive Environment.
So what does that mean?
That means public schools need to ensure they have the capability to teach children with disabilities, and therefore must provide the proper learning instruments to be able to do so. Learning instruments include study aids created specifically for children with disabilities and modifications made on standardized tests to fit the learning level or test-taking capacity of disabled children. It also means changes to educational institutions need to be considered in terms of their working area, access from the street, and so on.
The Least Restrictive Environment portion states children with disabilities should not be secluded from other children of their own age. The reason for this is because IDEA hopes to make children with disabilities feel like they are actually part of society as early as elementary school. However, this does not apply if the child’s disability is severe or education is impossible for the disabled child if he or she is placed in a regular classroom. The Least Restrictive Environment pertains not only to the location or classroom that a disabled child is placed in, but also to the method used in teaching the child.
So what qualifies a child to be disabled under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. According to IDEA, a child with disabilities can have mental retardation, can suffer from speech or language impairments, impairment in visual skills (or blindness), impairment in hearing (or deafness), orthopedic or movement-related impairment, brain injury or trauma to the brain, serious emotional distress, autism, learning disabilities, or other impairments to health. The IDEA further establishes that such a child require special education and other related services.
This program is molded specifically for the child with disabilities, if the child is found to be eligible under the IDEA. According to the law, the program is designed to include a general education teacher, a school administrator, a school psychologist or standardized testing specialist, a teacher trained in special education should the child require a special education program, and the child’s parents. The program also includes benchmarks, as well as goals to track the child’s progress.
And most important of all, the act establishes that all children with disabilities receive education from pre-school to secondary school, along with education related services at no cost to the child’s parents or guardians. However, there may be fees imposed for the care of disabled toddlers or infants.
Tags: learning disabilities information