2. Labeling  Allows students with disabilities to receive services  Labels may be stigmatizing or result in discrimination  View children by their abilities not disabilities  Use person-first language

3. IDEA Categories  Specific learning disability  Emotional disturbance  Intellectual disability  Multiple disabilities  Deaf-blindness  Autism  Other health impairments  Orthopedic impairments  Traumatic brain injury  Speech or language impairment  Hearing impairment  Visual impairment

4. IDEA 6 Principles  Zero reject  Nondisciminatory evaluation  Appropriate education  Least restrictive environment  Procedural due process  Parent and student participation

5. Zero Reject  Ensures all children and youth (3-12), no matter how severe their disabilities, will have an appropriate education provided at public expense

6. Nondiscriminatory Evaluation  Two purposes  Does the student have a disability?  What kind of special education and related services does the student require?  Assessment requirement  Screening  Prereferral  Response to Intervention  Referral  Nondiscriminatory evaluation

7. Appropriate Education  Individualized education for each student with a disability  Developed collaboratively by the same people involved in the evaluation  Outcome oriented (include goals/objectives)  Provide the foundation for the student’s appropriate education  The legal document outlining these services is an IEP

8. Appropriate Education IEPS  Document for students 3-21  Need to be in effect at the beginning of the school year  Reviewed and revised at least once a year IFSP’s  Documents for children ages 0-2  Describes the services both the child and the family receive  Should be developed within 45 days of referral and reviewed at 6-month intervals and every year thereafter

9. IEP teams: roles and responsibilities  IEP Team Participants  Parents  General education  Special education  School system representative  Evaluation interpreter  Others  Students  Conference Activities  Prepare in advance  Review formal evaluations  Share resources, priorities and concerns  Share visions and expectations  Consider goals, placements and services  Translate priorities to goals  Determine placement and services  Develop assessment plan

10. Least Restrictive Environment  Education with students who do not have disabilities  For early childhood, IDEA favors the “natural environment”  The rule: A presumption of inclusion  Access to the general education curriculum  The continuum of services  Extracurricular and nonacademic inclusion

11. Procedural Due Process  Makes schools and parents accountable to each other  Resolution session  Mediation  Not required by IDEA but strongly recommended  Due process hearing  Similar to a regular courtroom trail  Conducted before an impartial hearing officer  Parents and schools are entitled to have lawyers present

12. Parent and Student Participation  Parents are members of teams  Parents receive notification before schools do anything about their child’s education  Parents have the right to use the three dispute-resolution techniques  Parents have access to school records concerning students  At age of majority IDEA rights transfer to the student

13. Federal Funding of IDEA  Congress grants federal money to state and local educational agencies  The federal money is insufficient to provide all services  State and local school districts must provide their own funding  Special education services are expensive

14. 6 principles of NCLB  Accountability for results  School safety  Parental choice  Teacher quality  Scientifically based methods of teaching  Local flexibility  Aligned with IDEA because it seeks to improve outcomes for students with disabilities

15. Other federal laws  Rehabilitation Act  Allows people to seek vocational rehabilitation services so that they may work  Provides services such as supported employment programs for job coaches  TECH Act  Allows states to create statewide systems for delivering assistive technology devices and support to people with disabilities