IDEA and Special Education

 

Images representing different disabilities 

 

As a future special educator, I have studied and learned about IDEA in almost all of my education courses. IDEA is defined as, "the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children". IDEA guarantees that students with disabilities will be given a free and appropriate education (often referred to as FAPE). It also guarantees that students will be placed in the least restrictive environment (referred to as LRE). IDEA is the largest and most important law regarding special education. IDEA guarantees that students with disabilities will have an Individualized Education Program (IEP); this document records information about the student's disabilities, their goals to be achieved, their accommodations/modifications they receive, and any assistance they require. This document protects the student from not receiving a proper education and guarantees that they will receive it; if they do not, the document states how the parents and students can use due process to fight for a proper education as guaranteed by law. 

IDEA was a huge milestone for special education in the United States. It laid out students' rights, parents' rights, teachers' rights, and what students with disabilities are guaranteed. Since I am majoring in special education I have learned about IDEA at least 20 times, and I am only a sophomore! In my opinion, IDEA is the most important special education legislation put into effect in the United States. If you were to actually look at the bill you will find how dense it is and how much detail was put into it. This bill laid the groundwork on how special education should be run and what rights are guaranteed to students with disabilities. Special and general education teachers should become familiar with this law so that they can be better educators and so that they can ensure all students get the help they need.