IDEA Essay

By: Jake Ferdinand

Intro to Persons with Exceptionalities

Dakota State University
April 5, 2015

Abstract: Congress first passed The Individuals with Disabilities Act in 1975. Since then, there
have been many modifications to this law. For instance, the act has significantly impacted the
education system, ranging from aspects of teachers jobs to the education of students with
disabilities.

In the last decade, there have been many different altercations that have been made to the
education system in America. One of the biggest changes occurred when Congress passed the
Education of All Handicapped Children Act 1975. Since then it has been renamed to the
Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). This law emphasizes that students with disabilities
were receiving the same opportunities as students without disabilities. The IDEA has had many
amendments, with its most recent change happening in 2004. Advancements in special
education programs are important because so many children benefit from the services provided
by this act. In the 2005-2006 school year alone, there were more than six million students that
received special education services (Heward).
IDEA has six major principles that outline the main points of the law. The first principle,
zero reject, states that a student cannot be rejected no matter how severe their disability is. The
second principle is nondiscriminatory identification and evaluation. Educators have to be
unbiased when evaluated if a student qualifies for special education. Free, appropriate public
education (FAPE) is the next and most well-known principle. According to Patricia Latham, an
attorney and past president of Learning Disabilities Association of America, FAPE is each child
who has a disability and needs special education and related services will receive a free and
appropriate public education (Latham). FAPE also deals with individualized education plans
(IEP) for students in special education programs. The next principle is least restrictive

environment (LRE), which means that students with disabilities must be educated with children
without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate (Heward). The last two principles of
IDEA revolve around due process safeguards, and shared decision making. These emphasize the
parents and childs rights and the role that parents have in their childs education. All of these
principles have made a drastic impact in schools today. According to Exceptional Children: An
Introduction to Special Education, IDEA has profoundly influenced what takes place in every
school building in the country and has changed the roles and responsibilities of general and
special educators, school administrators, parents, and students with disabilities in the educational
process (Heward).
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has had a big impact on the American
Education system. Students with disabilities are able to go to their neighborhood, public schools.
Before IDEA, students with disabilities might have been denied access to them or they would
have to find certain schools that had special education programs, which were harder to find
(Thirty Years of Progress in Educating Children with Disabilities Through IDEA). In 1986,
Congress added to the Education of the Handicapped Act, by extending special education
services to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers (Heward). Programs were made to target children
at an early age to improve developmental and biological difficulties. Services like medical and
educational assessment, physical therapy, and parent counseling and training were provided from
the state (Heward). These services are called individualized family service plan (IFSP). The
education system has also been impacted by different technologies that have been made to help
students with disabilities. Assistive technology is any device, piece of equipment or system that
helps bypass, work around or compensate for an individual's specific learning deficits
(Raskind). Assistive technology is mostly used on students with learning disabilities, as well as

students with cognitive and physical impairments. Another aspect that IDEA affects is the federal
funding of special education. According to Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special
Education,
When Congress passed the IDEA in 1975, it promised to provide federal funds for 40%
of the excess costs of educating children with disabilities, based on the national average
for per-student expenditures. Although federal funding for IDEA has increased in recent
years, it has never reached more than about 18% of the national average (Heward).
As one can see, federal funding is very important for the American education system, especially
for special education programs.
IDEA has also had a very big impact on educators everywhere. One of the biggest
responsibilities a special education teacher has is to make IEPs for their students with
disabilities. They dont do this on their own, they do it with the help of the IEP team. In the team
there is the special education teacher, the regular education teacher, a representative of the public
agency, an individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluation results, the
parents of the child, and the child (The IEP Team). When making the IEP, the team needs to
specify the childs needs, the services needed, and the goals of the students. The regular
education teachers need to follow the IEP. For example, if a student struggles at math, his or her
IEP might say that they need an extra 10 minutes to finish in-class assignments, quizzes, or tests.
If a teacher does not follow the IEP of a student, they could face consequences. Special
education teachers also have to figure out the students least restrictive environment. For the
student above who has trouble with math, they could be in the general education classroom for
the whole day, except for when math class starts. They could go to the special education
classroom to get more help with math and return to the general education classroom when the

time is up. Educators have had to change certain aspects of their job since IDEA was passed,
however their goals of educating the future of America remain the same.
The most important impact that IDEA has had on the American education has been on
students with disabilities. IDEA has helped protect their rights, as well as give schools and
educators rules and regulations on educating them. For example, the different rules regarding
IEPs and LRE have made it clear on what the expectations are regarding teachers when teaching
children with disabilities. These students are people that can make a difference in the world
which is why their education is just as important as students without disabilities.

Works Cited
Heward, W. (2009). Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education (9th ed.).
Pearson.
Latham, P. (1, January 1). At a Glance: Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
Retrieved April 6, 2015, from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/yourchilds-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/at-a-glance-free-and-appropriate-public-education
Raskind, M., & Stanberry, K. (n.d.). Assistive technology for kids with LD: An overview.
Retrieved April 7, 2015, from http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/assistivetechnology/702-assistive-technology-for-kids-with-learning-disabilities-an-overview.gs?
page=all
The IEP Team. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2015, from
http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/iep-team/
Thirty Years of Progress in Educating Children with Disabilities Through IDEA. (n.d.).
Retrieved April 7, 2015, from https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/leg/idea/history30.htm