Transcript Slide 1

IDEA 2004
What the Changes Mean
for Our Children
Sue Abderholden, MPH
NAMI Minnesota
IDEA 2004
Signed in to law Dec. 3, 2004
The provisions of the act became effective
on July 1, 2005
The final regulations were published on
Aug. 14, 2006
The regulations took effect on
October 13, 2006
IDEA 2004
To ensure that all children with disabilities
have available to them a free appropriate
public education that emphasizes special
education and related services designed to
meet their unique needs and prepare them
for further education, employment, and
independent living;
Child with a Disability
•mental retardation,
•a hearing impairment (including deafness), a speech or language impairment,
•a visual impairment (including blindness),
•a serious emotional disturbance (referred to in this part as ``emotional
disturbance''),
•an orthopedic impairment,
•autism,
•traumatic brain injury,
•an other health impairment,
•a specific learning disability,
•deaf-blindness,
•or multiple disabilities,
and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services.
Does not have to fail or been retained in a course, and can be advancing from
grade to grade. •
Emotional Disturbance
a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of
time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational
performance:
(A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health
factors.
(B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers
and teachers.
(C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.
(D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
(E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or
school problems.
Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children
who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional
disturbance under paragraph (c)(4)(i) of this section.
Other Health Impairment
means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness,
including a heightened alertness to environmental
stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to
the educational environment, that–
(i) Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as
asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart
condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia,
nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and
Tourette syndrome; and
(ii) Adversely affects a child's educational performance.
Other Health Impairment
The list of acute or chronic health conditions in
the definition of other health impairment is not
exhaustive, but rather provides examples of
problems that children have that could make them
eligible for special education and related services
under the category of other health impairment.
We decline to include dysphagia, FAS, bipolar
disorders, and other organic neurological
disorders in the definition of other health
impairment because these conditions are
commonly understood to be health
impairments.
Specific Learning Disability
• A State must adopt, criteria for determining
whether a child has a specific learning disability
• Must not require the use of a severe discrepancy
between intellectual ability and achievement for
determining whether a child has a specific
learning disability,
• Must permit the use of a process based on the
child’s response to scientific, research-based
intervention; and
• May permit the use of other alternative researchbased procedures for determining whether a
child has a specific learning disability,
Early Intervening Services
• Assist children who have not yet been
identified as eligible for special education
and related services but who need
academic and behavioral support
• Emphasis on K-3
• Does not limit right to FAPE
• Can’t be used to delay evaluation
Early Intervening Services
• Districts can use up to 15% of their funds
• Can use funds to improve staff capacity to
deliver scientifically based academic and
behavioral interventions.
• Providing educational and behavioral
evaluations, services, and supports,
including scientifically based literacy
instruction
Response to Intervention
Sort out if child has a disability or if it is due to
inadequacies in instruction or in the curriculum.
Cannot delay evaluation.
Core concepts of an RTI approach are the
systematic
(1) Application of scientific, research-based
interventions in general education;
(2) Measurement of a child's response to these
interventions; and
(3) Use of the RTI data to inform instruction.
Scientifically Based Research
Means research that involves the
application of rigorous, systematic, and
objective procedures to obtain reliable
and
valid knowledge relevant to education
activities and programs
Evaluation
• Can be requested by parent or school
district
• School must take reasonable efforts to
obtain informed consent
• Must be conducted within 60 days
Reevaluation
• No more than once a year unless parent
and school agree (not formal consent)
• Once every three years unless parent and
school agree
• Written notice if school disagrees, due
process kicks in
Reevaluation
IDEA now permits the public agency to not
conduct a reevaluation before terminating
a student’s eligibility under IDEA when:
• the student graduates from secondary
school with a regular diploma, or
• when the student exceeds the age
eligibility for FAPE under State law.
• Diploma does NOT include GED
IEP
• Identify the members of the IEP Team
• Identify instances when an IEP Team
member may not need to attend – parent
and school must agree
IEP
• Require that the notice inform parents of
other IEP Team participants
• Require that the IEP be accessible to
teachers and others responsible for its
implementation
IEP
• changes to a child’s IEP midyear can be mdae
without calling a meeting
• the parent of a child with a disability and the
public agency must agree
• may develop a written document to amend or
modify the child’s current IEP.
• must ensure that the child’s IEP Team is
informed of those changes
• Parent must request a revised copy of the IEP
IEP
each regular teacher, special education
teacher, related services provider, and any
other service provider who is responsible for
the implementation of a child's IEP, is informed
of his or her specific responsibilities related to
implementing the child's IEP and the specific
accommodations, modifications, and supports
that must be provided for the child in
accordance with the child's IEP.
Supplementary Aids and
Services
The definition of supplementary aids and
services in has been modified to specify
that aids, services, and other supports
are also provided to enable children with
disabilities to participate in
extracurricular and nonacademic
settings.
Discipline
• Schools can consider unique
circumstances on a case by case basis
• Expands 45 day or less removal to include
when the student has inflicted serious
bodily injury upon another person (defined
under federal law)
• 45 school days not calendar days
Manifestation Determination
• caused by or had a direct and substantial
relationship to
• failure to implement IEP
• no longer includes that the IEP was
inappropriate
Age of Majority
State must establish procedures for appointing the parent
of a child with a disability, or if the parent is not available,
another appropriate individual, to represent the
educational interests of the child if, under State law, a
child who has reached the age of majority, but has not
been determined to be incompetent, can be determined
not to have the ability to provide informed consent with
respect to the child's educational program
Disproportionality
The State must have policies and procedures
designed to prevent the inappropriate overidentification or disproportionate representation
by race and ethnicity of children as
• children with disabilities, including children with
disabilities with a particular impairment
• placement in particular educational settings of
these children;
• incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary
actions, including suspensions and expulsions
(includes comparison to nondisabled children)
Medications
Cannot require parents to obtain a prescription for
medication for a child as a condition of attending school,
receiving an evaluation to determine if a child is eligible
for special education services, or receiving special
education and related services.
Permits classroom personnel to speak with parents or
guardians regarding a child's academic and functional
performance, behavior in the classroom or school, or the
need for an evaluation to determine the need for special
education or related services.
Residential placement
If placement in a public or private
residential program is necessary to
provide special education and related
services to a child with a disability, the
program, including non-medical care and
room and board, must be at no cost to the
parents of the child.
Outcome Data
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Suspensions and expulsions
Removal from regular classroom
Graduation rates
Drop out rates
Participation and performance on statewide
assessments
• Parent involvement
• Transition
• Due process
Outcome Data
Fourth-fifths of the states are falling short of
federal requirements for educating students with
disabilities, the Education Department says. The
states got their first-ever federal report cards this
week judging them on how well they are
implementing the nation's main special
education law. The state-by-state results were
posted on the Education Department's Web site
Wednesday.
Outcome Data
States were required to provide information on: (1) specific new
indicators; and (2) correction of any deficiencies identified in the Office
of Special Education Programs’ (OSEP’s) SPP response letter sent to
your State last year. States were also required to submit by February
1, 2007, an APR for Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2005 that describes the
State’s: (1) progress or slippage in meeting the measurable and
rigorous targets established in the SPP; and (2) any revisions to the
State’s targets, improvement activities, timelines or resources in the
SPP and justifications for the revisions. .. As you know, your State
must report annually to the public on the performance of each
local educational agency (LEA) located in the State on the targets in
the SPP under IDEA section 616(b)(2)(C)(ii)(l).
http://www.ed.gov/fund/data/report/idea/partbspap/index.html
Resources
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Parent, Training and Information Centers
IDEA Partnership
http://www.nichcy.org/training/contents
http://idea.ed.gov
http://www.nasponline.org/advocacy/IDEAi
nformation.aspx