IS YOUR SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD RECEIVING THE APPROPRIATE EDUCATION GUARANTEED TO THEM UNDER FEDERAL LAW?
Under the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act your school district must provide special needs children with an education specifically designed to meet the unique educational needs of YOUR INDIVIDUAL CHILD in the least restrictive environment appropriate to the child’s need. That is, the least restrictive environment in which YOUR child learns.
Each special need child is entitled to a free appropriate public education that prepares that individual child for further education, employment and independent living.
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act special education and related services must be designed to meet the unique learning needs of each eligible child with disabilities, preschool through age 21.
If your special needs child has not been receiving individualized and specialized educational services from your school district, he or she may be entitled to money damages from the school district for the years he or she was not provided with the specialized and individual education guaranteed to your child.
The law requires that public schools create an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for each student who is found to be eligible under both the federal and state eligibility/disability standards. The IEP specifies the services to be provided, how often they are to be provided, describes the student’s present levels of performance and how the student’s disabilities affect academic performance, and specifies accommodations and modifications to be provided for the student. An IEP must be designed to meet the unique educational needs of that one child in the least restrictive environment appropriate to the needs of that child.
When a child qualifies for services, an Individualized Education Program Team (IEP Team) is convened to design an education plan. In addition to the child’s parents, the IEP team must include:
- At least one of the child’s regular education teachers
- A special education teacher
- Someone who can interpret the educational implications of the child’s evaluation, such as a school psychologist
- An administrator who has knowledge of the availability of services in the district and the authority to commit those services on behalf of the child
Parents are considered to be equal members of the IEP team along with the school staff. And of course, parents have fundamental rights as parents. Based on the full educational evaluation results, this team collaborates to write an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for the individual child, one that will provide a free, appropriate public education. The required content of an IEP is described in Individualized Education Program. Alternatively, parents may prepare an IEP if the school’s IEP is not fair to the child.
One commonly sought form of relief under IDEA where a school district fails to provide a child with an appropriate education is compensatory education, which requires a school board to provide a child with appropriate educational services to compensate for its past failure to provide a FAPE. Requested forms of compensatory education may include physical and occupational therapy, summer educational services, tutoring, and small group instruction.
ROMINGER & ASSOCIATES CAN ASSIST YOU IN USING MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS, THAT CAN ASSIST YOU IN PREPARING AN INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM OR IN REVIEWING THE PLAN PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO SCHEDULE A FREE CONSULTATION, CONTACT ATTORNEY STEVE SNYDER AT ROMINGER & ASSOCIATES AT (717) 241-6070 OR TOLL FREE AT 1-800-734-2132.
Related services guaranteed to your special need child under the law, include transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education.
Services also guaranteed to your child may include:
- Speech-language pathology
- Audiology services
- Psychological services
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Recreation, including therapeutic recreation
- Early identification and assessment of disabilities in children
- Counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services
- Medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes
- School health services
- Social work services in schools
- Parent counseling and training
Free Appropriate Public Education
Guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) is defined as an educational program that is individualized to a specific child, designed to meet that child’s unique needs, and from which the child receives educational benefit.
To provide FAPE, schools must provide students with an “… education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.”
Some of the criteria specified in various sections of the IDEA statute include requirements that schools provide each disabled student an education that:
- Is designed to meet the unique needs of that one student
- Provides “ …access to the general curriculum to meet the challenging expectations established for all children” (that is, it meets the approximate grade-level standards of the state educational agency)
- Is provided in accordance with the Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
- Results in educational benefit to the child
Least Restrictive Environment
The U.S. Dept. Education, 2005 regulations implementing IDEA states: “…to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities including children in public or private institutions or care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled; and
Special classes, separate schooling or other removal of children with disabilities from regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.”
Simply put, the Least Restrictive Environment is the environment most like that of typical children in which the child with a disability can succeed academically (as measured by the specific goals in the student’s IEP).
IF YOURS SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD IS NOT GETTING THE APPROPRIATE EDUCATION HE OR SHE DESERVES, WE CAN HELP. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR A FREE CONSULTATION, CONTACT ATTORNEY STEVE SNYDER AT ROMINGER & ASSOCIATES AT (717) 241-6070 OR TOLL FREE AT 1-800-734-2132
