Questions And Answers About The IDEA

Part 3

Source

National Information Center
for Children and Youth with Disabilities

Contents

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Additional Resources

As was mentioned at the beginning of this News Digest, two of the best resources a parent can have in regard to the educational rights of their child with a disability are copies of the law itself and the Federal regulations written for the law. Refer to Part I of this document for information about where and how to obtain these resources. Information about how your State implements the law is also useful; State policies are generally available by contacting your school district or State's Director of Special Education Programs.

For additional information, you may find it helpful to contact NICHCY for other materials about the law and how to access special education services. Contact NICHCY for a Publications Catalog, to talk to an Information Specialist about your question(s), or to locate other support groups in your area.

References

Davila, R.R. (1991, December 4). Letter of clarification to E.E.V. Johnson. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. [Available from NICHCY, P.O. Box 1492, Washington, DC 20013. Telephone: 1-800-695-0285 (toll-free, voice/TT); (202) 884-8200 (local, voice/TT); (202) 884-8441 (fax).]

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (P.L. 93-380), Code of Federal Regulations, Title 34, Parts 99.1 - 99.67, 1988.

Goodman, 16 Education of the Handicapped Law Report (EHLR) 1317, OSEP 1990. (Available from LRP Publications, 747 Dresher Road, Suite 500, P.O. Box 980, Horsham, PA 19044-0980. Telephone: (215) 784-0860.)

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (P.L. 101-476), 20 U.S.C. Chapter 33, Sections 1400-1485, 1990.

U.S. Department of Education. (1992, September 29). Assistance to states for the education of children with disabilities program and preschool grants for children with disabilities: Final rule. Federal Register, 57(189), 44794-44840.

U.S. Department of Education. (1992, October 27). Assistance to states for the education of children with disabilities program and preschool grants for children with disabilities; correction; final rule. Federal Register, 57(208), 48694-48704.

IDEA's Definitions of Disabilities

The IDEA lists 13 separate categories of disabilities under which children may be eligible for special education and related services. This Attachment presents the IDEA's definitions verbatim, as found in Section 300.7(b)(1)-(13).

1. Autism
   "Autism" means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has a serious emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (b)(9) of this section.
   
   
2. Deaf-blindness
   "Deaf-blindness" means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.
   
   
3. Deafness
   "Deafness" means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplication, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
   
   
4. Hearing impairment
   "Hearing impairment" means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.
   
   
5. Mental retardation
   "Mental retardation" means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
   
   
6. Multiple disabilities
   "Multiple disabilities" means concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.
   
   
7. Orthopedic impairment
   "Orthopedic impairment" means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).
   
   
8. Other health impairment
   "Other health impairment" means having limited strength, vitality or alertness, due to chronic or acute health problems such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
   
   
9. Serious emotional disturbance
   "Serious emotional disturbance" is defined as follows: (I) The term means 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 --
   
   
   1. An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;
      
      
   2. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;
      
      
   3. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
      
      
   4. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
      
      
   5. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
      
      
   6. The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have a serious emotional disturbance.
      
      
10. Specific learning disability
    "Specific learning disability" means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not apply to children who have learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, or emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
    
    
11. Speech or language impairment
    "Speech or language impairment" means a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
    
    
12. Traumatic brain injury
    "Traumatic brain injury" means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
    
    
13. Visual impairment, including blindness
    "Visual impairment including blindness" means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
    
    

Note: If a child manifests characteristics of the disability category "autism" after age 3, that child still could be diagnosed as having "autism" if the criteria in paragraph (b)(1) of this section are satisfied.

Excerpts from Appendix C of the Regulations for the IDEA -- Discussion of Selected Components of the IEP

Appendix C of the regulations for IDEA contains specific guidance for the team developing a student's IEP. Using a question and answer format, Appendix C adds more detailed information about the IEP process than is available in the main body of the regulations. Parts of this "Notice of Interpretation" are excerpted below.

Present Levels of Educational Performance

• "The statement of present levels of educational performance will be different for each child with a disability." (Question 36)
  
  
• In describing a child's present levels of educational performance, "the statement should accurately describe the effect of the child's disability on the child's performance in any area of education that is affected, including (1) academic areas (reading, math, communication, etc.), and (2) non-academic areas (daily life activities, mobility, etc.)." (Question 36)
  
  
• Moreover, the statement "should be written in objective, measurable terms, to the extent possible. Data from the child's evaluation would be a good source of such information...Whatever test results are used should reflect the impact of the disability on the child's performance. Thus, raw scores would not usually be sufficient." (Question 36)
  
  
• Furthermore, "there should be a direct relationship between the present levels of educational performance and the other components of the IEP. Thus, if the statement describes a problem with the child's reading level and points to a deficiency in a specific reading skill, this problem should be addressed under both (1) goals and objectives, and (2) specific special education and related services to be provided to the child." (Question 36)
  
  

Annual Goals

• The annual goals in the IEP "are statements that describe what a child with a disability can reasonably be expected to accomplish within a twelve month period in the child's special education program." (Question 38)

Short-term Instructional Objectives

• "Short term instructional objectives (also called IEP objectives) are measurable, intermediate steps between the present levels of educational performance of a child with a disability and the annual goals that are established for the child. The objectives are developed based on a logical breakdown of the major components of the annual goals, and can serve as milestones for measuring progress toward meeting the goals." (Question 39)
  
  
• The short-term objectives are similar to those used in daily classroom instructional plans, in that both are used (a) to describe what a child is expected to accomplish in a particular area in a specified time period, and (b) to determine the extent to which the child is progressing towards those accomplishments. (Question 39)
  
  
• However, the IEP objectives are different from those used in classroom plans, "primarily in the amount of detail they provide. IEP objectives provide general benchmarks for determining progress toward meeting the annual goals. These objectives should be projected to be accomplished over an extended period of time (e.g., an entire school quarter or semester). On the other hand, the objectives in classroom instructional plans deal with more specific outcomes that are to be accomplished on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Classroom instructional plans generally include details not required in an IEP, such as the specific methods, activities, and materials (e.g., use of flash cards) that will be used in accomplishing the objectives." (Question 39)
  
  
• "There should be a direct relationship between the IEP goals and objectives for a given child with a disability and the goals and objectives that are in the special education instruction plans for the child. However, the IEP is not intended to be detailed enough to be used as an instructional plan. The IEP, through its goals and objectives, (1) sets the general direction to be taken by those who will implement the IEP, and (2) serves as the basis for developing a detailed instruction plan for the child." (Question 41)