Special Education

91 flashcards by MentisLibrary

IDEA, IEPs, least restrictive environment, and the difference between an accommodation and a modification. The legal framework and the classroom practice that follows from it, category by category.

What does IDEA stand for?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the United States federal law governing special education services for eligible children.
What did the Education for All Handicapped Children Act do?
It established the right of children with disabilities to a free appropriate public education in the United States.
What are the six principles of IDEA?
Free appropriate public education, appropriate evaluation, individualized education program, least restrictive environment, parent and student participation, and procedural safeguards.
What does FAPE mean?
Free appropriate public education: special education and related services provided at public expense that meet state standards and follow an individualized program.
What did Endrew F. v. Douglas County establish about FAPE?
That an IEP must be reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances, rejecting a merely more than de minimis standard.
What did Board of Education v. Rowley establish?
That FAPE requires access to specialized instruction and services reasonably calculated to confer educational benefit, not the maximum possible potential.
What is the least restrictive environment requirement?
Students with disabilities must be educated with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate, and removed only when supports in the general class cannot achieve satisfactory progress.
What is the continuum of alternative placements?
The required range of settings from general education class, to resource room, to separate class, to separate school, to residential or home and hospital instruction.
Is least restrictive environment the same as full inclusion?
No. LRE is a legal standard requiring individualized justification for removal; full inclusion is a philosophy that all students be served in the general classroom.
What is an IEP?
An Individualized Education Program: the legally binding written plan describing a student's needs, goals, services, and placement.
What are the required components of an IEP?
Present levels of performance, measurable annual goals, how progress is measured and reported, special education and related services, supplementary aids, extent of nonparticipation with peers, testing accommodations, and service dates and duration.
What are present levels of academic achievement and functional performance?
The IEP section describing the student's current skills and how the disability affects involvement in the general curriculum, forming the baseline for goals.
What makes an IEP goal measurable?
It names the observable behavior, the conditions, and a criterion for mastery, so anyone reading it can tell whether it was met.
Who must be on an IEP team?
The parents, at least one general education teacher, at least one special education teacher, a district representative qualified to commit resources, someone who can interpret evaluation results, and the student when appropriate.
How often must an IEP be reviewed?
At least annually, and more often if the parent or school requests it.
What is a triennial reevaluation?
The at-least-every-three-years review of whether a student still has a disability and still needs special education.
What is Child Find?
The affirmative duty of states and districts to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities who may need services, including those in private schools and those who are homeless.
What is prior written notice?
A required written explanation whenever a district proposes or refuses to change a student's identification, evaluation, placement, or FAPE.
What is informed parental consent in special education?
Written agreement given after the parent has been fully informed, required before initial evaluation and before the initial provision of services.
What is an independent educational evaluation?
An evaluation by a qualified examiner not employed by the district, which a parent may request at public expense if they disagree with the district's evaluation.
What is due process in special education?
A formal dispute resolution procedure in which a parent or district files a complaint and a hearing officer decides the matter.
What is mediation in special education disputes?
A voluntary, confidential process with a neutral trained mediator, offered at no cost to parents, to resolve disagreements without a hearing.
What is stay put, or pendency?
The requirement that a student remain in the current educational placement while a due process dispute is pending, unless the parties agree otherwise.
How many disability categories does IDEA list?
Thirteen.
What are the thirteen IDEA disability categories?
Specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, other health impairment, autism, intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, multiple disabilities, developmental delay, hearing impairment, orthopedic impairment, visual impairment including blindness, traumatic brain injury, and deaf-blindness.
What are the two prongs of special education eligibility?
The student must meet the criteria for a disability category, and must need specially designed instruction as a result.
What is specially designed instruction?
Adapting the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address a child's disability-related needs and give access to the general curriculum.
What is a specific learning disability under IDEA?
A disorder in one or more basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, affecting listening, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or math calculation.
What is dyslexia?
A specific learning disability in reading, characterized by difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition and poor spelling and decoding, typically from a phonological processing deficit.
What is dysgraphia?
Persistent difficulty with written expression, including handwriting, spelling, and organizing ideas in writing, out of line with other abilities.