IDEA, IEP, HUH? Need-to-know Information for Teachers and Parents

Since Public Law 94-142 passed in 1975 under President Gerald Ford, major progress has been made in the development and implementation of special education services. An estimated six million children benefit from special education programs in the United States (US Department of Education, 2005, p. 1). Public Law 94-142 has been amended many times since 1975 and is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. This paper will discuss the original law, amendments, and the referral process necessary for students with disabilities to receive proper education.

The original IDEA law was known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, or EHA. The EHA was comprised of six key components.

1. All children are guaranteed a free and appropriate education. This is also referred to as FAPE.

2. Evaluations for special education have to be processed in a child's primary language, given by qualified multidisciplinary team, modified to measure specific areas of need, comprised of more than one procedure, and must be nondiscriminatory.

3. Every student with an acknowledged disability must have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and that IEP should be shaped to meet the student's needs. The IEP will be updated annually and must include the present levels of educational performance, measurable annual goals and short term objectives, services to be rendered, extent of participation in general education and any modifications that may be needed, objective criteria and evaluation procedures, and projected dates for initiation and duration of services.

4. Children with and without disabilities should be educated together unless the disability is too severe to allow general education. Each child should be educated as close to the regular classroom as possible. This is referred to as the least restrictive environment, or LRE.