1. Early Learning for Students with
Disabilities
People who Influenced the Process
Hippocrates, 400 B.C.
Plato, 375 B.C.
Asclepiades, 90 B.C.
John Locke, 1450 AD-1700 A.D
Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, 1775-1838
2. Legislation that Lead to Special
Education
• Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section
504
• The Americans with Disabilities Act
• Education for All Handicapped Children Act of
1975—P.L. 94-142, Amendment P.L. 98-
199, Amendment P.L. 99-457
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Amendments—P.L. 105-17 and P.L. 108-446
3. Who has a Disability
• Autism • Emotional disturbance
• Deafness • Specific Learning
• Deafness-blindness disabilities
• Hearing impairment • Speech or language
• Mental Disabilities impairment
• Multiple disabilities • Traumatic brain injury
• Orthopedic impairment • Visual Impairment,
including blindness
• Other health impairments
• Pervasive developmental
• Tourettes’s syndrome disorders (PDD)
5. The Assessment Process
• Notice must be given
• Cannot only do one test
• Must test in all areas
• Team of qualified professionals and parents
determine the eligibility
6. The IEP Process
• IEP=Individualized Education Program
• 7 different specific members of the IEP Team
• Should accomplish 6 different things
7. Services that may be Provided
• speech-language pathology and audiology services
• interpreting 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 and school nurse services
• social work services in schools
• parent counseling and training
These are some of the people who helped influence learning for people with disabilities. Hippocrates was one of the first to believe that these people were not possessed but that it was by natural forces that people were born with disabilities. Plato added to that by saying that people with disabilities could not account for their own actions because it was the only way that they knew. Asclepiades was the first person to try and classify that people had mental illnesses and advocated that they get humane and proper treatment. John Locke was also concerned with how people with disabilities were treated and also pushed for better treatment. Jean Marc GaspardItard looked for new ways to teach people with disabilites so that they could live and learn the way that we do.
The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 was passed so that no person with a disability could be denied participation or funding from a program that received federal funding. In 1974 it was changed to extend these rights to all civil rights, including education, employment, health, welfare, and other social-service programs. The Americans with Disabilities Act helped change the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It helped make child-care centers designated as public accommodations so anybody could use them, including those with disabilities. They could only deny the service if the child could become violent, it would cause a great burden on then facility, and the center would have to change the way it operated. Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975—P.L. 94-142 made it so all children between 3 and 18 must be provided a free and appropriate public education (also known as FAPE). It also stated that a child must be put in their “least restricted enviornment” meaning that students must be in the regular classroom as much as they can while still getting a proper education. The first ammendment in 1983 making it so that the states and local governemtns would be responsible for funding instead of the federal government. Ammendment 99-457 developed early-intervention services for infants and toddlers. This made it easier for the families and the child so that the child could have an easier time in schooling. Please keep in mind that not every disability can be discovered at an infant-toddler stage, so this only applies to a few disablities. The Ammendments for Individuals with Disabilitieducation. es Education Act (formally Education for All Handicapped Children Act) in 1997 and 2004 hellped change education to help include things like “zero reject” so no child between the ages of 3 and 21 can be excluded from the education system.
These are some of the disabilities that IDEA recognizes need extra help to learn. Autism significantly affects verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction. This can normally be seen by the age of 3. Some of these disabilities are pretty self expanitory, but I’ll go into more detail on a few. Mental disabilities greatly make a person’s intellectual level lower than that of the overage person’s. This can make it harder for the child to learn. It doesn’t mean that they CAN’T learn. It just means it’ll be harder and there will need to be different approaches to education. Learning disabilities are another very common thing. It means that children have more difficulty understand or leaning language skills (spoken or written). It can make many things difficult. Some specific learning disabilities are dyslexia, brain injuries, developmental aphasia, etc. Speech and Language impairments are also pretty common. A child can have trouble communicating like stutter, impaired articulation, etc that can affect the child’s eduation.
This website gives you a great detailed list on your rights as a parent, and responsibilities for you as the parent. Please feel free to call me or e-mail me if you have ANY questions. I would be glad to help you in your learning process.
If you believe your child needs to be assessed (or reassessed) you as the parent have the right to request it. Before any testing can be done, you as the parent must be informed and you must give the school (or whoever doing the testing) consent to being the testing process. In order to determine if your child has a disability, one test will not do the trick. There must be more than one test to make sure that nothing was missed. The testing must also not be limited to testing for one disability. You must test for ALL suspected disabilities. This makes it so that no disabilities get missed incase your child has multiple disabilities or is not misdiagnosed. A team of qualified professionals will help you determine the eligibility of your child.
The IEP states the goals that teachers and the parents want the child with disabilities to accomplish. All children agese 3-21 with disabilities must have an IEP if they are going to receive special education services. People who will be on the team are 1.) you (the parents), 2.) At least one regular education teacher 3.) at least one special education teacher 4.) a representative of the local ecducation agency who is qualified 5.) at lease one individual who can relate the evaluation results to goals and steps of the IEP 6.) any other people who have knowledge or special expertise regarding your chile (with your permission), 7.) If appropriate, your child. The IEP should accomplish a number of things. It will better help you comminucate with the school because now you will both hae a document stating what the childs needs are. It will also help you resolve and differneces you and the school have. The IEP is a written commitment to help better the education process for the child and is a great benefit for them. The IEP is also a great manangement tool to help make sure your child is getting the proper education and services they need to further their education. The IEP also helps to make sure that they are still getting a Free Approprate Education and that their rights are not being violated. The IEP also helps document your childs progress so that changes can be made when the IEP is updated.
This are some of the services that your child may be entitled to. These are not necessarily all the services your child may receive. Depending on the child and the disability, multiple services can be provided.
Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. I will also be willing to provide you my phone number through e-mail. I am more than willing to help guide you in your families journey.