Federal Legislation: Early Intervention and Prevention

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Chapter 2
Federal Legislation: Early Intervention
and Prevention

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The Early Intervention Movement
• Environment and experience
– The belief that children are what they are has
been challenged.
– Environment and experiences greatly affect
how a child grows and develops.
– Brain research leads us to understand that
children need experiences often and early to
develop needed synapses.

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The Early Intervention Movement
(continued)
• Civil rights
– People with disabilities have the same rights
as everyone else.
– They have a right to a free, appropriate, and
equal education.
– Landmark legislation passed, and is
continuing to pass, exercising all individuals’
constitutional rights.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities
• University Affiliated Facilities (PL 88-164)
• Their main purposes are the following:
• To create, demonstrate, and evaluate intervention and
educational programs for children and youth with disabilities
and their families
• To provide professional trainees with interdisciplinary training
• To conduct research related to human development and
developmental delays
• To establish university-community partnerships to improve
services for people with disabilities

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Handicapped Children’s Early Education
Assistance Act (PL 90–538)
– The major purpose of this legislation is to
improve early intervention services for
children with disabilities, children who are
at-risk for disabilities, and their families.
– Federal funds supported experimental centers
known as the First Chance Network and
model demonstration projects.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Head Start Act
– Mandated (required) that 10 percent of Head
Start’s enrollment be reserved for children
with developmental disabilities
– Head Start continues to grow
• in 2007, serving over 900,000 children
• more than 12% of children have disabilities

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Developmental Disabilities Act (DDA) (PL
106–402)
– Section 504 focused on reducing discrimination
against individuals with disabilities.
– The law required that everyone with a disability be
given access to jobs, education, housing, and public
buildings.
– This law also required schools to make
accommodations for children who have disabilities but
do not qualify for special education.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Education of All Handicapped Children Act
(PL 94–142)
– Now called the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Improvement Act (IDEIA)
– Reflects person-first terminology
– Guarantees all children a free, appropriate,
public education
– Encourages states to locate and serve
preschool children needing early intervention
services

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
– IDEIA mandates
• Zero reject
– Local school systems must provide all children,
regardless of the severity of their disability, with a free
education appropriate to each child’s needs.
• Non-discriminatory evaluation
– Tests must be appropriate to the child’s language and
cultural background.
– Assessment is to be based on several types of
evaluation and is to include cognitive, adaptive, and
social performance.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
– IDEIA mandates
• Appropriate education
– Local school districts must provide educational services
that are appropriate to each individual child.
• Least restrictive environment (Inclusion)
– Children with disabilities must be educated alongside
students who do not have identified disabilities.
• Due process
– Parents must have the right to call a special hearing
when they do not agree with the school’s educational
plans for their child.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
– IDEIA mandates
• Parent participation
– IDEA stresses the importance of parents’ contributions to
their child’s progress.
– Role of parents has been strengthened with each
reauthorization of IDEIA.
– States must provide mediation to schools and parents if
there are disagreements about children’s educational
services.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Education of the Handicapped amendments
(PL 99–457)
– Services for children from birth to age three
• This part of the law is known as discretionary
legislation.
• This means that a state may serve children from
birth through two years of age if it chooses, but it is
not required by law to do so.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
– Services for children birth to age 3
• Those to be served are infants and toddlers who
are experiencing developmental disabilities or are
at-risk of having substantial delays unless they
receive early intervention services.
• Labeling is no longer required.
• Each infant / toddler and family receive a
multidisciplinary, written assessment of his or her
needs and of the services prescribed.
– An Individualized Service Plan or IFSP is developed to
address the needs identified by the team including the
family.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
– Services for children ages 3 to 5
• Services for children beginning at age three are
not discretionary.
• States receiving federal funds for early intervention
programs must serve young children with
developmental disabilities according to the same
formula and requirements as before.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Latest updates on IDEIA
– The new definition requires special education
teachers to hold at least a B.A., obtain full state
special education licensure or equivalent, and cannot
hold a temporary or emergency licensure.
– Extensive provisions are aimed at ensuring special
education and related services for children with
disabilities who are homeless or otherwise members
of highly mobile populations.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
– Changes in procedural safe guards
• The addition of a resolution session prior to a due process
hearing to encourage the parties resolve their dispute—within
15 days of the parent’s complaint.
• Functional behavioral assessment
• Children with disabilities who have been expelled from
school still have the right to an education, and the state must
guarantee that services are still provided throughout the
expulsion.
– Authority to extend Part C services for infants and
toddler services beyond the age of two years.
– Short-term objectives and benchmarks are no longer
required sections in the IEP.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Discipline issues
– A student with a disability generally cannot be
suspended from school for more than 10 school days
if the misconduct was related to his or her disability
and services still need to be provided.
– The IEP team, including parents, must conduct a
functional behavior assessment and consider
strategies including positive behavioral support
strategies to facilitate appropriate behavior in the
classroom.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Americans with Disabilities Act (PL 101–
336)
– ADA gives civil rights protection to individuals
in private employment, all public services and
accommodations, transportation, and
telecommunications.
– Some of the most significant implications are
in the area of access to child care and
community recreation programs.

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Landmark Legislation and People with
Disabilities (continued)
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
– The first civil rights statute for persons with
disabilities.
– Protects qualified individuals from
discrimination based on disability.
– Employers and organizations receiving
federal funds cannot exclude or deny
individuals with disabilities an equal
opportunity to receive program benefits and
services.

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No Child Left Behind
• Established to improve reading and math
testing in the public schools and
reauthorize education reform using federal
funds.
• Requires states to develop accountability
standards to measure annual student
progress in reading and math.
• Works on literacy development.

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No Child Left Behind (continued)
• Teacher requirements and family
initiatives.
• Assessment of children with disabilities
– Children with disabilities or delays in
development are to be tested along with
children without disabilities beginning in the
third grade, with few exceptions.
– If a child’s IEP calls for accommodations in
assessments, these must be offered.

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No Child Left Behind (continued)
• Concerns about NCLB lead to changes
– Concerns about meeting adequate yearly
progress (AYP) by deadline
– 2010, proposed reform of NCLB
• Broader range of assessments to evaluate
academic skills
– Punishments to those schools who did not
meet AYP to lessen
– Waivers from NCLB requirements accepted

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Inclusion and Case Law
• Sacramento Unified School District v. Holland
(1992)
– The district court ruled that 9 year-old with Down syndrome
must be fully included in a general education classroom and
provided a four-part test that must be used to evaluate the
feasibility of inclusion. The four part test asks:
1. What educational benefits are available to the child with
disabilities when supplemented by the appropriate supports?
2. What are the nonacademic (e.g., social) benefits of placement in
a general education classroom?
3. What is the effect on nondisabled children?
4. What is the cost?

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Inclusion and Case Law (continued)
• Oberti v. Board of Education of Clementon
School District (1993)
– The judge ruled strongly in favor of the child’s
right to receive inclusive education and said,
“Inclusion is a right, not a privilege for a select
few.”

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Public Policy and the Gifted
• All fifty states have definitions for
giftedness.
• Federal funds are not allocated for gifted
programs.
• States have taken it upon themselves to
provide services to children who
demonstrate giftedness.
• Educators continue to try to identify young,
gifted children.

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Prevention
• The timing of prevention
– Prevention before conception
• Genetics
• Chromosomal mishaps
• Amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling
can be done to assess the unborn child

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Prevention (continued)
• Timing of prevention
– Prevention during pregnancy
• Good maternal health
• Adequate prenatal care
• Forgoing drugs and alcohol

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Prevention (continued)
• Timing of prevention
– Prevention during and after birth
• Appropriate medical services
• Routine screenings (APGAR)
• Blood tests
• Routine well baby checkups

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Prevention (continued)
• Prevention of secondary disabilities
– Disabilities that come about because of a
primary disability are secondary disabilities.
– They can become cumulative deficits if not
treated.
– Preventative measures can be put into place
to lessen effects.

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Prevention (continued)
• Prevention and related legislation
– Early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and
treatment—EPSDT (PL 90–248)
• The intent of the law is that low-income children be
screened regularly during infancy and the
preschool years to prevent (and treat) health
problems that could interfere with development.

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Prevention (continued)
• Vaccines for children program (VFC)
– The purpose is to prevent childhood diseases
such as rubella, mumps, measles, diphtheria,
tetanus, and pertussis.

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Prevention (continued)
• Supplemental food program for women,
infants, and children (WIC)
– The law allocates nutrition money to state
agencies and to certain Native American
tribes.
– The funds are to be used to provide healthy
foods to low-income pregnant and nursing
mothers and to infants and young children
at-risk for medical problems.

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Prevention (continued)
• Medicaid and the Children’s Health
Insurance Program
– It provides medical assistance to low-income
families and children with disabilities.