SPED Basics
The legal requirement that all children, regardless of disability status, receive appropriate services, at no cost to the parents, through the public school system.
What is a free, appropriate, public education (FAPE)?
Passed in 1975 as the Education of All Handicapped Children Act and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which requires schools to provide a free and appropriate public education to all children with disabilities.
What is PL 94-142?
Principle that disallows exclusion of children with disabilities from the educational process.
What is "Zero Reject"?
An approach to assessment and intervention that recognizes the centrality of the family in supporting the needs of young children, including consideration of family concerns, priorities, and resources.
What is the family-centered approach?
A service directed by each state that outlines plans and procedures for identifying children with disabilities who are unserved, specifically, children aged birth to six.
What is Child Find?
An educational approach in which special and regular education teacher collaborate to support students with disabilities so that they may receive their education in a general educational setting with their non-disabled peers.
What is inclusion?
The federal law that was most recently amended in 2004 as the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEIA) and is an expansion of the original Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (PL 94-142).
What is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act?
Provision of the law requiring that assessments for determining eligibility, placement, and services be culturally sensitive, provided in the language of the child, and valid for the purposes of the evaluation.
What is non-discriminatory assessment?
A written education plan for children with disabilities, aged birth to three, designed by a multidisciplinary team of professionals and parents to determine both educational and family support services; it is reviewed and updated quarterly to determine a child’s developmental outcomes, the concerns, priorities, and resources of the family, and services that will be required.
What is an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)?
A written education plan for children with disabilities, aged three to 21, designed by a multidisciplinary team of professionals and parents to determine educational services based on assessment and evaluation of a student’s individual strengths and needs; it is reviewed and updated yearly to describe a child’s present performance, current learning needs, and services that will be required.
What is an Individualized Education Program (IEP)?
Biological, medical, or environmental factors that, left unattended, may lead to developmental delay.
What are established conditions of risk?
The subparts of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act defining services for children with disabilities, age three to 21, and children birth to age three.
What are Parts B & C?
The legislative mandates that require parental participation and decision-making in educational programs for their children with disabilities.
What is parental participation?
A mandate in Part C to consider the environment in which a child would ordinarily participate, regardless of disability status (i.e., home, daycare, community settings), where services should be provided.
What are natural environments?
Special education services provided to children in addition to services rendered during the regular school year.
What are extended school year services?
A term used to describe the collaboration of a group of professionals with parents to evaluate and intervene collectively on behalf of a child with disabilities.
What is the multidisciplinary approach?
Term frequently used to define Part C (of IDEA) services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.
What are early intervention services?
An educational setting that provides optimal learning opportunities for students with disabilities while having maximum exposure to their non-disabled peers.
What is Least Restrictive Environment?
Services that are mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of (IDEA) and, for purposes of early childhood education, are utilized in supporting children and families as they transition from Part C to Part B services.
What are transition services?
A term referring to a nonspecific diagnosis to indicate that a child is not achieving developmental milestones within expected timeframes; for purposes of eligibility, this category is limited to use for children aged birth through nine, or a subset of that age range, in states who have adopted this category.
What is developmentally delayed?