IDEA Act Importance

On October 30th of 1990, President George H.W Busch signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA act) into place forevermore levelling the educational playing field for all students especially the ones with disabilities. The IDEA act is the most important bill and or decision by our government to help all students get the most appropriate and equal education. Disabled students should get the most appropriate and equal education because of the IDEA act. Before the IDEA act was passed only 1 in 5 disabled students were able to get an education because many schools excluded children with disabilities as they believed they were not fit for a school setting. The IDEA act is the most important bill and or

The IDEA act outlines the six pillars of the act. One of the three most important principles of IDEA is every student will have a free appropriate public education. This means every student from the age of 3 to the age of 21 will be able to go to public school to get an education. Before the IDEA act only certain disabled children were allowed to get a free appropriate public education. Most disabled children were forced to go to a private institution or forced to go without an education. Any person without an education especially disabled children are at a huge disadvantage when applying for a job or just surviving in the real world of business and normal daily routines. The child’s education must meet the unique needs of the specific child. This is one of the many reasons why the IDEA act is the most important bill and or decision by our government to help all students get the most appropriate and equal

Each student diagnosed under the IDEA act will get an Individualized Education Plan also known as an IEP. The IEP will outline all the students’ disabilities and will outline the hours of how the student will spend learning in the classroom. The IEP will give a history of the child and how he was diagnosed with the disability he or she has. The IEP will come with a special education team made up of usually a speech or occupational therapist, the students’ principle, a paraprofessional the student has, and the special education director of the school district. All immediate family is encouraged to attend the child’s IEP meeting. The IEP will help the student get the best and most appropriate education possible. The IEP will help outline the students strengths and weaknesses as well as his or hers goals for the current school year. After each school year the students educational and or speech/occupational goals will be revisited and redone to help the student grow in his or her educational realm. The students’ goals are always time based and appropriate for the child. For example, a student with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy that is confined to a wheelchairs goal will not be for that student to be able to walk by him or herself by the end of the schoolyear. A student with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy will not be able to walk ever