A series of landmark laws have been established to protect and support individuals with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 mandates that special education teachers be highly qualified and requires students with disabilities to participate in state or district testing.
-bars discrimination in employment, transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications
-implements principles of normalization
-requires phased-in accessibility of school buildings
-insists on the removal of barriers inhibiting access and participation in society
-1990
Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), PL 94-142
EHA (reauthorized
PL 99-457
-add provision of services to infants and toddlers
-requires an IFSP
-1986
-guarantees FAPE in the LRE
-requires each student to have an IEP
-1975
Assistive Technology Act of 2004(ATA)(re-authorized), PL 108-364
-supports school to work transition projects
-continues a national web site on assistive technology
-assists states in creating and supporting device loan programs, financial loans
-2004
IDEA '04 (re-authorized), PL 108-446
-requires special education teachers to be highly qualified
-requires that all students with disabilities participate annually in either state or district testing with accommodations or in alternative assessments.
-eliminates IEP short term objectives and benchmarks, except for those who use alternative assessments.
-changes identification procedures for learning disabilities
-allows any student to be placed in an interim alternative educational setting for weapons, drugs, or violence.
-2004
IDEA '97(reauthorized), PL 105-17
-adds ADHD to the "other health impairments" category
-adds functional behavioral assessments and behavior intervention plans
-alters transition plans to become an IEP component
-1997
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504
-guarantees basic civil rights to all people with disabilities
-requires the provision of accommodation
-1973
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act(IDEA)
PARC and Mills - influential court cases
any child with a disability has the right to a FAPE
-changes name of law of the law retroactively
-adds transition plans
-adds autism as a special education category
-adds brain injury as a category
-1990
NCLB (re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act [ESEA]), PL 107-110
-implements a high stakes accountability system based on student achievement
-requires use of data based practices and instruction
-insists on highly qualified teachers
-2001
Rosa's Law, PL 111-256
-retroactively changes all federal laws to remove the term mental retardation and change it to intellectual disabilities
-2010
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American with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2000, PL 110-235
-broadens definition of disability
-provides that impairments or conditions that could limit a major life activity but are in remission still be considered disabilities
-2008