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To understand the development of a national early intervention system, I will outline the origin of the laws and processes
involved in the formation of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
The history begins with the American Disabilities Act of 1973 which raised awareness to the special needs population.
With the passage of this legislation, Congress developed a task force to study the needs of children with disabilities. It
was reported that before 1975 the special educational needs of children with disabilities were not being fully met.
1) more than half of the disabled children in the U.S. did not receive adequate
services;
2) 1,000,000 disabled children in the U.S. were excluded entirely from
public schools;
3) many children with disabilities in the school system went undetected and
resulted in an unsuccessful educational experience;
4) families were forced to find services outside the public school system often
at great distance and expense to them.
Based on these findings, further legislation was passed in 1975 to enact the Education for All Handicapped Children Act,
also known as Public Law (PL) 94-142. This law required all states that accepted federal aid for special education to offer
all disabled students a free and appropriate education. A major flaw not amended for over a decade was that infants and toddlers
were not covered leading to lost opportunities for treatment during a critical growth period.
In 1986, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was amended to
include PL 99-457 which "supported the right to early intervention services of all infants, toddlers, and preschoolers
with a disability to those at risk of having a substantial developmental delay." Further amendments of PL 99-457 in 1990
brought major changes to the original Education for All Handicapped Children Act and created the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA). Two important sections were specified in the IDEA known as Part B and Part C (formerly Part H). Part
B of IDEA was developed to include public school system responsibility for providing services to eligible children aged three
to 21. Part C of IDEA was established to give states the option to provide early intervention services for eligible infants
and toddlers aged birth through two years of age.
Federal IDEA Objectives
The purpose of IDEA is to ensure that all children with disabilities to receive services such as special education and
early intervention. As outlined in the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997," Congress
lists that there are urgent and substantial needs:
"(1) to enhance the development of infants and toddlers with disabilities and to
minimize their potential for developmental delay.
(2) to reduce the educational costs to our society, including our Nation's schools,
by minimizing the need for special education and related services after infants
and toddlers with disabilities reach school age.
(3) to minimize the likelihood of institutionalization of individuals with disabilities
and maximize the potential for their independently living in society.
(4) to enhance the capacity of families to meet the special needs of their infants
and toddlers with disabilities.
(5) to enhance the capacity of state and local agencies and service providers
to identify, evaluate, and meet the needs of historically under represented
populations, particularly minority, low income, inner-city, and rural
populations.
It is therefore the policy of the United States to provide financial assistance to States:
(1) to develop and implement a statewide, comprehensive, coordinated,
multidisciplinary, interagency system that provides early intervention services
for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families;
(2) to facilitate the coordination of payment for early intervention services
from federal, state, local, and private sources (including public and private
insurance coverage);
(3) to enhance their capacity to provide quality early intervention services and
expand and improve existing early intervention services being provided to
infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families;
(4) to encourage states to expand opportunities for children under three years of
age who would be at risk of having substantial developmental delay if they did
not receive early intervention services."
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