School With Special Education | Everything You Need to Know

April 9, 2021 Macy Gilson

I was an elementary school student in the late 1990s/early 2000s and I’m thankful to say that school with special education has changed a lot since then. If your child receives special education services, whether in the public school or private school setting, it is important to fully understand how far special education has come since you and I were in school.

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As I mentioned, special education has come a long way since you and I were in elementary school (assuming you’re an awesome millennial like me 😉) To catch you up to speech, today I’m sharing my top ten special education terms you should know, and how they may impact your child’s education.

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Intro to Special Education

The world of special education can feel so daunting and my goal is that you feel more empowered and less overwhelmed after reading this. As a school speech language pathologist, I am a part of the special education process on a daily basis and while I think there are certainly some flaws in our public special education system, there are many people, myself included, that are calling for change and continually trying to better our system for our students. It is my hope that all school districts are operating by these laws and you feel supported by your child’s special education team, but if you have further questions, you can always email me!

Terms You Should Know

Special Education - refers to “specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability” (IDEA, Section 300.39). To qualify for special education, a child will need to be evaluated then determined to have a disability in one or more of the following categories: intellectual disability, hearing impairment, speech/language impairment, visual impairment, emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairment, traumatic brain injury, specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or other heath impairment (e.g., diabetes, epilepsy, ADHD). Once a child has qualified for special education, they will be placed on an IEP (see below).
IEP - or individualized education plan, is a written document that is uniquely designed to fit a child’s education needs. It is prepared by the IEP team, reviewed both independently by team members and again at the IEP meeting and then signed once agreed upon by all IEP team members. The IEP contains present levels of performance, services to be provided, goals, progress reports, modification/accommodations and more.
* Depending on your state, IEP meetings may sometimes be called ARD (for Admission, Review, Dismissal)
IDEA - or Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004, is a United States law written “to ensure that all students with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education (see FAPE) that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living” (IDEA Section 300.1) It also ensures that the rights of children with disabilities and their parents are protected and that educators and parents have the “necessary tools to improve educational results for children with disabilities.”
LRE - or least restrictive environment, is a requirement under IDEA (Section 300.114) policy that ensures that a child is not removed from an age-appropriate general education classroom solely because of needed modifications in the regular education curriculum. The least restrictive environment is the environment in which a child is able to participate with non disabled peers to the maximum extent possible.
ADA - or Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990 is a civil rights law that "prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public."
EI - or Early Intervention, under IDEA (Section 303.13) requires each state to have a program that locates and refers children birth to three who may have a disability to the state’s EI program. Each state has a different name for early childhood services, for example, in California it’s called Early Start, in Texas it’s called Early Childhood Intervention, and in Georgia it’s called Babies Can’t Wait. This is free and required by law. You can find information on your state’s offering here.
Section 504 - or Section 504 of the Rehabilitiation Act, 1973 is a civil rights law that protects people with disabilities, provides FAPE (see below), and requires schools to find and evaluate school age children who may have a disability. This is called ChildFind, and is free and required by law to be provided to all children with disabilities.
FAPE - or Free and Appropriate Public Education, is a requirement under Section 504. It states that the “provision of regular or special education and related aids and services that are designed to meet individual needs of handicapped persons as adequately as the needs of nonhandicapped persons are met and are based on adherence to procedures that satisfy the requirements” of the section. The legal definition is quite wordy, but in essence it means that the needs of children with disabilities (in relation to education, accommodations, and other services) must be met as adequately as the needs of children without disabilities.
Procedural Safeguards Notice - is a requirement under IDEA (Section 300.504 - not to be confused with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) states your rights as a parent of a child in special education and includes the right to participate in all meetings, the right to examine all educational records, the right to obtain an independent educational evaluation (see IEE below) of the child and the right to prior written notice when the school proposes/refuses to change the identification, evaluation or placement of a child.
IEE - or Independent Educational Evaluation, is offered to parents under IDEA (Section 300.502) in the event that a parent disagrees with the evaluation findings completed by the school and is to be paid for at the public’s expense. For example, if a parent does not agree with the evaluation completed by the public school district’s speech language pathologist, the parent can request an IEE to be completed by a private speech language pathologist at the district’s expense. The district must also take the IEE findings into account when considering the child’s IEP. Of course, there are limitations to this offering, such as the ability to only obtain one IEE per evaluation completed by the district. You can find more information about the criteria and limitations of IEE here.

I hope these terms and definitions are helpful. If you’re looking for more information, you can click any of the links above or visit the United States IDEA website here.

Intro to Special Education

Terms You Should Know

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