Chapter 2 Food for Thought

1. Which federal laws specify procedures school systems are mandated to go through in evaluating and identifying students with disabilities and the special education and related services required?
2. List and describe the key principles or provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act.
3. What rights are parents and students with disabilities granted under IDEA, Section 504, and ADA?
4.  What is the purpose of an individualized education program (IEP)? What components or information needs to be specified in each student’s IEP?
5. Who are students with disabilities, and what kind of services are students who qualify for services entitled to under Section 504 and ADA?
6. What are the similarities among and differences between IDEA, NCLB, Section 504, and ADA?
7. You have been asked to do a professional development workshop for all the administrators and teachers in your school building explaining the response to intervention (RTI) process  and procedures your school is expected to go through before labeling a student as an individual with a learning disability. Explain what you will say.
8. As a member of the multi-disciplinary team, you are trying to determine whether Jane, a student you’ve just categorized as having a learning disability, should be educated in the general education classroom. Explain the procedure you can use to determine whether the general education classroom would be the least restrictive setting for Jane.
9. Describe the five steps/procedures in the assessment process you can use to determine whether Lucy, a student in your classroom, requires special education services and thus, needs to be referred for a more in-depth evaluation to determine if she has a disability.
10.  What is the purpose of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)? What components or information needs to be specified in each student’s IEP?
11. Describe the respective roles of the “school-based problem solving team” and the “multi-disciplinary (IEP) team” in providing services to students with special needs.

Now that you’ve learned about three federal laws that grant parents certain civil rights and specify procedures school systems are mandated to use in identifying students with disabilities, the special education and related services required, and the roles and responsibilities teachers, school-based problem solving team members, and the multidisciplinary team are expected to assume as they go through the steps of identifying students who need services, please move onto Chapter III, which focuses on the impact the movement toward inclusion has on educators when it comes to working with students with special and diverse learning needs in the general education classroom.