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Full-Text Articles in Law
Who Is Eligible Under The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act?, Robert A. Garda Jr.
Who Is Eligible Under The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act?, Robert A. Garda Jr.
Robert A. Garda
Determining who is eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) has plagued decision-makers for over three decades, leading to both over- and under-identification of eligible children and the disproportionate identification of minority students as disabled. The statutory requirements for finding a child IDEA-eligible appear straightforward: a child must have an enumerated disability that adversely affects educational performance and by reason thereof the child must need special education. Application of these provisions has proven problematic, however, and the authorities are divided as to what constitutes “educational performance,” when is it “adversely affected” by the disability, under what circumstances …
Untangling Eligibility Requirements Under The Individuals With Disabilities In Education Act, Robert A. Garda Jr.
Untangling Eligibility Requirements Under The Individuals With Disabilities In Education Act, Robert A. Garda Jr.
Robert A. Garda
Finding a child eligible for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is one of the most important, if not the most important, decision that will be made in that child's life. Despite the importance of eligibility determinations the eligibility criteria of IDEA are intricately tangled and often misapplied by courts, hearing officers and inevitably parents and educators. The confusion surrounding eligibility standards leads to the disastrous results of both over-identification and under-identification of IDEA eligible children. This Article attempts to untangle the web of IDEA eligibility standards in order to determine who is entitled to its …