Kyla Swier

IDEA in the Classroom

IDEA stands for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; it is a piece of

legislation that ensures that students with disabilities are provided with free, appropriate, public

education that is tailored to each students individual needs.

Zero reject is a policy that schools must follow for every single disabled child; no matter

how sever the disability is, schools must not turn them away. In the classroom this means that

you may have a child that is severely disabled and will need help with doing everyday things

including eating and going to the bathroom. Luckily, there are teachers aids that are there to help

you with that so that you can go on teaching the rest of the class.

Nondiscriminatory identification and evaluation means that when evaluating a child for a

disability you, the teacher, may not make an assumption biased on what color their skin is or

where they grow up whether that be in poverty or coming from a wealthy family. One test will

not determine the placement of the child. The teacher and school must have the child must go

through multiple tests and it must be given to the child in their native language.

FAPE is free, appropriate public education and it must be available to all children with

disabilities no matter how severe the disability is. FAPE requires an IEP which stands for

individualized education program. In the classroom, this means, you must do an evaluation on

the child to determine the needs of each individual one. IEPs must be done at least once a year,

more if the parents or the school asks for an evaluation. Parents, and any school members that

are close with the child, must be invited to attend these meetings.
 Least restrictive environment, students with disabilities are required to be educated

alongside children without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate. The student with

disabilities are only to be removed from the general education setting when the nature of their

disability restricts them from receiving an appropriate education in the general education

classroom. This means that even general education teachers will be working with disabled

children in their own classroom and must be prepared to do so no matter what. I remember in 1st

grade having a disabled child in a wheelchair in our classroom, her name was Emily, and she

was one on the nicest people.

Due process safeguards are to protect the rights of the children with disabilities and their

parents. Everything that the school does with a child with a disability must go through the

parents first. Parents must be notified and must give consent before evaluations and placement

decisions. So if you, the teacher, thinks that the child needs an evaluation and replacement then

you MUST notify the parent of the child. If the parent disagrees with the teachers or school on

the identification, evaluation, placement, or provision of FAPE and related services then the

parent pay request a due process hearing to resolve the dispute.

Parent and student participation and shared decision making; in other words, schools

must collaborate with parents and students with disabilities to design the IEP. The parents must

always have a say in what their childs goals, objectives, and placement decisions.