Who did the IDEA impact?: Students: The Individuals with Disabilities Act specifically impacts students who have been diagnosed or identified as having a disability that adheres to their education. The IDEA focuses on providing students an equal opportunity to all students despite any disability they may have. This act affects the students with disabilities because it allows for them to gain the wide variety of skills needed in order to further their education and to eventually be able to find employment in the real world. Teachers: When it comes to teachers and the Individuals with Disabilities Act, it is concluded through investigations that about two-thirds of general classroom teachers support the idea of mainstreaming and inclusion …show more content…
The parents played a huge part in helping their child succeed inside the academic environment. The role of the parents within the guidelines of the IDEA was to advocate for the child because more often than not the child is in a position where they are not sure how to advocate for themselves at their age. In order for parents to be advocates in their child’s education they must be informed throughout their child’s education with a diagnosis and how/why it is affecting their education, understanding their child’s individualized education plan and what accommodations and services the child will be receiving, and knowing their rights. Knowing their rights is a huge part of the parent’s role in their child’s education because now they can exercise advocacy in terms of their child’s education and getting them what they need based on their legal rights. (National Resource Center for …show more content…
For example, in children between the ages of birth to two, the amount of kids receiving disability services in education, under part C of the IDEA, which deals with early intervention programs, has close to doubled from 177,281 in 1995 to 321,198 in 2007. Also, for children ages three to five, the amount of children obtaining services under part B of IDEA, which deals with services for children who are school-aged, increased by 23% between 1995 and 2007 according to IDEA reports (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). These numbers are significant because they support the importance of IDEA. The earlier that children begin to experience intervention programs the more likely there are to not need the special services as they grow older, as proven by a Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study in which it was concluded that nearly 16% of children, who were receiving special services in 2003-2004, stopped receiving special education services each year (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). This study helps to show the importance of special education even from a young