Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Essay

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law created by the United States Congress to ensure the services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. Prior to the IDEA Act, children with disabilities were excluded from public schools or were not receiving the appropriate educational services according to the low expectations that many of the people and institutions responsible for the education used to have on the children with disabilities. This situation like the one previously discussed in chapter 5, was a case of segregation. In 1973 the congress enacted the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, prohibiting discrimination against handicapped. In 1975 the congress passed the law of Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), and in 1990 the law was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the new law included some changes including the terminology used, for example, the use of “children with disabilities” rather than “handicapped

Teachers and school psychologists should be aware of this diverse society and education should contribute to the children’s individual development and the learning of all students. Diagnose a child with a physical, cognitive, or a learning disability must be the first step in order to help them achieve their goals, not just label them without considering the implications of this in their social, academic and personal areas. As school psychologists we should not rely on the low expectations of a student, because when expectations are low, the results are low as well, on the contrary we must make the necessary reforms within the curriculum and adapt the lessons to the needs of the students, in order to improve their performance and to help them achieve their full