The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. Infants and toddlers with disabilities (birth-2) and their families receive early intervention services under IDEA Part C. Children and youth (ages 3-21) receive special education and related services under IDEA Part B. The purpose of IDEA is:
To ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education employment and independent living. 34 CFR §300.1(a)
The State of Texas implements IDEA Part B and Part C and ensures that special education services shall be provided to eligible students in accordance with all applicable federal law and regulations, state statutes, rules of the State Board of Education (SBOE) and commissioner of education, and the State Plan Under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). 19 TAC §89.1001(a)
To qualify for special education, students must have been evaluated in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004, and meet disability condition criteria in at least one of the following areas:
- Autism
- Deaf-Blindness
- Deafness
- Emotional Disturbance
- Hearing Impairment (including deafness)
- Intellectual Disability
- Multiple Disabilities
- Orthopedic Impairment
- Other Health Impairment
- Specific Learning Disability
- Speech Impairment
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Visual Impairment (including blindness)
34 CFR §300.8–Child with a disability, Section of CFR that explains each of the 13 disabilities.
- For children from birth to age three (under IDEA Part C) and children from ages three through nine (under IDEA Part B), the term developmental delay, as defined by each State, means a delay in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive development, communication, social or emotional development. or adaptive/behavioral development. Developmental delay can be looked at as a 14th disability category
- Each of the 13 disability categories in IDEA can cover a range of difficulties.
- ADHD falls under Other Health Impairment (OHI).
- Dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia fall under Specific Learning Disability (SLD).