Federal
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
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Description: Manifestation Determination Reviews (MDRs) Toolkit - PEATC has developed another Toolkit to help parents navigate complex special education processes. An MDR is a process used when a student with an IEP has violated the Student Code of Conduct at their school and a change in placement is being considered. The MDR review determines whether the student’s behavior is a manifestation of their disability. If it is, then certain protections under IDEA apply for that student. Our toolkit provides...
Description: Special Education Acronyms and Terms Guide (English & Spanish) - Navigating the world of special education can be overwhelming, especially with all the jargon and acronyms that come with it. To help you better understand and advocate for your child, PEATC is excited to share our Special Education Acronyms and Terms resource document in English and Spanish! This guide is designed to simplify the language of special education, breaking down key terms and acronyms into clear,...
Description: Guide to Transition for Families of Youth with Disabilities in Virginia - When young people move from high school to adulthood, a lot of things change. It’s an exciting but also stressful time and we want to help. The Guide is for families and students who want a one-stop resource on the many things related to transitioning from high school to adulthood in Virginia. The Guide provides important information about decisions that may need to be made for and with your child. Topics Include:...
Description: View OCR Video Series on Accessibility - The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announces a video series covering a variety of topics on digital access in education, including how people with disabilities use technology, applicable Federal regulations, and identifying and remediating barriers to access. Whether you are in the educational field or not, these videos have wide ranging coverage for those who want to know: What makes technology accessible for...
Description: This One-Pager Library contains important information for families, including the difference between IEPs and 504 Plans, handling disagreements about your child's special education program, your Parental Rights and more.
Description: The Office of Special Education Programs is excited to release a new OSEP Fast Facts: Race and Ethnicity of Children with Disabilities Served under IDEA Part B and new supplemental tool, Hand In Hand, which explore IDEA, Section 618 data with the specific lens on race and ethnicity. For the Hand In Hand supplemental tool, each display in the OSEP Fast Facts: Race and Ethnicity of Children with Disabilities Served under IDEA Part B is presented with critical questions to allow parents...
Description: This guide aims to help parents like you understand the flexibility provided to States and school districts in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a landmark Federal education law. We know that parents are the most important advocates for their children. Because States and school districts have significant flexibility in how they meet the requirements of the law, you have an opportunity to influence how they use that flexibility to...
Description: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, and represents good news for our nation’s schools. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students. The new law builds on key areas of progress in recent years, made possible by the efforts of educators, communities, parents, and students...
Description: Where will a student with a disability receive his or her special education and related services? IDEA requires placement in the least restrictive environment (LRE) for each child, a setting that is based on the child’s IEP. Use the options and paths below to find out more about: who decides placement; how they decide it; what LRE is and why it’s a foundation element in IDEA and in deciding a child’s placement; and how placement can be affected if a child...
Description: Evaluation is an essential beginning step in the special education process for a child with a disability. Before a child can receive special education and related services for the first time, a full and individual initial evaluation of the child must be conducted to see if the child has a disability and is eligible for special education. Informed parent consent must be obtained before this evaluation may be conducted. The evaluation process is guided by requirements in Part B of our...
Description: Early intervention is full of terms that people constantly use in writing and in conversation, and it’s important to know what those terms mean. We are pleased to provide this handy reference to early intervention terminology, and hopes it helps our readers quickly connect with the meaning of pivotal words and phrases in the field.
Description: The education of children with disabilities is a top national priority. Our nation’s special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), sets high standards for their achievement and guides how special help and services are made available in schools to address their individual needs.
Description: Module 1 welcomes everyone to Part C of IDEA—the early intervention program for infants and toddlers with disabilities. With these training materials, you can learn about and provide training on: the 8 basic steps in the early intervention process; 7 acronyms used in early intervention and what they mean; and 9 key terms in early intervention and their definitions.
Description: In drafting the provisions of IDEA, our nation’s special education law, Congress clearly contemplated that, at times, there would be disagreements between parents of children with disabilities and the school districts providing special education and related services to their children. While it is expected that parents and school personnel will work in partnership to ensure children with disabilities are provided appropriate services, there are times when the child’s parents and...
Description: About the Training Curriculum Title | Building the Legacy for Our Youngest Children with Disabilities: A Training Curriculum on Part C of IDEA 2004 By Whom? | This training curriculum was produced by NICHCY at the request of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education. The Center for Parent Information and Resources is pleased to house this curriculum and to make it continuously available. For Whom? | The curriculum is intended to...
Description: Finally, we come to the last of the IEP components—the transfer of rights at age of majority. This component is only needed in the IEPs of some students, as you’ll see. IDEA’s exact words What does age of majority mean? What IDEA requires How is the student informed?
Description: The nation’s special education law is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. As part of making special education and related services available to children with disabilities in the public schools, IDEA defines the term “child with a disability.” That definition includes specific disability terms, which are also defined by IDEA, as this webpage describes. The IDEA’s disability terms and definitions guide how States in their own turn define...
Description: Being a parent is the most wonderful—and hardest—job in the world. If you have a child with special needs, your job is no less wonderful, but it can be more complicated. Your child’s education is most likely an area of great interest to you. As a child with a disability, he or she may be eligible for special education services in school. If so, then it will be important for you to learn: more about special education; how special education services can support your child; and...
Description: The Guide to Individualized Education Programs provides parents and caregivers with the advocacy tools needed to make sure their child is receiving the best possible education tailored to their unique strengths and challenges. The guide includes a video series featuring a renowned attorney, school psychologist and speech pathologist answering your frequently asked questions. The experts share advice on how to be the strongest advocate for your child at school. The format is...
Description: Fourteen invaluable tools — checklists, charts, worksheets, letters, parent-teacher conversation starters, and more — to help you and your child team up with teachers for a successful school year. Dear Teacher, Please Meet My Child: A Sample Letter for Parents What I Wish My Teachers Knew About Me: A Free Template for Kids What Every Teacher Should Know About ADHD: A Free Handout Help Your Child’s Peers ‘Get’ ADHD: A Free Guide for Parents 7 Parent-Teacher...
Description: This joint guidance document represents collaboration between the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) to implement the provisions of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections) to ensure school stability for children in foster care. This guidance applies to initial and subsequent residence placements while children are in foster care.
Description: Virginia's Guidelines for Educating Students with Specific Learning Disabilities (PDF) Also available as Accessible Word Document (Word) – A resource for teachers and administrators as they address the educational needs of students with a Specific Learning Disability (SLD). These guidelines offer an overview of best practices for educating individuals with SLD. Parents of children with SLD may find this document useful as well. Specific Learning Disability...
Description: Every child is unique and learns in different ways. If your child has been identified as needing special education services to support his or her learning at school, you can play a major role in shaping the services your child receives. This section will help you understand the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and the importance of your participation in developing your child’s IEP Plan. You are a required member of your child’s IEP team, and your ideas must always be considered...
Description: Enforcement The Department's ADA enforcement efforts have helped to ensure that people with disabilities can access Web sites, electronic book readers, online courses, and point-of-sale devices. Technical Assistance and Guidance The Department has developed technical assistance and guidance to help covered entities understand their ADA obligations with regard to accessible technology. Other Federal Accessible Technology Resources and Initiatives
Description: If your child has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), IDEA guarantees your some important rights. The right to: Participate in IEP Meetings, An Independent Evaluation, Give (or Deny) Consent, Contest a School's Decision, and Private Education Paid by the Public School (in specific circumstances).
Description: This article discusses the following: IEP stands for Individualized Education Program. The purpose of an IEP is to lay out the special education instruction, supports, and services a student needs to thrive in school. IEPs are part of PreK–12 public education.
Description: Special Needs Parent Tool Kit Birth to 18 - The Office of Community Support for Military Families with Special Needs is pleased to provide the Department of Defense Special Needs Parent Tool Kit — Birth to 18. This tool kit provides information and resources that will help you improve your quality of life and teaches you how to advocate for your child with special needs. Each of the six modules addresses issues you are likely to encounter throughout your child’s life. Whether your...
Description: We are pleased to provide English speakers with quick access to the wealth of information in Spanish on this website. For those of you who don’t speak Spanish, use this page to easily find and share important information with the Spanish speakers you serve in their own language. Use the alphabetical jumps below to search the list for topics in English. Each item starts with the topic/title in English and a link to information in English on that topic. This is followed by the...
Description: Información en español en este sitio, Nos complacemos en facilitar su acceso rápido a nuestra información en español a través de esta lista alfabética organizada por Tema de Discapacidad.
Description: Students with Disabilities and Bullying: Top five things for parents, educators, and students to know 1. The impact – Bullying affects a student’s ability to learn Many students with disabilities are already addressing unique challenges in school. When they are bullied, it can directly impact their ability to learn and grow. Bullying is not a harmless rite of childhood that everyone experiences. Research shows that bullying can negatively impact a child’s access to education...
Description: This fact sheet covers the following questions: What does a school have to do when a child with a disability is being bullied?, Does it matter if a child has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 plan?, Where can I go for help? (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights)
Description: This article describes how the IEP meeting is scheduled, who comes, and the special factors that team members must consider when writing an IEP. IEP teams are made up of individuals who bring different perspectives and expertise to the table. Pooling their knowledge, team members set out to craft an individualized response to a specific child’s needs, taking into account that same child’s strengths and talents. There’s a lot of information shared at IEP meetings, and a lot of...
Description: The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education regularly provides guidance to the field on the nation’s special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). “Guidance” can take several forms: OSEP’s correspondence in response to questions received from the field; policy documents and letters on priority issues; State determination letters; and non-regulatory guidance. All are intended to clarify elements of...
Description: There are times when parents and schools simply do not agree on some issue affecting a child’s education. They may try informal approaches to resolving the conflict, such as reviewing and revising the child’s IEP or holding a facilitated IEP meeting (an approach emerging in the field). When these don’t result in agreement on what represents an appropriate education for a child, the law (IDEA) provides several approaches that parents and schools can use to help resolve the...
Description: Since the 1960s, there has been a virtual avalanche of federal legislation that relates directly or indirectly to individuals with disabilities, particularly children and youth. These form the core of current protection against discrimination and current guarantees of equal educational opportunity that individuals with disabilities have in our nation.
Description: If you’re looking for information about disabilities in infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities, you’ve come to the right place! The Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR) offers information and connections to the full spectrum of disabilities in children, including developmental delays and rare disorders. Use the links below to learn about typical developmental milestones in childhood, specific disabilities and disorders, and the...
Description: Welcome to the alphabet soup of special education! The disability community is full of acronyms that people constantly use in writing and in conversation, and it’s important to know what those acronyms stand for. Acronyms are used in order to abbreviate names or phrases. The CPIR is pleased to provide this list of special education and disability-related acronyms, and hope it helps our readers quickly connect with the meaning of pivotal acronyms in the field.
Description: The term multiple disabilities is general and broad. From the term, you can’t tell: how many disabilities a child has; which disabilities are involved; or how severe each disability is. Many combinations of disabilities are possible. For example, one child with multiple disabilities may have an intellectual disability and deafness. Another child may have cerebral palsy and autism.
Description: Helps parents understand the process that guides their child's transition from infant and toddler intervention services to other early childhood services at age three and includes strategies to use for a successful transition. 2010. (See translations for Somali and Spanish.)
Description: When a child is having trouble in school, it’s important to find out why. The child may have a disability. By law, schools must provide special help to eligible children with disabilities. This help is called special education and related services. There’s a lot to know about the process by which children are identified as having a disability and in need of special education and related services. This section of CPIR’s website is devoted to helping you learn about that process....
Description: Read This Publication If You Want to Know… How to have your child evaluated (at no cost to you) to see why he or she is having difficulty in school What the evaluation process involves and how you can contribute to it How special education can support your child’s learning, if he or she is found eligible for services How your child’s eligibility is determined and your right to participate in making that decision What happens next, if your child is found eligible...
Description: All the materials found on the CPIR Hub have been created and archived for Parent Centers around the country to help them provide support and services to the families they serve. The CPIR employs a user-centered process, gathering the perspectives of our experienced audience—Parent Center staff members and other experts—every step of the way, to create products and services that increase Parent Centers’ knowledge and capacity in specific domains.
Description: Special education is full of terms that people constantly use in writing and in conversation, and it’s important to know what those terms mean. NICHCY is pleased to provide this handy reference to special education terminology, and hopes it helps our readers quickly connect with the meaning of pivotal words and phrases in the field.
Description: For many students with disabilities—and for many without—the key to success in the classroom lies in having appropriate adaptations, accommodations, and modifications made to the instruction and other classroom activities. Some adaptations are as simple as moving a distractible student to the front of the class or away from the pencil sharpener or the window. Other modifications may involve changing the way that material is presented or the way that students respond to show their...
Description: Looking for information, resources, and technical assistance (TA) to help you and others support children with disabilities in their least restrictive environment in school? Here’s a starter list of places to look online. These will surely lead you to more.
Description: Life is full of transitions, and one of the more remarkable ones occurs when we get ready to leave high school and go out in the world as young adults. When the student has a disability, it's especially helpful to plan ahead for that transition. In fact, IDEA requires it.
Description: As technology has come to play an increasingly important role in the lives of all persons in the United States, in the conduct of business, in the functioning of government, in the fostering of communication, in the conduct of commerce, and in the provision of education, its impact upon the lives of the more than 50,000,000 individuals with disabilities in the United States has been comparable to its impact upon the remainder of the citizens of the United States. Any development in mainstream...
Description: The federal regulations for IDEA 2004 include a section (Subpart E) called Procedural Safeguards. These safeguards are designed to protect the rights of parents and their child with a disability and, at the same time, give families and school systems several mechanisms by which to resolve their disputes. To learn more about any of these, click on the linked text, and you’ll go to a separate page describing that procedural safeguard. The right of parents to receive a complete...
Description: The central “Hub” of information and products created for the network of Parent Centers serving families of children with disabilities All the materials found on the CPIR Hub have been created and archived for Parent Centers around the country to help them provide support and services to the families they serve. The CPIR employs a user-centered process, gathering the perspectives of our experienced audience—Parent Center staff members and other...
Description: Generations United, with the support of the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, developed Grand Resources: A Grandparent’s and Other Relative’s Guide to Raising Children with Disabilities to equip the caregivers, including those that provide full and part time care to relative children, with the national resources they need to help their children thrive, now and in the future. In addition to the guide, Generations United has developed a resource directory that serves as a companion piece...