Individuals With Disabilities Education Act

The 2nd of December honors the date of the nations first federal special education law. The law was signed by President Gerald Ford on December 2, 1975. The law was and is known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA. Under IDEA all American children no matter their ability can have an education.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is part of Americanlegislation that ensures students with disabilities are provided with free appropriate public education. The IDEA was established in 1990. Before the IDEA there was the Education for All Handicapped Children act (EHA). The goal of the IDEA is to provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do not have a disability.

The IDEA covers the law, assistance for education for all children with disabilities, education for infants and toddlers with disabilities which include children from birth to age three,  and federal programs under the IDEA act. The IDEA also breaks down to components:

• individualized education program (IEP) 
• free and appropriate public education (FAPE)
• Least restrictive environment (LRE)
• evaluation, parent and teacher participation and safeguards

History shows that without the government being involved with education not all children would receive the education they deserved. Inf act many states excluded children with disabilities such as blindness, deafness, and those "emotionally disturbed" or "mentally retarded" from getting an education at all. Prior to 1975 more than 1 million children in the U.S. had not access to public school. Children often lived in state institutions with limited education or rehab services. Warehousing of children in segregated facilities received little or no effective instruction. In contrast ten years ago more than 6 million children in the U.S. were allowed education through IDEA. 

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