IDEA (Spec Ed) Question?

Question

Why is general education and disability legislation other than special education (SPED) important to transition and IDEA requirements?

Answer 1

Well, Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act provides equal access to facilities recieving public funds.

However, it does not provide the IEP which requires a plan be drawn up to develop a separate curriculum for a child with a disability--that is IDEA only.

Section 504 and the ADA for instance comes in when a special education student considers applying to college.

Prospective college students must understand that while they can apply to any college campus which they want (they are not limited in the number which can be considered as some 'guidebooks' mistakenly insist), ANY college campus does not have to modify their curriculum content for an admitted student.

So not every student who obtained special education will be able to enroll in college. Unlike the high school a student came from, there is no 'special ed' college curriculum for students with disabilities. And there are no planning meetings on the college campuses to devise special courses for you if you have a disability.

Colleges also do not have to let you into a specialized academic program  (ie busines school, medical school, law school) if you do not proactively meet their program-specific grade point requirements in addition to the general university GPA requirements. Wanting to 'really do something' is not a good enough reason.

A college committee can and does look at your academic capabilities against other students--including those with disabilities who do successfully complete the program requirements according to the PROGRAM's established standards for ALL students.

You can modify the structure of existing college courses (ie get a note taker) but you must successfully complete the same kind of work which everybody else does. The curriculum itself cannot be modified.