Types of Learning

Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) have been a game-changer in education, offering tailored support to students with a wide range of special needs. From students with learning disabilities to those struggling with behavior, IEPs have played a pivotal role in ensuring every child receives a quality education. This guide will demystify IEPs and explore how they benefit students, especially those facing behavioral challenges.

Understanding the Origin of IEPs

The roots of IEPs can be traced back to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), signed into law in 1975. This groundbreaking legislation mandated that students with disabilities, including those with behavioral challenges, have the right to a free and appropriate public education tailored to their unique needs. The development of IEPs was a critical component of this law, ensuring that students received individualized support plans to help them succeed academically and behaviorally.

In special education, there's too much emphasis on the deficit and not enough on the strength.

Temple Grandin

The IEP Basics: What Parents Need to Know

For parents, understanding the basics of IEPs is essential. An IEP is a legally binding document that outlines a student's unique learning and support needs and the services and accommodations they will receive. It's a roadmap to success, customized to each child. The IEP process typically involves assessment, goal setting, and regular review meetings.

This video explains what an IEP is.

The term “special” is typically used to describe something that is better or greater than the average. In terms of education, however, the term is often used to describe students who are different or differently abled. Special education focuses on helping children with disabilities learn and, just as every student is different, so are the various approaches to special education.

Parents and teachers have always had their work cut out for them when it comes to educating and caring for special needs students, but the COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges that may last for years to come. In this article, we’ll discuss the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on special education and provide useful information for both parents and teachers.

What is Special Education?

The term “special education” generally refers to a set of services provided to students who have unique learning needs. In terms of federal law, according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), however, special education is defined as: “Specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.”

In order to qualify for special education services, students must have an identified disability that affects their ability to learn. Eligible disabilities may include the following:

• Intellectual disabilities
• Speech or language impairment
• Hearing impairment
• Visual impairment
• Serious emotional disturbance
• Traumatic brain injury
• Orthopedic impairments
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Developmental delay
• Specific learning disabilities

Federal law requires schools to provide an appropriate education for all of their students with disabilities, regardless their disability

A recent survey shows that as many as 11% of children aged 4 to 17 years old have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. This is a condition defined by an ongoing pattern of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that can interfere with the child’s development and daily function. Some of the most common signs of ADHD like hyperactivity and impulsivity are easy to identify, but there is another category of symptoms that is often less clear – inattention.

Inattention is more than just having trouble staying on task, however, it has lately been defined more broadly as a pattern of difficulties known as executive function disorder (EFD). Keep reading to learn more about executive functioning issues and how to manage them.

This video explains how to bolster executive functioning in middle and high school-age students.

What is Executive Functioning Disorder?

If you think of the human brain as a big company, the executive function of the brain is the CEO. Around the time your child hits puberty, the frontal part in the cortex of his brain matures enough to allow him to perform higher-level tasks – things that the chief executive officer of a company might do. This includes actions like:

• Analyzing a particular task
• Planning the steps to complete the task
• Organizing those steps as needed
• Developing timeline to complete the task
• Adjusting or changing the steps as needed to complete the task
• Completing the task in a

Co-teaching is an inclusive education model in which students with special education needs are provided the opportunity to learn in a mainstream classroom with the additional support of a special education teacher who co-teaches with the general education teacher. This model has proven successful in many school districts for several reasons.

Benefits for students with special education requirements

First of all, the co-teaching model ensures that students with special needs have access to the general education curriculum. By law students with disabilities must be provided access to learning opportunities that do not restrict their ability to progress in a subject or grade level. In a co-taught class, special education students have the opportunity to move from modified assignments to typical assignments as they develop skills and confidence. As a result, co-taught special education students are generally more likely to meet grade-level standards.

While they have access to the mainstream curriculum, co-taught students also continue to receive specialized instruction. Special education teachers within the mainstream classroom can coach students individually, or in small groups, providing them the additional coaching and guidance necessary for them to complete activities and assignments.

Differentiated instruction

In addition to in-class support for mainstream assignments, co-taught students also have the opportunity to grow within the curriculum through differentiated instruction. Since there are two teachers in the class, the same material can be taught in two or more different ways. The special education teacher can anticipate student needs and, in planning lessons with the mainstream teacher,

If you have a child with special needs, you are no doubt familiar with many of the services and accommodations provided to them by their school. You may also clearly understand some of the laws that guarantee your child the appropriate support services in an educational setting. You are likely also familiar with the time, energy, and red tape required to obtain services for your child. It is a complicated process, with many legal underpinnings guiding developing and administering programs for special needs kids.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

First passed in 1975 as the Education of Handicapped Children Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as it stands today, is the result of revisions in 1990, 1997, and 2004. Before 1975, children with disabilities were either placed in segregated classrooms in public schools or denied access to public education altogether.

This video explains IDEA.

Today’s iteration of IDEA includes four parts, including Part B, which outlines the service requirements for children from 3-21 years of age, and Part C, which governs the administration of services to children from birth to 2 years of age. IDEA, among other things, establishes that families have a right to:

• A Free and Appropriate Public Education for school-aged children.
• An Individualized Education Plan for public school students.
• A consultation with a school professional to determine the level of a disabled child’s needs.
• Access to early intervention services for infants