Text from: SchwabLearning.org : And Oklahoma State Dept. of Education

What is an IEP? The IEP, Individualized Education Program, is a written document that's developed for each public school child who is eligible for special education. The IEP is created through a team effort and reviewed at least once a year. special education

Before an IEP can be written, a child must be eligible for special education. By federal law, a multidisciplinary team must determine that (1) she's a child with a disability and (2) she requires special education and related services to benefit from the general education program.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal law, requires certain information to be included in the IEP but doesn't specify how the IEP should look. Because states and local school systems may include additional information, forms differ from state to state and may vary between school systems within a state.

What rights does special education law provide? The most important federal law governing special education is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The goal of the act is to ensure a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) for children with disabilities. It was passed in 1975 and updated in 1997 and The current act is officially called the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, but most people call it IDEA 2004.

List of Disability Categories as identified by IDEA Autism Deaf-Blindness Developmental Delay Emotional Disturbance Hearing Impairment, including Deafness Intellectual Disability Multiple Disabilities Orthopedic Impairment Specific Learning Disability Speech and Language Impairment Traumatic Brain Injury Visual Impairment, including Blindness

Before the passage of the law, most schools placed special education students in self- contained special day classes. Many students were enrolled in special schools rather than in their neighborhood schools. Some students would eventually be "mainstreamed," or moved into general education classes, if they showed sufficient progress and evidence that they could keep up with those classes.

IDEA influenced many schools to rethink their basic approach to special education. The law requires schools to educate all students in what is known as the "least restrictive environment." Thus many schools practice "inclusion," which involves educating special needs students in the schools and classrooms they would otherwise attend, to the maximum extent appropriate. It involves bringing special services to the child in the regular classroom rather than "pulling out" the student to receive special services. Proponents of inclusion believe that students belong first in the regular education environment because it is often better for students socially and academically. They believe students should be removed from that environment only when necessary services can't be provided in that environment.

Most schools strike a balance between teaching special education students in regular education classrooms when possible and pulling them out for portions of the day to work with a specialist in what's usually called the "resource room."

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