Education For The Disabled In US

Education For The Disabled In US


Millions of children who are born with different disabilities face difficulties in receiving education across the United States. There are several facilities provided at the schools keeping in mind the difficulties these children face. All these services are under the special education system. The general difficulties faced by these children include difficulties with speaking, writing and reading. They also face problems related to behaviour and focus.


These difficulties can be sometimes ascribed as special needs, needs like learning disability, Physical or emotional troubles. If a child is identified with these problems he has the right to access the special education and support.


Special education can be defined as methodology designed to cater to the children with disabilities. In the United States this is done by the public school system without burdening the parents of the child. This special education includes the teaching at a classroom in a school, at hospital, at home or any other destined locations.


Every child in need of special education receives the designed instructions such as, to meet their needs individually, to make sure the child learns the skills and information that other children of his age at a normal school are learning.


The special needs students are protected by the law in the United States. The two most important federal laws which are designed to protect the students with disabilities are:

IDEA( Individuals with Disabilities Education Act): The IDEA act is a federal law that allows the right of special education to the disabled children. It authorizes the state services to offer help to infants who are recognized with disabilities.


Section 504: It is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disabilities by all public and private programs which receive federal funding. This law applies to all school districts.

The children who need special education are the ones who have a disability under thirteen given categories of disabilities by the IDEA. These categories are autism, deafness, deaf-blindness, mental retardation, developmental delay, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, orthopaedic impairment, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment including blindness and other health impairment.


It is obligatory for a public school to provide the special needs a child need, but it is also equally important for parents to participate and advocate for the children. It is the parents right to participate and oversee their child. The parents may believe that they don’t have right as other parents because of several reasons from being immigrants to not being an English speaker. But with the education system in the United States every parent irrespective of the language they speak, nationality or immigration status, has the right to actively participate in their child’s educational process.


Schools must inform the parents of their rights in a way that they understand.

Parents have the right that their child’s file is kept confidential.

Schools must require parents’ permission to evaluate the child to determine his disability

Parents have every right to disagree with the decisions made by school.