LAW

The Law and Assistive Technology

Public Law

President Bill Clinton signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 on June 4, 1997 before a bipartisan crowd of supporters on the White House South Lawn. The Act strengthens academic expectations and accountability for the nation's 5.8 million children with disabilities and bridges the gap that has too often existed between what children with disabilities learn and what is required in regular curriculum. The Amendments, also known as Public Law 105-17, authorizes a range of studies to identify successful practices and evaluate implementation of the Act. The Law identifies four priorities for national training activities (low-incidence disabilities,leadership development, projects of national significance, and high-incidence disabilities). Austin has been selected to pilot the ATSTAR Project as a model that may be implemented in school districts, localities and states around the nation once its effectiveness has been measured and evaluated.

P.L. 105-17 has six programs:

1. State Improvement Grants
2. Research and Innovation
3. Personnel Preparation
4. Studies and Evaluations
5. Coordinated Technical Assistance/Information Dissemination[including parent training]
6. Technology Development, Demonstration, and Utilization/Educational Media Services

It includes a national assessment and other studies designed to determine the effectiveness of State and local efforts. Further, it authorizes programs to assist States, partitioned into State Education Areas(SEAs), in partnership with governors and Local Education Areas(LEAs). The Federal guidelines are that 75% of grant must be for professional development. The percentage may drop to 50% if a State can demonstrate it has a sufficient supply of all types of personnel. The Amendment authorizes a range of studies to identify successful practices and evaluate implementation of the Act.

P.L. 105-17 includes parent training and information centers, information dissemination vehicles like clearinghouses and resource centers, and technical assistance to build the capacity of State and local programs. It also legalizes a range of technology development activities funded by the Federal government through the States. Educational media activities are authorized through 9/30/2001. After that date, these activities are limited to educational, news, and information materials.

http://www.house.gov/ed_workforce/hottopics/idea/ideasumchart.htm http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/IDEA/overview.html

Overview

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has a long history. It was first implemented in 1975, because before its implementation, approximately 1 million children with disabilities were shut out of schools and hundreds of thousands more were denied appropriate services. Fortunately, things have changed. The legislation changed the lives of many differently disabled children. Many are learning and achieving at levels previously thought impossible. Because of the progress made and opportunities now available, they are now graduating from high school, going to college and entering the workforce as productive citizens in unprecedented numbers.

Discouragingly, ninety percent of children with developmental disabilities were previously housed in state institutions. Today, they are no longer forced to live in those settings. As compared to their predecessors, three times the number of young people with disabilities are enrolled in colleges or universities, and twice as many of today's twenty year olds with disabilities are working. But more must be done!

The status of children with disabilities still falls short of our expectations for them. Currently, twice as many children with disabilities drop out of school. Because they dropped out, they do not return to school, have difficulty finding jobs and may sometimes end up in the criminal justice system. Girls who drop out of school often become young unwed mothers at a much higher rate than their fully-abled peers. Many children with disabilities are excluded from the curriculum and assessments used with their non-disabled classmates, limiting their possibilities of performing to higher standards of performance. This is why assistive technologies are important.

The new IDEA Amendment is an attempt to remedy these and other problems that contribute to the barriers children with disabilities face. IDEA will facilitate change by raising expectations for children with disabilities. Parental involvement will be increased in the education of their children. It will ensure that regular education teachers are involved in planning and assessing children's progress. Now, children with disabilities will be included in assessments, performance goals, and reports to the public. The grants will support quality professional development for all personnel who are involved in educating children with disabilities.

Over the past four decades,IDEA research has provided special education, practical answers to questions about how best to educate infants,toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. These accomplishments resulted in benefits for all U.S. citizens. Over 1 million children, many of whom were placed in separate schools and institutions 25 years ago, are now being educated in neighborhood schools, saving an average of $10,000 per child per year. Nine percent more children with disabilities graduated from high school classes between 1984 and 1992. Youth served under IDEA are today employed twice as often as their predecessors, older American with similar disabilities who were not served under the law.

Nearly half of all young adults with disabilities have successfully completed course-work in colleges and universities. Although less than 1% of the annual expenditures to educate children with disabilities is spent on research and development to improve practice, these dollars have had exponential results. They support programs that allow children with disabilities to become independent learners and self-supporting adults.

New knowledge has resulted in technologies that have enriched all our lives. For example, the Kurtzweil Machine, originally developed for taking written text and translating it into Braille and speech was the forerunner of the fax machine. Captioning, an aid for the deaf, has become a boon for older Americans with poor hearing and for those who are learning to read and speak English. The Joint Resolution that ultimately funded the ATSTAR PROGRAM, is presented below.

1997 Session Senate Joint Resolution 2
Relative to federal funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

SPONSORS: Sen. Rubens, Dist 5; Sen. Gordon, Dist 2; Sen. Squires, Dist 12; Sen. D. Wheeler, Dist 11; Sen. Patenaude, Dist 7; Rep. Belvin, Hills 14; Rep. Hunt, Ches 10; Rep. F. Riley, Hills 44; Rep. Thulander, Hills 6

Analysis:

This senate joint resolution urges Congress to either change the special education laws or provide funding to the states to meet requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Whereas, when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed, Congress promised to fund 40 percent of the costs of special education;

Whereas, the single largest contributor to escalating property taxes in New Hampshire during the past decade has been the unfunded mandates under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

That Congress either change the special education laws or appropriate the promised 40 percent of the funding for special education; and That copies of this resolution, signed by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house be forwarded by the house clerk to the President of the United States, to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to each member of the New Hampshire Congressional delegation.

http://www.state.nh.us/gencourt/bills/oldbills/97sbills/sjr2.htm

Political Will

The law makers are important to this program, because they could see its success and make it mandatory nationwide for students and people with disabilities.

Federal Law mandates that students with disabilities be educated within the least restrictive environment. As a result, educators are expected to accommodate the more diverse learning strategies of students with disabilities. Fortunately, Assistive Technologies (AT) are available which create unprecedented opportunities to effectively meet the educational needs of these students. Studies have shown that AT can significantly improve the educational, vocational, and social performance of students with disabilities and can affect educational placement decisions as well. The National Rehabilitation Information Center provides data from the Assistive Technology Projects for several states, including Missouri, North Carolina, and the Iowa Area Education Agencies (AEAs). In Iowa, a set of model policies and procedures for AEAs was developed "to enhance the provision of Assistive Technology services for students with disabilities." This model lists staff development as the first of several key components, necessary to ensure that each student receives an appropriate education." Even so, the reality in most public schools is that teachers are not trained to identify applications for Assistive Technology within educational programming. According to database records kept by AISD.

Policy Makers

There are 8 Partners and an Advisory Board:

Members of the Advisory Board Include the following: