LAWS AND POLICIES THAT PERTAIN TO CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

According to Heward (2002), more than six-million students in the United States have either physical or mental conditions that interfere with learning. These disabilities make it difficult for them to do normal schoolwork. Some of these children cannot see, hear, or learn normally. Other children have mental conditions (both organic and psychological) that prevent them from cooperating in a classroom. Some disabled students attend special public or private schools operated to provide specifically for their needs.

However, Heward (2002) further notes that for years, most disabled children were not permitted to attend public schools. Indeed, he states that as recently as 27 years ago, public schools accepted only one in five disabled children. Many states actually had laws that barred children with mental problems or limited intelligence. They also barred those who could not see or hear. Today, in large measure due to the untiring efforts of educators (see: Turnbull, Turnbull, Stowe & Wilcox, 2000), federal legislation has been passed that has dramatically changed school policies and procedures related to disabled children. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss some of the most important of these laws and policies.

Crockett and Kauffman (1999) report that in 1975 comprehensive legislation was finally passed for children with disabilities. This was the Education