Blog | Tag: Idea

What makes a reader proficient? Learning to read requires certain cognitive processes. At its most basic form, learning to read requires the reader to take in information and process that information. It is a mental process that requires some basic skills such as memory, attention, organization of information, retrieval of information, and interpreting information. Many students with disabilities struggle with reading because their disability affects these skills.

As this is the 45th Anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), I have been thinking about how this law has impacted the lives of the students with disabilities I have advocated for over the past 20+ years. I have had the pleasure of watching students who previously struggled receive the appropriate supports and services they need to progress, graduate, and move on to college, vocational training, and employment. But even with this law there is still one major barrier to overcome.

When President Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), later known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), in 1975, all children were given access to the public school system to receive a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. From that time forward, students with disabilities had the right to receive an education with their non-disabled peers with all the same resources, teachers, and classrooms.