In this episode of Special Education Decoded... we talk about FAPE or Free Appropriate Public Education... Specifically, we will discuss the following 4 topics;
1. What FAPE is
2. How and when FAPE was formed
3. What Free Appropriate Public Education means for your child.
4. Go through some common facts and myths surrounding FAPE
FAPE stands for; Free Appropriate Public Education
Before we move forward discussing FAPE… let’s briefly touch on something almost incredibly ridiculous to us today, so foreign that it almost seems like this sort of thing could never take place in the United States…
but it did, and not that long ago either…
Prior to the 1970s if your child had a disability, you basically had two options regarding their schooling;
1. Homeschool Them
2. Send Them Away To Institutions That Could Handle Specific Educational Requirements
Can you imagine that only 50 years ago, those were your only options?
Now, I know A LOT of things are broken in our education system… we deal with and hear about them daily, but measuring progress just based on that one fact really makes a person speechless… it did for me when I first heard this!
So what changed?
Well…
It started with The Rehabilitation Act Of 1973 - Specifically, Section 504 of that ACT.
“No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States… shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…”
So, Who is entitled to FAPE?
According to the US department of education, it’s
All qualified persons with disabilities within the jurisdiction of a school district.
What defines a person with a disability according to section 504?
1. Has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities
2. Has a record of an impairment
3. Is regarded as having such an impairment
4. In general, all school-age children who “fit” into this category are entitled to FAPE.
How Is An Appropriate Education Defined?
1. Educational Services Are To Meet The Educational Needs Of Students With Special Needs As Adequately As They Do For Students Without Special Needs. (I.E., Same learning outcome is expected)
2. Educate students with special needs in the same environment and students without special needs to the maximum extent possible for the individual.
3. Evaluation and placement procedures established to guard against the inappropriate placement of students.
4. Periodic reevaluation of students who have been provided special education (to ensure services they’re receiving are still what’s best for their needs)
5. Establishment of due process procedures that enable parents to;
A. Receive required notices
B. Review their child’s records
C. Challenge identification, evaluation, and placement decisions
It’s important to note that failure to provide people with special needs an appropriate education frequently occurs as a result of misclassification and inappropriate placement.
It is illegal to base individual placement decisions on presumptions and stereotypes regarding people with special needs.
For example, it would be a violation of the law for a recipient to adopt a policy that every student who is hearing impaired, regardless of the severity of the child’s disability, must be placed in a state school for the deaf.
Facts And Myths Regarding Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
-For a further description of each Myth and Fact, see our complete article on the topic;
1: Your Child Might Be Charged For The Special Education Services They Will Receive.
MYTH
2: Children with special needs are not required to pass state assessments and grade-appropriate work.
MYTH
3. A child with special needs must have access to extracurricular activities.
FACT
4. A child with special needs gets a better education than those who receive a general education.
MYTH
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From all of us at SpecialEdResource.com… thank you for watching this episode of Special Education Decoded
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