The Relationship Between the Law and Your School

Law and its Application in Special Needs Education

Introduction

Over the years special education has undergone tremendous changes in regards to the enactment of legal provisions that govern its operation in the United States . The demand has shifted away from the student 's level of disability as the key determinant of physical placement towards the urge of modifying the learning environments and teaching strategies in to accommodate students of all capabilities in ideal learning environments . As a matter of fact , the United States Presidential National Council on Disability claims that special

education should be taken not as a `place ' but as but as `a service , available to every school ' [National Disability Council (1994 )]

Legal Developments in Special Needs Education

Special needs education as it is today in the US , is as a result of the fruits borne out of civil rights campaigns . Before then it was characterized by rampant inequity in the handling of special needs education matters , sometimes even based on racial lines . [Mills v . Board of Education , 1972] The efforts of advocates and other activists alike led to the enactment of the first national special needs education legislation , Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA ) in 1975 which was renamed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA ) in 1990 (Public Law No . 101-476 , 104 stat . 1142 . However , the menace of inequity in special needs education particularly on minority groups has continued despite the legal provisions that call for equal treatment of all persons with disabilities

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