.

The I. D. E. A.

Students' Rights to Assistive Technology under IDEA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act Assistive Technology (AT) offers promise to many students with disabilities in their efforts to benefit from educational programs. Individual rights to AT devices and services for students derive from several major federal laws including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The IDEA is the most important tool for students who need AT to maximize their educational opportunity-it is the only law tailored specifically to education.

Part B of the IDEA guarantees that all students aged 3-21 with disabilities have the right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). If a student has a disability which meets the definition of one of several disabilities enumerated in the statute, and as a result needs special education and related services, that student is eligible to have those services provided at no cost to herself or her parents.

Schools are under an affirmative obligation to identify and evaluate all children with disabilities within their jurisdiction. The heart and soul of the IDEA is the written individualized education program (IEP), which is developed by school officials in conjunction with the parents of the child with a disability - as equal partners -and, where appropriate, with the child. The required content of an IEP is specified by statute, including the nature of the student's educational needs, the services to be provided, and specific goals for the student. Schools must ensure students receive their education in the least restrictive environment (LRE), and that they are removed from the regular education classes only when they cannot be educated successfully in the regular classroom even with supplementary aids and services.

AT services and devices are included in this definition, and these supports are to be provided in other settings, such as extracurricular or extended school year settings. AT can be as rudimentary as a calculator or as sophisticated as an auditory FM trainer for a student who is hearing impaired. AT devices and services can assist a student to be educated in the least restrictive, or most integrated, environment. The AT selected by the school must be appropriate to the needs of the student.

Parents have a right to a formal, impartial review of the schools' recommendations. Parents also have a right to an independent AT evaluation, at the school's expense, if the parent disagrees with the evaluation obtained by the school, and the school fails to show that its evaluations were appropriate.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which served as the foundation for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Section 504 casts a much broader net than the IDEA, prohibiting discrimination in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance and any programs run by the U.S. government. Thus, because all public schools (K-12 and post secondary institutions) and many private schools receive federal funding, Section 504 becomes an important enforcement tool for protecting the rights of students with disabilities. However, unlike the IDEA, there is no separate funding available under Section 504 to help schools comply with its requirements. The definition of disability under Section 504 is broader than the eligibility requirements of the IDEA.

Students with disabilities are eligible even if they do not need any special education services. For example, students with disabilities who do not meet the criteria under the IDEA but who still need some specialized assistance or modifications in the regular education program, including AT, are covered by Section 504. A key distinction under Section 504 is that a school district is not required to make every part of its buildings fully accessible, but rather that it is responsible for ensuring that all of its programs are accessible to students with disabilities. Section 504, like the IDEA, guarantees that students with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education, but unlike the IDEA, it defines a FAPE as regular or special education and related aids and services that are designed to meet individual educational needs of students with disabilities as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students are met.

Section 504 favors educating students in the regular education setting. Section 504 requires schools to develop a procedure to determine students' educational needs. These requirements are similar to the IDEA. Students must be provided with a comprehensive, individualized evaluation, and thereafter with regular reevaluations. The students' needs must be identified in writing, but there is not requirement that the school develop an IEP for the student.

Section 504 offers students with disabilities, who are not eligible for special education services under the IDEA, opportunities to receive the AT supports which may allow them to more fully meet their potential. Also, because technology is always changing, the AT devices students may benefit from are often devices that did not exist years or even months earlier. The law recognizes the dynamic nature of technology by not restricting the list of approved AT devices. Thus, both the IDEA and Section 504 provide important funding sources and enforcement tools to increase the likelihood that the educational needs of students with disabilities will be met.

If the school and parent can't agree, mediation and/or formal complaint mechanisms are in place. Oklahoma ABLE Tech publishes, Assistive Technology and IDEA and the SDE Technical Assistance Document to guide you through the laws and processes. These guides can be accessed through the ABLE Tech website at okabletech.okstate.edu/ or you may call us toll free at 1-888-885-5588 to request a free copy.

.

.

.

.