Legal Foundation

for SPED
Facilitators:
Lara Marie Miras
Rome Cherry Cala-or
Legal Foundation for SPED
Summarizes landmark court cases and
provides an overview of the most influential
laws affecting special education services.
TOPICS
 Section 504
 Education For All Handicapped
Children Act
 Americans with Disabilities Act
 Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA)
 SECTION 504
Rehabilitation Act
of 1973
SECTION 504
A federal law designed to protect the
rights of individuals with disabilities in
programs and activities that receive
Federal financial assistance from the U.S.
Department of Education (ED).
 “The Section 504 regulations require a school
district to provide a ‘free appropriate public
education’ (FAPE) to each qualified student with a
disability who is in the school district's jurisdiction,
regardless of the nature or severity of the disability.
Under Section 504, FAPE consists of the provision of
regular or special education and related aids and
services designed to meet the student's individual
educational needs as adequately as the needs of
nondisabled students are met.”
SECTION 504
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 .
 Education for All
Handicapped Children
Act of 1975
 “to assure that all handicapped children have
available to them…a free appropriate public
education which emphasizes special education and
related services designed to meet their unique
needs, to assure that the rights of handicapped
children and their parents or guardians are protected,
to assist states and localities to provide for the
education of all handicapped children, and to assess
and assure the effectiveness of efforts to educate
handicapped children.”
KEY PROVISIONS
• Free appropriate public education (FAPE) for children with
disabilities aged 3-21;
• An individualized education program (IEP) for each child;
• Education of children with disabilities alongside children
without disabilities, known as the least restrictive
environment (LRE);
• Testing and evaluation materials and procedures which are
(1) not racially or culturally discriminatory, and (2) provided
and administered in the child’s native language or mode of
communication;
KEY PROVISIONS
• Involvement of parents and others; A
state plan that addresses personnel
development, including in-service training
of general and special educational
instructional and support personnel;
• A state advisory panel to include
teachers and parents or guardians of
children with disabilities; and
• Due process rights and procedures.
mericans with Disabilities
Act of 1990
o prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in
employment, state and local government, public
accommodations, commercial facilities,
transportation, and telecommunications
o ADA defines an individual with a disability as a
person who has a physical or mental impairment
that substantially limits one or more major life
activities, a person who has a history or record of
such an impairment, or a person who is perceived
by others as having such an impairment
o ADA does not specifically name all of the
impairments that are covered.
TITLES OF ADA
Title I (Employment)
Title II (State and Local
Government)
Title III (Public
Accommodations)
Title IV (Telecommunications)
Title V (Miscellaneous
Provisions)
Title I (Employment)
Equal Employment Opportunity for
Individuals with Disabilities
o designed to help people with disabilities
access the same employment opportunities
and benefits available to people without
disabilities
o employers must provide reasonable
accommodations to qualified applicants or
employees
o this portion of the law is regulated and
enforced by the U.S. Employers with 15 or
tle II (State and Local Government)
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of
Disability in State and Local Government
Services
o prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals
with disabilities in all programs, activities, and
services of public entities
o applies to all state and local governments, their
departments and agencies, and any other
instrumentalities or special purpose districts of
state or local governments
Title II (State and Local
Government)
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of
Disability in State and Local Government
Services
o clarifies the requirements of Section 504, as
amended, for public transportation systems that
receive federal financial assistance, and extends
coverage to all public entities that provide public
transportation, whether or not they receive
federal financial assistance
o establishes detailed standards for the operation
of public transit systems, including commuter
tle III (Public Accommodations)
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of
Disability by Public Accommodations and
in Commercial Facilities 
o prohibits private places of public
accommodation from discriminating against
individuals with disabilities.  
o sets the minimum standards for accessibility
for alterations and new construction of
facilities
o requires public accommodations to remove
barriers in existing buildings where it is easy
Title IV (Telecommunications)
o requires telephone and Internet companies to
provide a nationwide system of interstate and
intrastate telecommunications relay services
that allows individuals with hearing and
speech disabilities to communicate over the
telephone
o requires closed captioning of federally funded
public service announcements
o this title is regulated by the Federal
Communication Commission
Title V (Miscellaneous Provisions)
o contains a variety of provisions relating
to the ADA as a whole, including its
relationship to other laws, state
immunity, its impact on insurance
providers and benefits, prohibition
against retaliation and coercion, illegal
use of drugs, and attorney’s fees
o this title also provides a list of certain
conditions that are not to be considered
as disabilities
Individuals with
Disabilities
Education Act
(IDEA)
 a law that makes available a free
appropriate public education to
eligible children with disabilities
throughout the nation and ensures
special education and related
services to those children.
IDEA governs how
states and public
agencies provide
early intervention,
special education,
and related
services to more
than 6.5 million
eligible infants,
toddlers, children,
and youth with
 PURPOSE OF IDEA

to protect
ensure children
with disabilities assess
effectiveness
to assist
prepare for
States independent
living
 The Process

Education
for All
Preside Handicappe
Novemb
er 29,
nt d Children
Gerald Act 
1975
Ford IDEA
Use Big Images To
Show Your Ideas
 Since 1975, we have progressed
from excluding nearly 1.8 million
children with disabilities from public
schools to providing more than 6.9
million children with disabilities
special education and related
services designed to meet their
individual needs.
 Today, more than 62
percent of children with
disabilities are in general
education classrooms 80
percent or more of their
school day, and early
intervention services are
being provided to more than
340,000 infants and toddlers
with disabilities and their
Credits
o https://www.okcareertech.org/educators/cimc/resources/d
ownloads-1/special-education-paraprofessional-workbook-
resources/1-legal-foundations-of-special-education

o https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-legal-foundations-
of-special-education/book229447

o https://adata.org/learn-about-ada
o https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-legal-foundations-
of-special-education/book229447
o https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/leg/idea/history.html
Thanks!
 Features with icons

Service 01 Service 02 Service 03