The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the main federal statute governing special education and early intervention services for children with disabilities from birth through age 21.1 IDEA consists of four parts. Part A contains general provisions, including the purposes of the act and definitions. Part B contains provisions…

State guidelines for 1981/82 and 1985/86 were compared to identify trends in definitions and methods used to diagnose learning disabilities (LD). The later guidelines tended to delineate specific achievement discrepancy criteria. However, major components of LD definitions were not altered and IQ cutoffs were not implemented. (Author/DB)

Four primary issues are covered: the role of different measurement models in disparities of LD children serviced across states, types of students served as LD but not actually LD, components of severe discrepancies between aptitude and achievement, and state of the art in evaluating LD students. (CL)

This document addresses issues in the identification of children with specific learning disability (SLD) in the context of reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It first reviews current requirements in federal law, noting discrepancies in the regulations, then discusses several SLD identification approaches and…

Considered in this article addressing the policy issues of educational services to bilingual exceptional children are: characteristics of Hispanic learning disabled students, special education policy and practice, program availability, personnel, identification and placement, programs, and professional development. (DB)

This report responds to Delaware state legislation requiring the development of proposed revised regulations for the classification of students as learning disabled (LD). The report first describes the current system, noting that in 1997 15 percent of the student population were served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and over…

This brief paper summarizes information collected from state education agencies concerning: (1) state-level special education data collected by gender; and (2) gender and special education issues identified as concerns. A section on the study's background notes that about two-thirds of students receiving special education services are boys,…

This study addressed policy problems encountered during the process of identifying and remediating pupils with learning disabilities (LD) in New York State. An ethnographic approach was used in the detailed analysis of policy as it affected 13 elementary LD students (from urban, suburban, and rural schools), their parents, and service providers.…

Special education is now an established part of public education in the United States--by law and by custom. However, it is still widely misunderstood and continues to be dogged by controversies related to such things as categorization, grouping, assessment, placement, funding, instruction, and a variety of legal issues. The purpose of this…

A project that sought to describe current policies and practices for the recognition, identification, assessment, and provision for the needs of Scottish children with specific learning difficulties associated with literacy is described. Other aims were: to identify criteria used to judge the effectiveness of different approaches; to report on how…