The peer-reviewed special education literature has included notable attention to the peer-reviewed research (PRR) provision that the 2004 amendments added to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, as with the other IDEA issues, the legal accuracy of this translating treatment for special education professionals is subject…

The special education literature has included a continuing line of articles and chapters that have translated for practitioners the legal meaning of the progress monitoring provisions in the successive versions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This article examines this line of publications in light of the language of the…

This article delineates the four successive dimensions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) central obligation of "free appropriation public education" that the courts have developed thus far: (a) procedural, (b) substantive, (c) incomplete implementation of the last Individualized Education Program (IEP), and (d)…

When parents of students with disabilities reach impasse with school districts, after exhausting informal interactions and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such as facilitated IEP meetings and mediation, what is the next step if they seek a binding third-party decision under the IDEA? The typical answer, especially if the underlying…

School psychologists often play a significant role in implementation of the requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) specific to independent educational evaluations (IEEs). The school psychology and special education literature addresses professional norms for IEEs (e.g., Schrank et al., 2006), but its coverage of…

For this 23rd article in the series reviewing recent court decisions concerning appropriate school psychology practice from both professional and legal perspectives, the topic is the substantive standard for free appropriate public education (FAPE) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), with a focus on the classification of…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) continues to account for an expansive and expensive segment of education litigation. The most longstanding remedy under the IDEA is tuition reimbursement, interpreted broadly to include not only private school tuition, but also related transportation and stand-alone related services. Probably…

In contrast with professional norms and best practices, the legal requirements for functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and behavior intervention plans (BIP) are meager in scope and specificity (Collins & Zirkel, 2017). Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (2017) makes no mention of FBAs or BIPs, and the Individuals with Disabilities…

Although varying among and within the states, the percentage of students with 504 plans is steadily and significantly increasing as a national average. Although the professional literature addresses the legal standards for eligibility for 504 plans, it has not provided up-to-date information to practitioners as to the legal standard for the…

From leading authorities, this indispensable work is now in a revised and expanded second edition, presenting state-of-the-art tools and procedures for practitioners. The book shows how to use response to intervention (RTI) to evaluate K-12 students for specific learning disabilities (SLD). The second edition gives increased attention to…

For this 17th article in the series reviewing recent court decisions concerning appropriate school psychology practice from both professional and legal perspectives, the topic is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) central obligation, free appropriate public education (FAPE). More specifically, the focus here is procedural and…

Legally, the ultimate criterion for eligibility under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is whether the child needs special education. A new decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals suggests that providing various interventions and accommodations in general education might mean that a child who meets the criteria for any…

Teachers and parents often find special education law complex and confusing. As one step for a basic foundation in special education law, a previous "TEACHING Exceptional Children" article (Zirkel, 2005) provided a snapshot of the "top five case concepts" based on 10 decisions from the Supreme Court. Each of these decisions…

To provide a missing piece to the legal foundation of professional development and practice for the individualized education program (IEP) process, the authors report the results of a comprehensive systematic analysis of court decisions specific to IEP-related procedural violations after the 2004 amendments of the Individuals With Disabilities…

Depending on their experience, local special education directors may be familiar with the complaint procedures (CP) avenue that the IDEA requires each state education agency (SEA) to provide. Yet most special education professors and many parents of students with disabilities have negligible knowledge about this avenue of decisional dispute…