Individual with disability education ( Act/IDEA)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a piece of American legislation that

ensures students with a disability are provided with Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
that is tailored to their individual needs. IDEA was previously known as the Education for All
Handicapped Children Act (EHA) from 1975 to 1990. In 1990, the United States
Congress reauthorized EHA and changed the title to IDEA. Overall, the goal of IDEA is to
provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do
not have a disability.
IDEA is composed of four parts, the main two being part A and part B. Part A covers the general
provisions of the law; Part B covers assistance for education of all children with disabilities; Part
C covers infants and toddlers with disabilities, including children from birth to age three; and
Part D consists of the national support programs administered at the federal level. Each part of
the law has remained largely the same since the original enactment in 1975.
In practice, IDEA is composed of six main elements that illuminate its main points. These six
elements are: Individualized Education Program (IEP); Free and Appropriate Public Education
(FAPE); Least Restrictive Environment (LRE); Appropriate Evaluation; Parent and Teacher
Participation; and Procedural Safeguards. To go along with those six main elements, there are
also a few other important components that tie into IDEA: Confidentiality of Information,
Transition Services, and Discipline. Throughout the years of IDEA's being reauthorized, these
components have become key concepts when learning about IDEA.

14 major types of disabilities

1. Autism

A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and

social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational
performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engaging in repetitive
activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily
routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term autism does not apply if the
child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an
emotional disturbance. A child who shows the characteristics of autism after age 3 could be
diagnosed as having autism if the criteria above are satisfied.

2. Deaf-Blindness

Concomitant [simultaneous] hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes
such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be
accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with
blindness.
 3. Deafness

A hearing impairment so severe that a child is impaired in processing linguistic information

through hearing, with or without amplification that adversely affects a child's educational
performance.

4. Developmental Delay

Children from birth to age three (under IDEA Part C) and children from ages three through nine
(Under IDEA Part B), the term developmental delay, as defined by each State, means a delay in
one or more of the following areas: physical development; cognitive development;
communication; social or emotional development; or adaptive [behavioral] development.

5. Emotional Disturbance

A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time
and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:
 An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.
 An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and
teachers.
 Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.
 A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
 A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school
problems.
The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially
maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

6. Hearing Impairment

An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s

Educational performance but is not included under the definition of "deafness."

7. Intellectual Disability (formerly known as Mental Retardation)

Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently [at the same
time] with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that
adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

8. Multiple Disabilities

Concomitant [simultaneous] impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental

retardation orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe
educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in a special education program solely for
one of the impairments.
The term does not include deaf-blindness.
 9. Orthopedic Impairment

A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The
term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (e.g.,
poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g. Cerebral palsy,
amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).

10. Other Health Impairment

Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental

stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that—
(a) is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead
poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome; and
(b) adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

11. Specific Learning Disability

A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in

using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen,
think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such
conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and
developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result
of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; of mental retardation; of emotional disturbance; or of
environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

12. Speech or Language Impairment

A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a

voice impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

13. Traumatic Brain Injury

An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial
functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child's
educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in
impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning;
abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities;
psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does
not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by
birth trauma.

14. Visual Impairment Including Blindness

An impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational
performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
3. Classification of the 14 major types of disabilities
 Intellectual
 Physical
 Sensory
 mental

4. Causes of disability
Some women have been disabled since birth. Some women become more disabled over time.
Some women become disabled suddenly, because of an accident or disease. It is not possible to
prevent all impairments. Some babies form differently inside the womb and no one knows why.
But many disabilities in babies are caused by harmful conditions of women's lives. If women can
get enough nutritious food to eat, can protect themselves from work with toxic chemicals, and
can get good health care, including care at the time of childbirth, then many disabilities could be
prevented.
 Poverty and malnutrition
Poverty is one of the biggest causes of disability. Poor people are most vulnerable to disability
because they are forced to live and work in unsafe environments with poor sanitation, crowded
living conditions, and with little access to education, clean water, or enough good food. This
makes diseases such as tuberculosis and polio--and the severe disabilities they cause-- much
more common because diseases get passed from one person to another more easily.
Many babies who are born in poor families may be born with disabilities or may die in infancy.
This may be because the mother did not get enough to eat when she was pregnant. Or it may be
because she did not get enough to eat when she was a girl. Starting in childhood, a girl is often
given less food to eat than a boy. As a result, she may grow more slowly and her bones may not
develop properly, which can later cause difficulty during childbirth-- especially if she does not
receive good health care. If a baby or young child does not get enough good food to eat, she or
he may become blind or have trouble learning or understanding.
 War
In today's wars, more civilians than soldiers are killed or disabled, and most of them are women
and children. Explosions cause people to become deaf, blind, and lose their limbs, as well as
causing other injuries. Their mental health is also badly affected by the violence. The destruction
of homes, schools, health centers, and means of livelihood that results from conflicts and wars
leads to increased disability, poverty, and disease.
Land mines, cluster bombs, bullets, and chemicals used in wars cause more disabilities in the
world today than anything else. They often injure women who are carrying out their daily
activities, such as farming, or gathering water and wood.

Explosions and landmines cause many leg and arm injuries, and often a child's or a woman's leg
has to be amputated. But only about 1 of every 4 amputees gets an artificial leg to replace a lost
leg, because they are usually expensive or difficult to get. The Mukti and Satti limbs and the
Jaipur Foot are good quality, low-cost, artificial legs made by groups in India. The international
treaty to outlaw land mines could save many lives and prevent many disabilities, but some
governments still refuse to sign it. If it has not, pressure your government to sign it.
 Nuclear accidents
Many people have suffered after being exposed to massive amounts of radiation. This happened
after accidents in nuclear power plants at Three Mile Island in the USA in 1979, and at
Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986. And it also happened when the USA dropped nuclear bombs
on Japan in 1945. These incidents caused widespread destruction and death from exposure to
radiation.
The people who survived these accidents and bombing attacks have suffered mainly from
cancers--either tumors in various parts of the body, especially in the thyroid gland—or leukemia
(cancer of the blood), all of which bring an early death. In communities where these nuclear
incidents happened, there has also been an increase in the number of children born with learning
difficulties, such as Down syndrome.
 Poor access to health care
Good health care can prevent many disabilities. Difficult labor and birth can cause a baby to be
born with a disability such as cerebral palsy. Trained birth attendants who can identify risks and
handle emergencies can prevent babies from being born with many disabilities. Immunization
can also prevent many disabilities. But many times vaccines are not available, or people who are
poor or live far from cities cannot afford them, or there are not enough for everyone.
Some illnesses a pregnant woman may get can cause physical or learning problems when her
baby is born. Illnesses that can cause birth defects include German measles (rubella), which is a
common cause of deafness in newborn babies. There is a vaccine that gives protection against
rubella, but a woman who gets an immunization of the rubella vaccine should not get pregnant
for one month afterward.
Syphilis, herpes, and HIV can also be passed from a mother to her baby and can cause birth
defects. So women need to be tested and treated for sexually transmitted infections to protect the
baby developing in the womb.
Some illnesses a baby or small child may get can also cause disability, such as meningitis, polio,
and measles. It is important for newborn babies to get immunizations for protection. Children
who live in places where leprosy (Hansen's disease) is common need to be tested as early as
possible.
Medicines and injections
When used correctly, certain injected medicines, like some vaccinations, are important to protect
health and prevent disability. However, there is a worldwide epidemic of unnecessary injections.
Each year these unnecessary injections sicken, kill, or disable millions of persons, especially
children.

Giving injections with an unclean needle or syringe is a common cause of infection and can pass
the germs that cause serious diseases such as HIV/AIDS or hepatitis. Unclean injections are also
a common cause of infection that can lead to paralysis or spinal cord injury or death.
Also, some injected medicines can cause dangerous allergic reactions, poisoning, and deafness to
a baby in the mother's womb. A needle or syringe must never be used to inject more than one
person without disinfecting it each time. Some medicines and drugs taken during pregnancy can
cause disability in the baby. The overuse of injectable medicines, such as oxytocin, to speed up
childbirth and 'give force' to the mother's labor, deprives the baby of oxygen during birth. It is a
major cause of brain damage. Alcohol and tobacco used during pregnancy can also damage a
developing baby.
Everyone must consider the possible risks and benefits of using any medication. Doctors, nurses,
other health workers, pharmacists, and everyone else must stop the misuse and overuse of
medicines—especially of injections.
Dangerous work conditions
Women who work long hours without enough rest are likely to have accidents. Women who
work in factories, mines or on agricultural plantations can be exposed to dangerous machinery,
tools, or chemicals. Accidents, overwork and exposure to chemicals can all cause disability.
A growing number of women have also been permanently injured due to violence at work.
Supervisors sometimes use violence and threats to try and make women work harder and faster.
Sometimes the authorities bring in the military or police to stop women from striking or
protesting unsafe working conditions.

 Accidents
Many women and children get disabling injuries at home by burns from cooking fires, falls, road
accidents, and breathing or drinking toxic chemicals. Workplace accidents, especially in less
regulated sectors such as construction, agriculture, mining, and smaller businesses, are a
common source of disability.
  Poisons and pesticides
Poisons such as lead found in paints, pesticides such as rat poison, and other chemicals can cause
disabilities in people and cause birth defects in babies growing in the womb. Smoking or
chewing tobacco, breathing smoke, and drinking alcohol during pregnancy can also harm a child
before she is born.
Workers often use chemicals on the job or in the fields without being taught how to use them
safely, or without even knowing if they are dangerous. Accidents in factories can release poisons
into the air, water, or ground, causing terrible health problems, including permanent disabilities.
Physical characteristics of Down syndrome. Small mouth, hangs open; roof of mouth is high and
narrow; tongue hangs out eyes that slant upward; sometimes cross-eyed or poor sight ears low
some disabilities are known to be inherited, such as spinal muscular atrophy and muscular
dystrophy (diseases of the muscles and nerves). Women who already have one or more children
with an inherited disability are more likely to give birth to another child with the same problem.
Other disabilities can result when close blood relatives (such as brothers and sisters, first cousins,
or parents and children) have children together. Children born to mothers 40 years of age or
older are more likely to have Down syndrome. However, most disabilities are not inherited. In
most cases, the parents of a baby born with a disability did nothing to cause the disability. They
should never be blamed.
3. Intervention
There currently more than 1 million disabled people in the world (around 15% of the
population). Different types of disability include: absence/loss of limb or sensory function,
progressive neurological conditions, chronic diseases, inability or limited ability of cognitive
functioning, and psychiatric disorders. 
Disability can lead to a variety of negative consequences: financial, physical and mental as well
as leading to higher mortality rates and unequal access to healthcare. In terms of financial
consequences, 44% disabled people are likely to be employed compared to 75% in general
population. Physical consequences might include the effects of immobility such
as osteoporosis, pressure ulcers, venous thromboembolism, and heterotopic ossification. Mental
consequences examples include depression, suicide ideation and anxiety.
Concerning mortality, people with disabilities had shorter life expectancy (by 10 years) than the
general population. In terms of access to healthcare, it has been shown that disabled people have
poorer health outcomes, are unable to get healthcare when they need it and feel that healthcare
workers are not competent.
In order to support disabled individuals and improve their lives and health, a variety of health
promotion interventions have been created for this population. It is widely agreed in health
psychology research, that interventions that are evidence-based and theory-driven lead to the best
results. Many theories that have been used within the interventions or to explain the mechanism
behind interventions effects. The most popular theories currently are the behaviour change
theory, and self-determination theory. 
So which theory is the most effective in providing the basis for interventions to support disabled
people? 
Behavior change theory attempts to overcome variations in the outcomes of complex behavioural
support interventions by gaining an understanding of which intervention components contribute
to the effectiveness of the intervention. Thus, it attempts to break down interventions into such
components, called behaviour change techniques. A behaviour change technique is a ‘concrete
description’ of the methods used by practitioners to change behaviour, precisely defined to allow
for future replication. This approach has been used successfully in a variety of health
interventions. For instance, it has been applied in interventions for older adults, in developing
countries, obese and overweight adults, as well as in health interventions with mobile
applications.
This suggests that this theory can be used to build an understanding of interventions for
disability. However, it has been shown in a review that it is difficult to make conclusions as to
whether specific behaviour change techniques are indeed effective in interventions and whether
the methods for behaviour change technique identification are always accurate. Additionally, not
all intervention studies include enough description to ascertain the behaviour change techniques
used. Thus, this may not be the optimal method in every case. 
Self-determination theory suggests people have several innate motivational resources each of
which interact with the social context to stimulate optimal functioning. The motivation resources
(known as basic psychological needs) are relatedness, competency and autonomy.
If those needs are satisfied, autonomous type of motivation occurs, however if they are
frustrated, controlled motivation/motivation are likely to occur. Controlled motivation is of a
lower quality than autonomous and is likely to lead to less outcomes or less sustained outcomes
over time. In order for the needs to be satisfied, optimal conditions should take place in the
environment, known as autonomy supportive.
If the environment is controlling, then the needs are likely to becoming frustrated. Self-
determination theory has been widely applied to health contexts, such as smoking cessation,
weight loss, cervical cancer smears, dental hygiene, alcohol reduction, medical adherence,
diabetes as well as many others. This theory has been shown to be relevant to health contexts in a
review of 184 studies.
It could be that self-determination theory is more effective that behavior change theory because it
has a holistic view of the person, including not only the active components of interventions but
also ascertaining the level of which psychological needs are satisfied, the environment needed to
satisfy the needs and the resulting motivation which leads to behaviour change.
On the whole, it seems that self-determination theory is wider and more comprehensive than
behaviour change theory. On the other hand, it has been criticized as not including
developmental aspects and also due to its assumption that people have innate needs. 
While self-determination theory is the more convincing as a theory used to support and explain
interventions for disability, it has some limitations. It remains unclear as to whether behavior
change theory or self-determination theory are fully appropriate for supporting interventions for
disabled people. 

cause of emotional disturbance

 Significant, chronic stress in the home

 Lack of structure
 Authoritarian parenting style with rigid, excessive rules and punishments
 Permissive parenting with few if any expectations, limits, or establishment of
acceptable behaviors
 Inconsistent expectations and discipline
 Disinterested, distant parents
 Abuse
 Violence and general dysfunction in the home
 More negative than positive interactions in the home

There are four major areas in which these speech and language impairments occur:
• Articulation | speech impairments where the child produces sounds incorrectly (e.g., lisp,
difficulty articulating certain sounds, such as “l” or “r”)
• Fluency | speech impairments where a child’s flow of speech is disrupted by sounds,
syllables, and words that are repeated, prolonged, or avoided and where there may be silent
blocks or inappropriate inhalation, exhalation, or phonation patterns
• Voice | speech impairments where the child’s voice has an abnormal quality to its pitch,
resonance, or loudness
• Language | language impairments where the child has problems expressing needs, ideas, or
information, and/or in understanding what others say