This Friday October 13, 2006 [Friday the 13th?], the IDEA 2004 regulations [Download idea.regs.sumry.chngs.pdf ] become effective. In many ways the regulations are anti-climatic. I was hoping for greater guidance and clarity from the regulations but not surprisingly the regulations track very closely with the statute. This close congruence was expected since IDEA 2004 purposefully left very little room for regulatory leeway. A few notable changes:
- Tourette's syndrome is now enumerated under the category of Other Health Impaired;
- Statute of limitations for filing complaints with SEA is one year;
- Issues of financial reimbursement can be raised in a due process;
- Moving away from f ailure model for eligibility;
- Laying out procedures for applying a RTI model (responds to therapeutic intervention) for eligibility for learning disability
The U.S. Department of Education is still due to release various appendices which will give some additional textual analysis and model forms for filing due process and complaints, which will help unrepresented parents from getting their due process dismissed on technical grounds.
The true significance of this Friday may be that special education directors are already passing on misinformation under the rubric of "under the new regulations we do not have to...." One such example is that the regulations bar compensatory education as a remedy (FALSE) but it is being passed off as true. As with any of these claims parents need to ask for reference to the regulations and not accept such poppy cock as being true. After this week expect more of this misinformation to be passed on as true.
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