Legislation

Educators and community members continuously debate over the best way that government should fulfill its responsibility to educate citizens. Students with disabilities have educational rights under a special law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), with its 1997 Amendments, which mandates that students with disabilities have a free and appropriate education.

The U.S.C. Education of Individuals With Disabilities (1997) chapter states "Each State must establish procedures to assure that, to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities ... are educated with children who are not disabled, and that special education, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily." The U.S.C. does not use the term inclusion; however, it requires that special needs students should also be placed in the least restrictive environment (LRE) suitable for their needs. Moore (1998) recorded that Judy Heumann, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, described how the general education classroom should be the first option considered:

In implementing IDEA's LRE provisions, the regular classroom in the school the student would attend if not disabled is the first placement option considered for each disabled student before a more restrictive placement is considered. If the individual education plan (IEP) of a student with a disability can be implemented satisfactorily with the provision of supplementary aids and services in the regular classroomÂ…that placement is the LRE placement for that student (p. 1).

Federal legislation in the United States offers a variation on the type of assistance that may be applied to a chronically ill child versus what is available in Canada. The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (2005) recommends for teachers:

if school performance is slipping, teachers should work with the child, parents, and school system to come up with a catch-up plan. This might include supplementary tutoring, some individualized instruction, or a "504-plan" (specifically tailored to help students with special needs feel comfortable within the regular learning environment). Such proactive efforts can help children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) develop a sense of accomplishment. They can also decrease the risk of negative attitudes toward school because the child feels ashamed or overwhelmed by poor academic performance (p. 9)

The example whereby the CCFA recommended implementation of a 504-plan sheds light on the availability of two types of written plans, which can be developed and implemented by public schools regarding students with disabilities. First, the Individual Education Plan (IEP), under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), is a formal legal plan for instruction mandated by laws governing special education that sets forth the educational needs of a student, the goals and objectives that direct his or her program, the educational programming and placement, and the evaluation and measurement criteria that were developed during the IEP creation process (Cushner, McClelland, & Safford, 2003). Second, is a plan for students with disabilities requiring only reasonable accommodation (CHTU, 2005). Their plan is written under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which provides certain education remedies (504 plans) for such students. Section 504 is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Section 504 ensures that the child with a disability has equal access to an education. Jaff (2005) writes,

The standards courts apply to decide if a child is disabled are those found in the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). If a child meets the ADA definition of a person with a disability, he or she will meet the definition of a student with a disability under section 504. Section 504's definition of disability is broader than the IDEA's. In general, under the ADA, a person is disabled if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Major life activities include eating and disposal of bodily waste (p. 4).

Under a 504 plan the child may receive accommodations and modifications in the classroom. Unlike the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 does not require the school to provide an individualized educational program (IEP), which is designed to meet the child's unique needs and to provide the child with educational benefit. Parents must be aware that few procedural safeguards are available for disabled children under Section 504 rather than under IDEA. A child may qualify under Section 504 but not under the IDEA. These are called "504-only students." In developing a 504 plan, parents need to be the advocate when it comes to their child's education.

Schools want every child to be academically successful for the knowledge and skills that are developmentally appropriate. While the regular classroom setting may be least restrictive to reach this goal, sometimes it is appropriate to receive accommodations that will assure that academic success is possible. Local school districts are aware of their responsibility to identify students who, without some accommodation, cannot be accurately assessed as to their academic knowledge or skills level over time. Section 504 empowers both the parent and school district to work together to determine what modification in a daily school routine might be necessary to assure that the child has access to all aspects of the free appropriate public education (Poynor, 2005). Any health condition which might potentially decrease a child's access to the daily educational process or lessen the school's ability to accurately evaluate the child's academic success is deserving of consideration by a committee of teachers, school administrators, parents and health professionals. The Section 504 committee provides a consensus on the daily school routine which is a written plan to include accommodations to insure the safety and well-being of the child at school in addition to removing school protocols which prove to be barriers to health-impaired students.

Poyner (2005) wrote, with reference to an IBD child who would fall under the scope of a 504 plan, that although it is not a guarantee of school success or even of improved grades, a 504 plan does assess a child's unique situation and it establishes which barriers may be denying a child's access to the educational process. The 504 plan remains a flexible document, changing with the changes in the identified needs of the student or when there are different recognized barriers to his/her full educational access.

Children with disabilities are entitled to a "free appropriate public education" regardless of the nature or extent of the disability. Borrowing many of the procedural aspects of the IDEA, the regulations suggest that one option to comply with Section 504 is to develop and implement an IEP, as is required under the IDEA. However, schools do not have to use the IEP model as long as the evaluation is performed and a plan is in place. Under Section 504, any assistance a student receives from a school must be provided for free.