Links for ADD/ADHD:
Teaching children with attention deficit disorder
Advice to parents
A resource for home and school
Kidzone
ABCs of LD/ADD
What's new?
Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
The primary law under which schools evaluate children for
special education, and then provide services to those they find
eligible, is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, or IDEA. This law entitles children with disabilities to a
free appropriate public education by mandating special education
and related services for students who meet eligibility
requirements. In order for a student to be eligible, he or she
must have a disability according to the criteria established in
state or federal law, or be suspected of having such a
disability, and that disability must adversely affect his or her
educational performance. Thus, a medical diagnosis of ADHD alone
is not sufficient to render a child eligible for services.
Educational performance must be adversely affected. Presently,
the IDEA lists 13 categories of disability under which a child
might be found eligible for special education services. Your
child must meet the criteria for one of these categories. In
accordance with federal law, each state has to have a state law
that entitles students with disabilities to a free appropriate
public education. All state special education laws must meet the
standards of federal law. Local school districts, then, must
follow the state law and its accompanying rules and regulations.
Yet many local school districts may not understand their
obligation to provide special education to children with ADHD in
cases where the disability adversely affects the student's
educational performance. As a result of the considerable
confusion in the field, the U.S. Department of Education has
issued two memoranda intended to clarify state and local
responsibility under federal law for addressing the needs of
children with ADHD in the schools. The first memorandum, issued
in 1991, states that "children with ADD should be classified as
eligible for services under the "other health impaired" category
in instances where the ADD is a chronic or acute health problem
that results in limited alertness, which adversely affects
educational performance" (U.S. Department of Education, 1991, p.
3). Children with ADHD are also eligible for services under any
other category, if they meet the criteria established for those
disabilities -- for example, "specific learning disabilities."
Section 504
According to the memorandum, students with ADHD might also be
eligible for services under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973. Section 504 is a civil rights statute prohibiting
discrimination on the basis of disability by recipients of
federal funds. Under Section 504, a person with a disability
means any person with an impairment that "substantially limits
one or more major life activities." Because "learning" is
included in Section 504's definition of "major life activities,"
many students with ADHD qualify as a person with a disability.
Schools are then required to provide them with a "free
appropriate public education," which can include regular or
special education and related services, depending upon each
student's specific needs.
