Sign
the petition to help improve Early Intervention
services now CLICK
HERE
The Secretary of
Education invites written comments from the public
on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) to assist the Department in preparing for
reauthorization of the Act in 2002. You can
read the US Government's website summarizing thier
request for public comment here: DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
IDEA is the US federal law that governs the states
Early Intervention Program for Infants and
Toddlers with Disabilities. You can read the
actual law and get lots of other good information
from this website.
IDEA Part C
Reauthorization and
funding of IDEA is expected to stir a heated
debate in Congress. Under the law, the federal
government was supposed to supply schools with 40%
of the cost. However, Congress has never supplied
more than 15% of the promised funds, and for the
Early Intervention portion of IDEA funding has not
even kept pace with inflation. Quality of
Early Intervention services varies widely from
State to State. However, even in the best
states we think all would agree that there is
still significant room for improvement.
We
have developed a petition that we would like you
to consider signing. It is electronic and
should only take a moment of your time.
Please read and sign the petition here: Comments
On Reauthorization of IDEA, Is IDEA Achieving Its
Fullest Potential?
We also encourage
you to send your own comments directly.
Submit your comments by February 25,
2002. The DOE requests that you comment
on the following areas relevant to Early
Intervention:
1.) Parent
Involvement. For parents and professionals
involved in the early intervention program under
Part C, what barriers have you experienced? In
each of these cases, have you experienced any
efforts to increase parent involvement that you
believe are successful? If so, please describe
them.
2.) Use of
Insurance under Part C. To what extent are private
and public insurance used in paying for early
intervention services under Part C in your State?
Have parents suffered any financial or other
difficulties resulting from the use of their
insurance? What difficulties do lead agencies have
in accessing public or private insurance?
3.) Excessive
Paperwork. For administrators, teachers, or other
personnel, describe any burdens you are
experiencing in implementing the Part B (or Part
C) requirements. What specific requirements are
problematic, and what kinds of problems are you
having? What recommendations do you have to
resolve these problems? What paperwork
requirements do little to further educational
goals of children with disabilities and/or provide
appropriate protections to the children and their
families? What paperwork is completed by clerical
staff, administrators, special education teachers,
and regular education teachers? What paperwork now
completed by teachers and administrators could be
completed by clerical staff, if they were
available? What steps have you taken in order to
try to reduce IDEA paperwork burden?
In submitting your
comments, please identify the area of your
involvement in special education, regular
education or early intervention, as well as your
role, if any, in that area (e.g., parent, teacher,
student, service provider, administrator, or
researcher). In addition, if appropriate to your
comments, please identify the specific Part and
section of IDEA that is the subject of your
comments, and specify why the statute needs to be
amended.
All comments
concerning the reauthorization of IDEA should be
addressed to Thomas Irvin, Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S.
Department of Education. Comments may be
submitted via email at:
comments@ed.gov
. You must use the term IDEA
Reauthorization in the subject line.
Comments may be sent via traditional mail to:
Thomas Irvin,
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW.
Mary E. Switzer Building, Room 3086
Washington DC 20202-2570.
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