Legal Rights of Children with Epilepsy in School & Child Care

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CHAPTER FOUR The Special Education Process for Children with Epilepsy: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 26 4.1Q: What are the rights of children under the IDEA? A: Under the IDEA, children with disabilities have the right to a free, appropriate, public education in the least restrictive environment in which their needs can be met. A school district must find children with disabilities, assess them to determine if they have disabilities that adversely affect their ability to benefit from education, and, if so, provide them with individualized special education and related services that enable them to make meaningful educational progress and reevaluate them periodically. In addition, the district must provide procedural safeguards to the child and his or her parents governing all aspects of the special education process, from access to records and notice of meetings, to proposed school district actions and administrative due process hearing rights. Additionally, infants and toddlers with disabilities and those who are at risk of developing disabilities are entitled to early intervention services. Early intervention services can include special education, physical, occupational, speech or other therapies, nursing services, assistive technology, or case management. Children are eligible for early intervention services from birth until they turn three. The program is part of the IDEA (Part C of the IDEA, as distinguished from Part B, which governs school-aged children’s services), but at the state and local levels, the early intervention program might be run by a health department or another agency, rather than by the school system. An infant or toddler with epilepsy might be eligible for services from the early intervention program if his or her seizures interfere with development and either cause him or her to be disabled or to have a developmental delay and be at risk of having a disability. Some children who receive early intervention services do not need further services when they turn three; others transition into the special education system. The early intervention services to be provided are set out in an individualized family services plan. The services are designed to address the needs of the child and his or her family. In contrast, the special education system is focused on the needs of the child. Early intervention services can be provided at home, at a child care center or provider’s home, or at an agency or school. If epilepsy does not affect the development of an infant or toddler or if the child’s 26 See Chapter 2 for a basic introduction to the requirements of the IDEA. 37
Legal Rights of Children with Epilepsy in School and Child Care state does not serve infants and toddlers who have developmental delays or are at risk of having a disability, the child will likely not be eligible for early intervention services. For more information on state programs, see www.childfindidea.org. In many cases, a school-aged student’s epilepsy might not adversely affect his or her educational performance, but he or she may need some accommodations to be successful or safe at school. In these cases, the student should have a Section 504 plan that outlines all necessary accommodations. See Chapter 5 for more information about Section 504. 4.2Q: Are children with epilepsy automatically entitled to special education and related services? A: No. In order to qualify for special education and related services under the IDEA, a child’s disability must adversely affect his or her educational performance and the child must need special education as a result. 34 C.F.R. 300.8. 4.3Q: Does a school district have any responsibility to locate children with epilepsy who may be eligible for special education and related services? A: Yes. The “child find” requirements of the IDEA place the responsibility on states to have policies and procedures to identify children within the district who may be eligible for special education and serve them appropriately. 34 C.F.R. 300.111. This means that local educational agencies must have child find procedures for the children within their boundaries, although the effectiveness of these procedures varies from district to district and state to state. 4.4Q: What are the steps of the special education process? A: Although the steps of the process may have different names in different states, essentially the special education process consists of an evaluation process, which is the process of determining whether a child has a disability and the nature and extent of the special education and related services the child needs (34 C.F.R. 300.14); development of an individualized education program (IEP) (34 C.F.R. 300.324); placement (34 C.F.R. 300.327); review (34 C.F.R. 300.324(b)(1); and reevaluation (34 C.F.R. 300.303). 38 The evaluation process consists of several steps: referral for special education, assessment, and identification of the student as having a disability that adversely affects his or her educational performance. Following the evaluation, if a student is identified as needing special education, an IEP is developed for the student, and he or she is placed into an education program that is supposed to meet his or her needs appropriately. The student’s IEP is required by law to be reviewed and revised annually, and the student must be formally reevaluated at least every
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AN ADVOCATE’S MANUAL AN ADVOCATE
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Page 17 and 18: ABOUT THE AUTHOR Leslie Seid Margol
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Special Education and Students with
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APPENDIX A: CHILD CARE SEIZURE DISO
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Activity Restrictions _____________
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8301 Professional Place, Landover,
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Myoclonic seizures: Seizures in whi
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(Student’s name) needs assistance
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7. FIELD TRIPS AND EXTRACURRICULAR
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Seizure Observation Record Student
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Legal Rights of Children with Epilepsy in School & Child Care

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