This next article in the series on evaluation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) focuses on the common, core responsibility of school psychologists for timely completion of the initial evaluation. For this topic, first is a legal analysis and then a discussion for professional implementation that includes ethical…

"Evaluation" under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is among the major responsibilities of school psychologists. This concluding article in the series on evaluation under the IDEA provides legal analysis and professional recommendations related to procedural appropriateness. Specifically, it addresses notices,…

The purposes of evaluation, as shown in its definition in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) regulations (2019, § 300.15), concern eligibility and free appropriate public education (FAPE). For the initial evaluation, the focus of the IDEA legislation is to determine whether the child is eligible and, if so, the nature and…

Extended school year (ESY) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has become a more frequent issue as a result of the learning loss and increased needs of some special education students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. School psychologists often play a significant role in implementation of the IDEA requirements specific to ESY.…

The purposes of this article are (a) to canvass the current legislation, regulations, and illustrative agency policy interpretations specific to "transition services" under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2018), and (b) to provide an update of the court decisions since the coverage of an earlier overview of the…

The peer-reviewed special education literature has included notable attention to the peer-reviewed research (PRR) provision that the 2004 amendments added to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, as with the other IDEA issues, the legal accuracy of this translating treatment for special education professionals is subject…

For this 22nd article in the series reviewing recent court decisions concerning appropriate school psychology practice from both professional and legal perspectives, the topic is child find and eligibility under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including as a secondary matter the intersecting requirement for a comprehensive…

This article highlights the trends in state laws and judicial rulings specific to identification of and interventions for students with dyslexia.

Although reading remains a priority in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the basis of the case law primarily is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) due in significant part to its open adjudicative avenue. The purpose of this article is to provide a synthesis of the judicial rulings under the IDEA specific to reading…

The special education literature has included a continuing line of articles and chapters that have translated for practitioners the legal meaning of the progress monitoring provisions in the successive versions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This article examines this line of publications in light of the language of the…

School psychologists sometimes are called upon as a witness in a special education due process hearing. Without over-legalizing the role and responsibilities of the school psychologist, providing concise and organized attention to this topic not only reduces the discomforting symptoms of the fear/flight reaction but also contributes to more…

The purpose of this article is to provide special educators with significant and perhaps surprising recent lessons in special education law. These lessons under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act range from the threshold issues of child find and eligibility through the central obligation of…

This article delineates the four successive dimensions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) central obligation of "free appropriation public education" that the courts have developed thus far: (a) procedural, (b) substantive, (c) incomplete implementation of the last Individualized Education Program (IEP), and (d)…

Since schools have generally resumed full in-person services, the legal issues for students with disabilities include not only the continuing line of cases challenging the level and efficacy of services during the pandemic but also the potential disputes about implementation or nonimplementation of "compensatory services" per federal and…

When parents of students with disabilities reach impasse with school districts, after exhausting informal interactions and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such as facilitated IEP meetings and mediation, what is the next step if they seek a binding third-party decision under the IDEA? The typical answer, especially if the underlying…