Faculty Publications

Legal Issues In Early Childhood Special Education

Document Type

Article

Keywords

collaboration, early intervention, families, law/legal issues, policy

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Disability Policy Studies

Abstract

Family and professional collaboration is beneficial to students, families, and educators. The importance of such collaboration was recognized for families of students with disabilities, resulting in provisions in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which ensure parental participation in educational planning. Despite the benefits of family and professional collaboration and IDEA mandate, many parents disagree with the educational planning decisions provided to their children and request due process hearings. Parents perceive a lack of opportunity to provide input and/or to disagree with schools’ perspectives. Parents of early childhood students report significant concerns about their child’s readiness for the transition to kindergarten and their limited role in transition planning as their children prepared to enter preschool programs. The purpose of this article was to examine the issues identified in parental complaints in early childhood special education (ECSE) through a qualitative content analysis of recent court cases. The results revealed six themes related to current issues in ECSE programs. We conclude with several recommendations for state policy makers to improve services in ECSE based on the DEC Recommended Practices.

Department

Department of Special Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, & Leadership Studies

Original Publication Date

1-1-2021

DOI of published version

10.1177/10442073211023165

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

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