Parents Of Students With Disabilities Rights
Introduction
There have been calls for teachers to enhance as well as facilitate the inclusion and accommodation of children with disabilities, both intellectual and physical, in the classroom. In this text, I discuss the rights and responsibilities of parents as well as children with disabilities which can help alleviate concerns on including children with disabilities in the classroom.
Parents of students with disabilities rights
There exist laws to protect the rights of parents as well as children with disabilities rights. Such laws include the individuals with disabilities act (IDEA). IDEA avails resources for purposes of aiding the local state education bodies to meet the needs of students with disabilities. For a state or education agency to receive funding from IDEA, without first enforcing measures and demonstrating that it has the ability to cater for the needs of students with disabilities (Schwartz 2005).Apart from funding local as well as state education bodies, IDEA is also charged with enforcement of obligations. It uses a range of remedies including judicial as well as administrative remedies to ensure that students’ with disabilities receive free and appropriate public education.According to Heward (2009), it is important for teachers to furnish themselves on these obligations so as to ensure that all their concerns about including students with disabilities in the classroom are addressed. In that line it is good to note that IDEA also supports the 1075 Education of all Handicapped Children Act and with that in mind, below is a brief list of the rights of parents of students with disabilities;
· The child is entitled to an appropriate and free education. Here, free is taken to mean at no extra cost and appropriate is taken to
mean the tuition should be tailored to the child’s unique needs.
· A parent of a disabled student has a right to be notified in writing of any evaluation to check if a student has a disability or an education placement change for the student
· During a test, a student has the right to be allocated an interpreter if he or she is deaf; the right to be provided with Braille or have a test read aloud if the student is blind etc.
· The parent has a right to be fully updated by the school of all the rights applicable to him or her and the measures the school has in place to ensure that these rights are upheld.
· The parent also has the right to participate in coming up with the individualized education program (IEP) for students over the age of 3 years. The school also must at all times inform the parent of any IFP meeting and in that respect the parent also has a right to request for an IFP meeting within the school year.
· Just like parents of students who do not have disabilities, the parent of a student with disabilities also has a right of being furnished with information with regards to a child’s progress. This can be through report cards.
· The parent also has a right for his disabled child to be accorded education in the same setting as the non-disabled students and should learning outside the classroom be deemed appropriate, the student should be accorded the same in an integrated environment.
Some of the agencies the parent can foster partnership with in regard to the rights of the disabled child include the learning disability association, the council for exceptional children as well as national information centre for children and youth with disabilities amongst others.The rights accorded to parents of students with disabilities also come with obligations and according to Franklin et al. (2006), instructors should be aware of these responsibilities so as to forge a working partnership with the disabled student’s parents. This will ensure that the student’s education is tailored specifically to meet his or her needs. Nielsen (2008) gives some of these responsibilities as;
· Parents have a duty to develop partnership with the learning institution and exchange with it important information with regard to the
student’s education.
·Monitor the student’s performance by reviewing his or her school reports periodically. If the student’s progress is not satisfactory, it is the parent’s duty to request for a modification of the same to ensure better performance of the disabled child. This duty goes hand in hand with the right of a parent to participate in coming up with the individualized education program (IEP) for students over the age of 3.
·The parent also has a duty to keep records with regard to the disabled child as he or she may need to refer to these records in future. These records may include discussions and correspondence to and from the school with regard to the disabled student.Apart from these duties, teachers should also encourage parents to join parent organizations in the school so as to advance the agenda for the benefit of their disabled children. These organizations can also be vital for they have the ability to bring about appropriate changes as well as strengthen existing services for the benefit of their disabled children.
Conclusion
It is important to note that an enhanced understanding of the teachers on the rights of the disabled children and their parents as well as how they can form a working relationship with the parents can provide a solid background on which to implement and come up with new methodologies for the improvement of education programs for the benefit of disabled students.
References
Franklin, C., Harris, M.B., Allen-Meares, P. (2006). The school services sourcebook: a guide for school-based professionals. OxfordUniversity Press US
Heward, W.L (2009). Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 9th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc.
Nielsen, L.B. (2008). Brief Reference of Student Disabilities: With Strategies for the Classroom 2nd Edition. Corwin Press
Schwartz, D. (2005). Including children with special needs: a handbook for educators and parents. Greenwood Publishing Group
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