Letter to Parents

Dear Parents:

This letter is going out to all parents of students in the district. It is specifically geared towards parents of children who have special needs to make the parents more aware of the laws that apply in this situation. There are three pieces of legislation that are important to the education of children with special needs: the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Assistive Technology Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a piece of legislation that was passes in 1990. The main focus of this act is to prevent employers discriminating against people who have disabilities but are very capable in whatever they are trained in. This act also states that the employer must provide assistive equipment that is needed to a person with a disability as long as this does not prove to be a hardship on the business. You may be wondering how this applies to students in a classroom. Well, this act is the reason that we have regulations on wheelchair accessibility and school districts providing assistive programs to children with disabilities. For more information please refer to the blog of my colleague, Will Wardwell, or my previous post on the ADA.

The Assistive Technology Act (ATA) is an act that states that each state is entitled to a grant that will fund an Assistive Technology Act Project or Program. Aptly put in by my fellow teacher Heather Davis, “The Projects in each state do numerous things for thousands of people, including providing services to people who have disabilities throughout their entire lives. With no age limit on the act, the smallest kindergarten child to the oldest senior citizen can both receive the help they need.” This act is here to provide students with special needs with the equipment that they need in order to be successful. For further inquiry, please refer to the blogs of: Janelle Ottersberg , Tanya Rush, and Jocelyn Stearns.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides regulations for the education of students with special needs. The main purpose of this law is best stated in the words of fellow teacher Crystal Fronk. She states, “This is a law by the federal government of the United States that says that all children within a state, that are eligible with certain disabilities must have a free and appropriate education available to them.” This law has been passed so that children with special needs will be given the best education possible with the tax payers’ money, the same opportunity that all children in America have. Please see the blogs of my fellow teachers for more information about the IDEA: Crystal Fronk, Jessica Burns, and Jia Acree.

As a teacher, I do my best to apply these laws in my classroom. I always want to make sure that children with special needs are treated respectfully by me, my fellow teachers, and all the students. I always make sure that these students have the equipment and resources that they need and I always fight to make sure that they are given the best education possible. These students with special needs deserve a great education just as every other child in the United States does. It is my goal to make this happen.

Thank you ,

Rylee McClellan