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Rhode Island was the first state to pass a law saying that all students were required to go to school for a certain amount of time (Lodge Rogers, Yell, & Rogers, 1998, p. 219). They were shortly followed by other states like Massachusettes and eventually other states (Lodge Rogers, Yell, & Rogers, 1998, p. 219). Even with these laws, students with disabilities were still excluded from education (Lodge Rogers, Yell, & Rogers, 1998, p. 219).
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This was the first conference that brought national attention to defining and establishing remedial programs for the special needs children of the country(Lodge Rogers, Yell, & Rogers, 1998, p. 221).
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Parents advocating for their children in Cuyahoga County, Ohio were the first parental advocates to form a group together called The Cuyahoga County Ohio Council for the Retarded Child to fight their children still being excluded from school (Lodge Rogers, Yell, & Rogers, 1998, p. 221).
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This case allowed children of different races to go to previously segregated schools (Yell, n.d.). This opened doors for others to fight for the rights of others that were being discriminated against because of being a special needs student (Yell, n.d.).
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This act gave grants to colleges and universities so they could train special education teachers and expanded state grants for students with special needs and made regional special education resource centers (Yell, n.d.).
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This case forced the state of Pennsylvania to provide a free and appropriate public education to people that were mentally retarded (Yell, n.d.).
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This is a case that built off of Brown vs. the Board of Education by saying since it was unconstitutional not to let children come to school because of race, therefore students with special needs should not be discriminated against either (Yell, n.d.).
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Section 504 was the first federal civil rights law to protect people with disabilities by saying that no person with a disability can be discriminated against by any activity receiving federal government funding (Yell, n.d.).
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The Education for All Handicapped Children Act made it possible for students with disabilities to receive a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment (Yell, n.d.). It also required schools to make IEPs and procedural safeguards (Yell, n.d.).
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Congress acknowledged the importance of early intervention for students with developmental disabilities by offering grants to those states providing early intervention programs for children birth to three years old (Yell, n.d.). It also required individual family service plans for the children and their families (Yell, n.d.).
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New disabilities such as Autism and traumatic brain injury were added as IDEA disabilities categories (Yell, n.d.). A transition requirement was added for IEPs of children 16 years or older (Yell, n.d.). This act used a "people first" language meaning a disabled student was now called a student with disabilities (Yell, n.d.). States were made to understand they could be sued under the 11th Amendment for violations of this act (Yell, n.d.).
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ADA was signed by President Bush protecting people with disabilities from discrimination in both public and private aspects (Yell.n.d.). As for special education, ADA reinforced and extended Section 504 that prevented discrimination of people with special needs by anyone that received federal funds (Yell, n.d.).
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With these amendments, we saw the reorganization of IDEA (Yell, n.d.). These amendments made improvements to the IEP and IEP teams ensuring that students with disabilities received a quality education with higher expectations (Yell, n.d.). Parents were now offered mediation before reaching the hearing phase (Yell, n.d.).
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This is the act that defined what qualities a highly educated special education teacher should have (Yell, n.d.). Moved away from using a discrepancy formula to figure out eligibility and introduced the use of the RTI model to learn if a child had a disability (Yell, n.d.).