Millions of children in our nation are identified as being "children with disabilities". Prior to the 1970s, millions of children with disabilities received inadequate or inappropriate special education services from the public schools and another 1 million children were excluded from school altogether. Many states had laws that specifically excluded certain children, such as those who were deaf or blind, those with emotional or behavioral problems, and those who were "feeble-minded". Only after Public Law 94-142 became effective in 1978 and, in several states, after Federal and State court cases, did 'education for all' policies become a fact. Public Law 94-142 required that all students with disabilities receive Free and Public Education (FAPE) and provided a funding mechanism to help defray the costs of special education programs. Public Law 94-142 later was amended into the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), whose main goal has always been to ensure that children with disabilities are not excluded from school. (3) IDEA defines children with disabilities as having any of the following types of disabilities: autism, deaf, deaf-blindness, hearing impairments (including deafness), mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, serious emotional disturbance, specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairments (including blindness). (2)
             The passage of Public Law 94-142 in 1975 provided children with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education. During the early years of its enactment, primary emphasis was placed on the provision of services to students who in the past had been denied access to an education. To insure the provision of adequate services to students with disabilities, the law required providers to develop an individualized educational plan (...