Special Education
Special Education is specially designed instruction, offered to students with a disability at no cost to parents, to meet a student’s unique needs. Special Education serves students with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A child between the ages of 3-21 with a disability including an:
- intellectual disability
- visual impairment
- speech/language impairment
- emotional disturbance
- autism
- hearing impairment
- specific learning disability
- multiple disabilities
- other health impairment
- traumatic brain injury
and/or
- orthopedic impairment
- deaf-blind
- Non-Categorical Early Childhood
who, as a result, requires specially designed instruction to benefit from the general education curriculum.
Section 504
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a federal civil rights law that protects individuals with disabilities of all ages, including school age children, individuals regarded as disabled or with a history of a disability from discrimination in programs and activities that receive federal funds. (Students with disabilities under IDEA are automatically protected against discrimination under Section 504).
Dyslexia
A student with dyslexia may display the ability to learn in the absence of print and receives the same classroom instruction that benefits most children; however, the student continues to struggle with some or all of the many facets of reading and spelling.
The Texas Education Code (TEC) 38.003 defines dyslexia in the following way:
- "Dyslexia" means a disorder of constitutional origin manifested by a difficulty in learning to read, write or spell, despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and sociocultural opportunity.
- "Related disorders" include disorders similar to or related to dyslexia such as developmental auditory imperceptions, dysgraphia, specific developmental dyslexia, developmental dysgraphia, and developmental spelling disability.
Sources:
What Educators and Parents Need to Know About Special Education Law by Karen Norlander, ESQ
The Dyslexia Handbook, Revised 2021 by Texas Education Agency