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Prior to 1990, the Education for the Handicapped Act (EHA) referred to a series of federal statutes concerning the education of children with handicapping conditions (e.g., Pub. L. No. 94–142). In 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1990 (Pub. L. No. 101–476), which changed the name of EHA to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In 1997, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (Pub. L. No. 105–117). This Act reauthorized IDEA and introduced several changes to improve the law. Most recently, President George W. Bush signed into law the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (Pub. L. No. 108–445) which re-authorized and amended IDEA. Additional amendments to IDEA were made in 2015 through the Every Student Succeeds Act (Pub. L. No. 114–95).

IDEA—Part B allocates funds to states that provide a free and appropriate education to all children with disabilities as defined by the law. To receive funds, each state must have developed a plan that offers every child with disabilities an opportunity to receive special education and related services in conformance with an individualized education program (IEP). The school must offer an IEP reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances. Students must be assessed on the basis of nondiscriminatory testing and evaluation procedures and provided with an IEP in the least restrictive environment appropriate for each child. The “least restrictive environment” is the educational setting selected from a continuum of alternative placements (ranging from a residential facility to the general education classroom) that is closest to the general education classroom but also meets the special education needs of the child with a disability. Individualized education planning decisions are made by a multidisciplinary team that includes the student’s parents, and a number of safeguards are required in the law to ensure parent participation in decision making. IDEA—Part C provides funds to states that offer early intervention programs for infants and toddlers with known or suspected disabilities in conformance with an individualized family service plan (see ssss1).