Exceptional Student Education

Exceptional Student Education in Louisiana is led by both federal and state law. See La. Stat. Ann. § 17:1943 (2014) (saying that the State Board of Elementary Education should put into effect rules, regulations, and policies needed to administer the Act and to implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1400(d) (2012)). Under both federal and state law, state and local educational agencies have a job to give each student with a disability or exceptionality a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment, which includes special education and related services. Id.; La. Stat. Ann. § 17:1941; La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § 331 (2015).Special education is defined as “specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including:

(i) instruction in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings;

(ii) instruction in physical education”;

(iii) speech-language pathology services;

(iv) travel training; and

(v) vocational education.

20 U.S.C. § 1401(29); La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § 905.

Specially designed instruction means content, methods, or delivery of instructions are created to be helpful to the needs of an eligible student by: (i) addressing the unique needs of the student based on the student’s disability; and (ii) making sure the student has access to the general curriculum, so that the student can meet the educational standards the state or district has set for all students. La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § 905.