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Special Education
Birmingham City Schools
2015 Park Place North, Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Questions or Concerns? Please contact the Department of Special Education at 205-231-4633
sped@bhm.k12.al.us
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, often referred to as “IDEA,” provides FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) for eligible students with disabilities. In order to be eligible to receive services under IDEA, a student must be determined to be a child with a disability impacting educational progress including:
• autism;
• deaf-blindness;
• deafness;
• emotional disturbance;
• hearing impairment;
• intellectual disability;
• multiple disabilities;
• orthopedic impairment;
• other health impairment;
• specific learning disability;
• speech or language impairment;
• traumatic brain injury; or
• visual impairment (including blindness),
and to need special education and related services (each as defined under IDEA). The District complies with the requirement to identify and evaluate students who may have disabilities, to determine the eligibility of such students, to develop individualized education programs, to place students in appropriate settings, to follow certain procedural safeguards (including in connection with disciplinary actions), and to protect the confidentiality of student records. Congress made changes to IDEA in 2004, and the U.S. Department of Education revised the regulations on August 14, 2006, and December 1, 2008.
