From the IDEA:

• §300.24 Related services.

(7) Parent counseling and training means-

(i) Assisting parents in understanding the special needs of their child;
(ii) Providing parents with information about child development; and
(iii) Helping parents to acquire the necessary skills that will allow them to support the implementation of their child's IEP or IFSP.

• §300.300 Provision of FAPE.

(ii) The services and placement needed by each child with a disability to receive FAPE must be based on the child’s unique needs and not on the child’s disability.

• §300.532 Evaluation procedures.

(h) In evaluating each child with a disability under §§300.531-300.536, the evaluation is sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child's special education and related services needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in which the child has been classified.

• §300.660 Adoption of State complaint procedures.

(b) Remedies for denial of appropriate services. In resolving a complaint in which it has found a failure to provide appropriate services, an SEA, pursuant to its general supervisory authority under Part B of the Act, must address:

(1) How to remediate the denial of those services, including, as appropriate, the awarding of monetary reimbursement or other corrective action appropriate to the needs of the child
 

Appendix A

• The parents of a child with a disability are expected to be equal participants along with school personnel, in developing, reviewing, and revising the IEP for their child.
   

• Section 300.343(b) requires each public agency to ensure that within a reasonable period of time following the agency’s receipt of parent consent to an initial evaluation a child, the child is evaluated and, if determined eligible, special education and related services are made available to the child in accordance with an IEP. The section further requires the agency to conduct a meeting to develop an IEP for the child within 30 days of determining that the child needs special education and related services.

  Section 300.342(b)(2) provides that an IEP must be implemented as soon as possible following the meeting in which the IEP is developed.
   

• "The IEP team should work toward consensus, but the public agency has ultimate responsibility to ensure that the IEP includes the services that the child needs in order to receive FAPE. It is not appropriate to make IEP decisions based upon a majority ``vote.’’ If the team cannot reach consensus, the public agency must provide the parents [FR Page 12474] with prior written notice of the agency’s proposals or refusals, or both, regarding the child’s educational program, and the parents have the right to seek resolution of any disagreements by initiating an impartial due process hearing." [Emphasis Added]

Prior Written Notice is explained at  §300.503 Prior notice by the public agency; content of notice of the Implementing Regulations and must include:

(1) A description of the action proposed or refused by the agency;

(2) An explanation of why the agency proposes or refuses to take the action;

(3) A description of any other options that the agency considered and the reasons why those options were rejected;

(4) A description of each evaluation procedure, test, record, or report the agency used as a basis for the proposed or refused action;

(5) A description of any other factors that are relevant to the agency's proposal or refusal;

(6) A statement that the parents of a child with a disability have protection under the procedural safeguards of this part and, if this notice is not an initial referral for evaluation, the means by which a copy of a description of the procedural safeguards can be obtained; and

(7) Sources for parents to contact to obtain assistance in understanding the provisions of this part.

• Each child's IEP team must consider the child's need for assistive technology (AT) in the development of the child's IEP (§300.346(a)(2)(v)); and the nature and extent of the AT devices and services to be provided to the child must be reflected in the child's IEP (§300.346(c)).

  A public agency must permit a child to use school-purchased assistive technology devices at home or in other settings, if the IEP team determines that the child needs access to those devices in nonstop settings in order to receive FAPE (to complete homework, for example).

  Any assistive technology devices that are necessary to ensure FAPE must be provided at no cost to the parents, and the parents cannot be charged for normal use, wear and tear. However, while ownership of the devices in these circumstances would remain with the public agency, State law, rather than Part B, generally would govern whether parents are liable for loss, theft, or damage due to negligence or misuse of publicly owned equipment used at home or in other settings in accordance with a child's IEP."
  
  

 

From the ADA:

• 28 C.F.R. 35.160 http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/regs/28cfr35.html#S160
  • a) A public entity shall take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with applicants, participants, and members of the public with disabilities are as effective as communications with others.
    (b)(1) A public entity shall furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to afford an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to participate in, and enjoy the benefits of, a service, program, or activity conducted by a public entity.
         (2) In determining what type of auxiliary aid and service is necessary, a public entity shall give primary consideration to the requests of the individual with disabilities.

From Dept. of Ed.: Deaf Students Education Services; Policy Guidance: It is worth noting that this document is specifically mentioned in IDEA '97 - and thus virtually takes the force of statute.

• Because deafness is a low incidence disability, there is not widespread understanding of its educational implications, even among special educators. This lack of knowledge and skills in our education system contributes to the already substantial barriers to deaf students in receiving appropriate educational services.
   
• The Secretary believes it is important that State and local education agencies, in developing an IEP for a child who is deaf, take into consideration such factors as:

  1. Communication needs and the child's and family's preferred mode of communication;

  2. Linguistic needs;

  3. Severity of hearing loss and potential for using residual hearing;

  4. Academic level; and

  5. Social, emotional, and cultural needs, including opportunities for peer interactions and communication.
   

• Any setting, including a regular classroom, that prevents a child who is deaf from receiving an appropriate education that meets his or her needs, including communication needs, is not the LRE for that individual child.
   
• This overriding rule regarding placement is that placement decisions must be made on an individual basis. As in previous policy guidance, the Secretary emphasizes that placement decisions may not be based on category of disability, the configuration of the delivery system, the availability of educational or related services, availability of space, or administrative convenience.
   
• States and school districts also are advised that the potential harmful effect of the placement on the deaf child or the quality of services he or she needs must be considered in determining the LRE
   

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