Homebound Instruction: The Legal Segregation of Students With Emotional-Behavioral Disabilities Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act

• In Event: 65.081 - Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: 65.081-3 - Poster Session: Legal and Judicial Issues for Underserved Populations

Abstract

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has mandated social justice, equity, and diversity through the desegregation of children with disabilities for over thirty years. However, thousands of students with emotional-behavioral disabilities continue to be segregated from their peers, teachers, and even the normal school environment through the provision of homebound instructional services. The purpose of this study was to ascertain, in the absence of explicit federal statutory or regulatory guidelines, whether implicit guidelines exist elsewhere in the law (e.g. administrative and court interpretations) for the appropriate use of homebound instruction as a placement under the IDEA. Policy and practice changes are delineated per a comprehensive review of existing legal decisions.

Author

• Benjamin Lustig, University of Iowa