ABSTRACT
In 1975, Congress enacted a public law (PL 94–142) that provided federal funding to states to support programs that provide thorough and efficient education for all students, regardless of handicapping condition (including development disabilities [DD]), in regular public schools. The intent of this law, originally entitled the education of All Handicapped Students Act and now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), was to challenge schools to design individualized programs that would facilitate educational process in spite of the handicap. This milestone legislation resulted from the tireless efforts of countless advocacy groups, the delineation of which goes far beyond the scope of this chapter. Suffice to say that the intent of this legislation was to provide more than access alone, but more importantly, as Turnbull et al. (2004) indicate, “benefit” from the educational process. Quite obviously, without this legislation this chapter would not exist. However because of it, and more importantly because of its emphasis on accessibility and individualized benefit, this legislation has produced iatrogenic effects that uniquely challenge applications of cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBT) for individuals with developmental disabilities in school settings.
