With very limited exceptions, the right to special education extends to all students between the ages of three and twenty-one, inclusive,1 who meet the criteria for one or more of the 13 exceptionalities listed in the IDEA and state regulations: Autism, Deaf-Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance (“ED”), Hard of Hearing, Intellectual Disability, Multiple Disabilities, Orthopedic Impairment, Other Health Impairment (“OHI”), Specific Learning Disabilities (“SLD”), Speech or Language Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Visual Impairment Including Blindness.2 Children under nine may also be eligible for special education services under the category of Developmental Delay.3 Each exceptionality has its own set of legal criteria distinct from any related medical diagnosis. Some of these exceptionalities require evaluation procedures particular to that suspected disability in addition to the general evaluation procedures applicable to all exceptionalities.
- 120 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(A); La. Bulletin 1706 § 230. States are not required to provide FAPE to students between the ages of 18 and 21 who are incarcerated in an adult correctional facility provided that the student was not identified as a student with a disability and did not have an IEP prior to being incarcerated. La. Bulletin 1706 § 102(A)(1). Furthermore, the right to FAPE ceases when a student graduates with a regular high school diploma. Id. § 102(A)(2). Students who turn 22 during their final school year of eligibility are entitled to continue receiving FAPE until the end of the school year if steps in the student’s transition plan have not been completed. La. Bulletin 1530 § 103(C)(2)(b).
- 220 U.S.C. § 1401(3)(A); La. Bulletin 1508 § 701, et seq.; La. Bulletin 1706 § 905;
- 320 U.S.C. § 1401(3)(B); La. Bulletin 1508 § 705; La. Bulletin 1706 § 111(B).