"AT BEST AN INEXACT SCIENCE"*: DELIMITING THE LEGAL CONTOURS OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY ELIGIBILITY UNDER IDEA

"AT BEST AN INEXACT SCIENCE"*: DELIMITING THE LEGAL CONTOURS OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY ELIGIBILITY UNDER IDEA

THE LEGAL MEANING OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION ELIGIBILITY. PERRY A. ZIRKEL. ARLINGTON, VA: COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN, 2006. 111 PAGES.

Reviewed

Special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)1 has been all the rage in education law in recent years. Last Term alone, the United States Supreme Court decided two IDEA cases, one involving burden of proof issues in due process hearings concerning the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE),2 the other concerning whether prevailing parents are able to be reimbursed for non-attorney expert fees under the IDEA fee-shifting provision.3 Additionally, the most comprehensive amendments to IDEA in seven years, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA),4 went into effect on July 1, 2005, making many important changes to existing special education law doctrine.5 More recently, final regulations to these new IDEIA amendments have been adopted.6