Critical Components of Learning Disability Acts
IDEA
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act facilitates the law that children with disabilities are entitled to a free, appropriate public education. The teachers should tailor the education provided to them to their individual needs. Additionally, the instruction must prepare them for independent living despite their disabilities, employment and further education. The Act specifies that school professionals should provide evaluations for students believed to have learning disabilities. The Act, however, states that the environment provided must not restrict their growth and should be closest to a typical learning environment. The legislation also provides specifications for parents, families and caregivers.
NCLD
The No Child Left Behind Act focuses on reforming education. The four principles of educational reform include stronger accountability for results, thus targeting the academic content. The Act also advocates for increased flexibility and local control. There is a centralized focus on teaching qualifications and methods that translate to state assessments determining whether the schools are teaching their students successfully. The Act specifies that children with learning disabilities and attention issues are the focus of the benefits of the program. The Act also targets low performing groups of children even if they exhibit no form of learning disability.
ESSA
The Every Student Succeeds Act replaced the NCLD in 2018. The Act stipulates more power to the states in determining how schools should account for student achievement. The disadvantaged student includes students with learning and thinking differences, students in poverty, students with limited English language skills, minorities, children receiving special education. The Act like the NCLD emphasized the need for school accountability. Each student must have academic achievement goals by setting up metrics determining whether the students are learning or not. The Act collectively makes plans supporting struggling schools by raising their academic standards.
Cognitive Development Theories
All the laws evaluate in the first section of this paper are informed by cognitive development theories. Take Piaget and Gesell’s theory; intellectual development results from an active, dynamic interplay between a child and her environment. The IDEA specifies that teachers or the state should provide a learning environment typical to that of children without any learning disabilities. The Act, therefore, acknowledges the impact of the environment on the ability to learn. The assessments emphasized in the NCDL and ESSA also indicate consideration of determining whether the school environment is the best for learning.
Learning Theories
Learning theories, including socio-constructivism and social learning theories, indicate that people learn socially. Additionally, the constructivism theory suggests that learners actively construct their knowledge in interaction with the environment and through a reorganization of their mental structures XX. The acts mentioned above are based on the learning theories because they mandate that children with learning disabilities should continue learning in a social environment in public schools where there is access to free education. No ACT discusses in this evaluation advocates for the seclusion of students with learning and other disabilities such as attention and focus.
Intelligence Theories
The laws also draw on theories of intelligence to a limited degree to support their requirements. For instance, Spearman’s Two-Factor theory postulates that successful completion of a specific task depends on general intelligence and specific skill related to the said task. There is a general intelligence but varying specific skill based on the exposure or abilities of the individual. The assessments required by the acts test for special skill and through the efforts made to teach these students, the teacher can prepare an individualized teaching plan for each of the students.