Ed. Department Releases IDEA Part C Rules

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The U.S. Department of Education has released long-awaited proposed regulations for the portion of the federal special education law that focuses on infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Referred to as Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the $436 million early-childhood program was established in 1986 to serve children from infancy to age 2. About 265,000 children nationally, representing about 2 percent of the population of babies and toddlers, were served under Part C, according to data collected by the Education Department in 2002.

Proposed regulations were introduced once before, in 2000, but were withdrawn from consideration in 2002 because, the department said, the special education law was too close to reauthorization for the regulations to be useful.

Among the new changes, according to the department, are clarifications in areas such as confidentiality and the use of insurance to pay for Part C services.