National Association of the Deaf

The Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee of the U.S. Senate marked up and reported out S. 1248, its bill to amend and extend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through federal fiscal year 2009, Wednesday, June 25.

The NAD is still analyzing the committee's action. NAD staff are comparing the committee mark to the House-passed bill HR 1350.

The Senate is on its traditional July 4 recess until July 7. The NAD urges advocates interested in the IDEA to use this recess period to study both bills.

The immediate reaction of the NAD Law and Advocacy Center (NAD LAC) staff to the Senate mark up bill is to note the following:

• The Senate bill adds "interpreting services" to the definition of "related services" in Part A. This may be helpful to families of deaf and hard of hearing children and youth. However, in the opinion of the NAD LAC staff, as a matter of practice, most school districts already consider interpreting services to be related services. (The House bill does not add "interpreting services" to the definition.)
• The Senate bill does not adopt the NAD's recommendation that the "Special Factors" language in section 614 be improved. Rather, the language in current law -- requiring the IEP Team to "consider" the communication, linguistic, and other needs of deaf and hard of hearing children and youth -- is retained. (The House bill does the same.)
• The Senate bill authorizes the Secretary of Education ("the Secretary may…" to fund closed- and open-captioning of media that is of educational value. News may be captioned only until September 30, 2006. A loan service such as that of the Captioned Media Program is authorized. (The House bill is similar.)
• The Senate bill amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to authorize such sums as may be necessary to improve transition services to students with disabilities. This includes career exploration, vocational guidance, and similar services. (This language appears to be stronger than the transition-related language in the House bill.)
• The Senate bill, in Title IV, creates a Commission on Universal Design and the Accessibility of Curriculum and Instructional Materials. The commission is to conduct a two-year study. Members are to include educators, researchers, and advocates for deaf and hard of hearing individuals as well as for other disability populations.

Please return to the NAD website frequently for updates as the IDEA continues its progress through the U.S. Congress this summer and fall.