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Abstract: 

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1997, P.L.105-17) is a federal law mandating that all children with disabilities have available to them a free, appropriate public education that includes access to special education and related services. The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004, P.L.108-446), while preserving the basic structure of the IDEA of 1997, presents important opportunities for collaboration across general and special education, which in return may advance the national agenda toward improving and expanding effective school mental health (SMH) programs. The information in this article presents views of federal, state, and local officials as well as national organizations that share a collaborative education/mental health agenda. These individuals participated in a Critical Issue Meeting sponsored by the Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action and the IDEA Partnership. The participants are members in the National Community of Practice on School Behavioral Health. The article presents five potential areas of intersection between IDEA and SMH—early intervening services, discipline, highly qualified teachers, disproportionality, and secondary transition—along with strategies to capitalize on them.

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Affiliations:  1: Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action, University of Maryland School of Medicine; 2: University of Maryland School of Medicine; 3: Temple University; 4: University of Maryland School of Medicine; 5: IDEA Partnership, National Association of State Directors of Special Education.