November 15, 2009
Supplemental Aids and Services in IDEA
What does federal IDEA law say about Supplementary Aids & Services?
Supplementary Aids & Services are about more than what service a child will be provided. These IEP services can include what adults will do and should be listed on the IEP document.
Here is a description of IDEA’s Supplementary Aids & Services.
Please note: Supplementary Aids and Services are NOT the same as Related Services.
Supplementary aids and services means aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes, other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with §300.114 through §300.116.” (34 CFR 300.42)
The purpose of providing supplementary aids and services is to support students with disabilities as active partici¬pants with nondisabled peers as well as to enable their access to the general curriculum. To that end, supplementary aids and services include modification to the general curriculum and [a child with a disability is not removed from education in age-appropriate regular classrooms solely because of needed modification in the general curriculum]. (34 CFR 300.116 (e))
There are an infinite number of possible supplementary aids and services to be considered and implemented by Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams.
Court decisions have required school districts to make a concerted and good faith effort to use supplementary aids and services to address behavioral issues in the regular classroom. The provision of positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports is designed to foster increased participation of children with disabilities in regular education environments or other less restrictive environments, not to serve as a basis for placing children with disabilities in more restrictive settings.
It is important that IEP teams contemplate educational placement in the regular education classroom not only as it currently exists, but also as it might be modified through the provision of supplementary aids and services.
Examples of Supplementary Aids and Services
IEP teams may find it helpful to think about supplementary aids and services in four categories:
Collaborative,
Instructional,
Physical,
and Social-Behavioral (Etscheidt & Bartlett, 1999).
Examples include:
Providing instruction on functional skills in the context of the typical routines in the regular classroom;
Changing method of presentation;
Using reader services;
Providing research-based supplementary materials;
Providing instructional adaptations (e.g., preteaching, repeating directions, extra examples and nonexamples);
Furniture arrangement in environments;
Specific seating arrangements;
Individualized desk, chair, etc.;
Adaptive equipment;
Adjustments to sensory input (e.g., light, sound);
Environmental Aids (e.g., classroom acoustics, heating, ventilation); Structural Aids (e.g., wheelchair accessibility, trays, grab bars); Social skills instruction;
Counseling supports;
Peer supports (e.g., facilitating friendships);
Individualized behavior support plans;
Modification of rules and expectations;
Cooperative learning strategies.
