The motivating principle behind IDEA was to ensure equal opportunity for all children. In order to make this idea a reality, we need to balance all of the needs of children. In 1975, the federal Education of All Handicapped Children Act was passed, now revised as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1990). For children with disabilities, the law was long overdue. IDEA's designers saw themselves as progressive reformers, designing fairer and more responsive schools. Lawmakers were attempting to rectify two historical injustices. First, public schools did not serve many of the country's eight million children with disabilities, and as many as a million children did not attend school. Second, a disproportionate number of minority children are considered educable mentally retarded. Combining free speech and due process would ensure that school officials make less arbitrary and frivolous educational decisions that they motivated. IDEA envisioned much more than just installing wheelchair ramps and updating testing procedures. The magnitude of the act certainly struck absolute terror in the hearts of school administrators. It provided not only instruction specifically designed for each child, but also related services designed to meet unique needs, including: transportation, speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychological counseling and social work . To avoid inappropriate placements, a comprehensive and individual assessment by a multidisciplinary team would be carried out in the child's native language. To avoid cultural bias, there would be no single procedure serving as the sole placement criterion. Each child was to receive an individualized education plan...... middle of paper ...... retrieved from http://www.urbanedjournal.org/archive/volume-9-issue-1-fall-2011 / school so boring-National Middle School Association. (2010). This is what we believe: the keys to educating young adolescents. Westerville, OH: Author. Riley, R. and Coleman, A. (2011). Turning the page on the debate on equity in education. American Educator, Spring 2011, 26-30. Sugai, G. and Lewis, T. (2002). Teaching social skills in the classroom. In E. J. Kame'enui & C. Darch (Eds.). Educational classroom management. (2nd ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman. Sutherland, K., Lewis-Palmer, T., Stichter, J. and Morgan, P. (2008). To examine the influence of teacher behavior and classroom context on the behavioral and academic outcomes of students with emotional or behavioral disorders. The Journal of Special Education, 41(4), 223- 232.