Educational Rights of Severely and Profoundly Handicapped Children

This article evaluates the legal requirement to educate profoundly retarded children and discusses the implications of recent developments in this aspect of special education. I. Introduction II. Definition of Profoundly Retarded III. Overview of Special Education Law … A. Constitutional Protections in the Area of Education … B. Special Education IV. Education of Profoundly Retarded Children … A. Recent Cases … 1. The Levine and Guempel Cases … a. Background … b. The Levine Decision … (i.) New Jersey Constitutional Requirements … (ii.) New Jersey Statutory Requirements … (iii.) Federal Requirements … c. Analysis of the Levine Decision (i.) New Jersey Constitutional Requirements … (ii.) New Jersey Statutory Requirements … (iii.) Federal Requirements … 2. The Matthews and Cuyahoga County Cases … 3. Implications of the Recent Cases … B. Questions Raised Regarding the Education of Profoundly Retarded Children … 1. Definition of “Education” … a. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act … b. Judicial Decisions … c. Definitions by Educators and Psychologists … 2. Definition of “Educability” … a. The Policy Question … 3. Process for Determining Whether an Individual Is Educable … a. Due Process Generally … b. Evidence of Uneducability and the Burden of Proof … c. Process for Reevaluation V. Conclusions and Recommendations