Report Accompanying the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986. (House Report #99-860) and Commenting on P.L. 99-457.

The booklet contains the U.S. Government Report which accompanied the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986 (Public Law 99-457) and a commentary on the law written by the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs. The bill is intended to establish a federal discretionary program to assist states in developing and implementing an interdisciplinary program of early intervention services for handicapped infants, toddlers, and their families and to strengthen the incentive for states to serve handicapped children aged 3 to 5 years. The report contains: (1) a one paragraph summary of the bill; (2) a background statement explaining the need for the law; (3) cost estimates by the Congressional Budget Office; (4) a section by section statement of the intent of the law; and (5) the language of the law itself, with changes identified. The commentary article attempts to place the law in the broader context of current national initiatives on behalf of very young children and their families. The article stresses five points, including the need to move beyond complex service systems requiring parents to coordinate services, the importance of including health services as an integrated part of a early intervention system, and the need to avoid inappropriate assessment and premature labeling of children. (DB)