Date of Completion

Spring 5-4-2026

Thesis Advisor(s)

Shareen Hertel; Virginia Hettinger

Honors Major

Political Science

Disciplines

Civil Law | Disability Law | Family Law

Abstract

Children with disabilities face educational disparities in the United States despite the existence of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was enacted by the U.S. Congress to ensure a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for such children. As promises of protection are overshadowed by discrepancies in access, quality, and consistency across school districts (Seligman 2005), this paper examines the legal factors that aggravate the paradox between de jure educational rights and their de facto fulfillment for children with autism. To better understand how these challenges manifest in the legal arena, I analyze twenty-four legal cases and seventy claims therein identified through the NexisUni database, all brought by parents seeking to enforce their child’s right to a FAPE under the IDEA. I examine the claims most frequently pursued by parents of children with autism, as well as the relative success of arguments that assert procedural violations versus those that assert substantive violations, aiming to identify where and why the gap between legal protections and practical outcomes arises.

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