Is computer equipment necessary for the student to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE)?
In Board of Education v. Rowley, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the “appropriate” of FAPE is a basic floor of opportunity consisting of access to specialized instruction and related services designed to provide educational benefit to the child with a disability. Thus the question focuses on “appropriate” rather than “best.” It may be useful to distinguish between computer equipment needed for communication (to access or produce oral or written communication) versus computer equipment to be used solely as an instructional medium (in the same way that books, flash cards, loop tape records, etc. are used). Even the latter differentiation can be muddied in cases such as the student with a learning disability who needs spell checking software to produce print well, but whom can certainly write (pencil and paper) without a computer.
