| Venue: | 1st Cir |
| Facts: | Timothy W has all kinds of problems: seizures, "spastic quadriplegia," CP, profound mental retardation, etc. There was a meeting to see if he was considered educationally handicapped (and therefore eligible for special education). Various folks testify to the effect that Timothy W is pretty bad off, having had parts of his brain destroyed by hydrocephalus. The NH Dept of Ed says that this "capable of benefitting" standard is not allowed, and so a fight is brewing. Various exams and testimony, but at least some of the people who are saying he can't benefit from education seem not really to have spent much time with him. |
| Posture: | District court holds that if a handicapped child is unable to benefit from special education, that child is not eligible for special education, and that Timothy W is such a child. Lots of hearings and things. |
| Issue: | If the child is not able to benefit, is he/she ineligible for special education? |
| Holding: | No. Reversed. |
| Rule: | It's called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. All means all. |
| Reasoning: | |
| Dicta: | |