As federal special education laws change once again--with the passage of the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) amendments--what impact is it likely to have for parents, students, teachers, evaluators, school administrators, and the courts? This article describes the actions the author, an attorney within the field of learning disabilities who served as a legislative assistant to the U.S. senator who chaired the Senate subcommittee on education as the country began to deal with special education. It was at that point, that he realized that the nation needed to have federal laws and federal oversight of what was happening to these millions of students in state and local programs. The author describes several court cases that demonstrate the loopholes of the amendments to IDEIA and their impact on everyday life. He concludes, however, that parents have never given up in their right to secure appropriate services for their children, and they never will. Even with intentionally punitive and confusing amendments to the IDEIA, the nation can learn from history to work together, especially with national, state, and local organizations, to make this new statute even more successful for students with learning disabilities, their parents, and their teachers.