During the past two decades, scholars, educators, and special interest organizations, including advocacy groups, have critically examined and debated the ethical and legal use of aversive interventions with individuals with disabilities. These interventions comprise a broad spectrum of behavior management techniques including but not at all…

The use of aversives as a method for behavioral intervention in U.S. public schools has been a persistent concern and often subject to litigation, particularly among students with disabilities. The use of aversives (restraint, seclusion, and corporal punishment) have been supported in some cases due to their perceived necessity to keep children…

For more than 30 years, scholars and practitioners have debated how to distinguish emotional disturbance (ED) from social maladjustment (SM) when determining special education eligibility and need. Scholarship on the nature of ED and SM has paid little attention to the legal parameters of practice despite the fundamentally legalistic nature of…

This paper presents an outline and analysis of federal legislation and court decisions relevant to the exclusion of students with disabilities by school systems through the filing of delinquency and other petitions based upon in-school behavior. In many cases the behavior is related to the disability and/or to the consequences of the school…

This article presents the legal requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments regarding Individualized Education Programs (IEP), functional behavioral assessments, and behavior intervention plans for special education students with problem behavior; describes the initial policy letters and due process hearings that…

Analyzes the unique legal and policy issues concerning special education and intradistrict school choice. Describes the methodology for examining intradistrict parental-choice programs of five major cities and appraises their compliance with current legal requirements. Choice programs combining a child-centered approach with consideration of…

This paper examines issues in the inclusion of parents and families of children with disabilities in the educational process, including societal changes affecting families, barriers to family involvement, changes in the definition of parent involvement, and principles for involving families. A section on background notes the importance of family…

Reviews the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the context of the law's history. Focused on are changes in Individualized Education Program requirements, mediation as a conflict resolution option, discipline of students in special education, and the required review of the relationship between a student's…

This paper focuses on transition programs for youth to postsecondary education, broadly considered. It addresses the following questions: (1) What models or programs of transition exist? (2) On what basis can we say one transition program is more effective than another? In other words, how is successful transition defined? (3) How are…

Through an analysis of state and federal regulations, U.S. Department of Education policy letters, and state and federal case law on independent educational evaluations (IEEs), it is concluded that parents have the right to an unfettered IEE at the public expense when they disagree with a district's evaluation. (Contains references.) (CR)

Both law and pedagogy require that educators address behavior interfering with educational progress for students with disabilities. The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA, 2004) and its predecessor, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1997a), require individualized education program (IEP)…

This paper presents the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as statutory frameworks for providing educational services for students with disabilities. The paper then addresses the issue of disciplinary exclusion as provided for in each of…

This article begins by discussing requirements for functional behavioral assessment under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and then describes a comprehensive model for the application of behavior analysis in the schools. The model includes descriptive assessment, functional analysis, and intervention and involves the participation…

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is the process of identifying the events in the environment that consistently precede and follow challenging behavior. The use of FBA has increased significantly following the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1997, which mandated FBAs be conducted when children with…

This paper presents an outline and analysis of court decisions and federal legislation concerning required educational services for students with disabilities who are expelled from school for conduct judged to be unrelated to the disability. The analysis focuses on documentation of the right to continued education following disciplinary expulsion…