State legislation serves as a guide and critical influence on the evaluation and identification of students with dyslexia across the United States. The state of Texas has numerous laws and regulations concerning dyslexia, guided by the Texas Administrative Code, Texas Education Code, Texas Occupations Code, and the Texas Education Agency's…

Both early intervention (EI) programs for infants and toddlers with disabilities and newborn screening (NBS) programs to identify specific disorders shortly after birth rest on the assumption that the best way to prevent or lessen the impact of a disorder is to provide treatment as early as possible. Despite this shared vision, the two programs…

This short piece of action research seeks to identify the strengths of secondary school provision for students with SEND, in order to provide a city wide overview in which good practice and expertise can be shared. It also considers the particular barriers faced by secondary schools and examines how schools are working to overcome these barriers.…

Asbury and Wai ("Journal of School Choice," 2019) perform a valuable service by summarizing much available behavior--genetic research on academic achievement. However they consider that no specific policies stem from the research body at this time. Here we do propose a policy based on some of our research using twins, namely that…

This article considers policy and practice in relation to dyslexia provision in Northern Ireland since the 2002 Task Group Report. Using interviews with original and current stakeholders, this research, funded by SCoTENS (Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South), examined the extent to which recommendations have been met in the…

The purpose of this project was to examine programs and services for students with emotional/behavioural disorders (E/BD) across Canada. It is a replication of a survey undertaken a decade prior intended to examine similarities and differences in Canada's provinces and territories, as well as exploring overall changes to policy and process in this…

Over the past decade there has been a substantial increase in research addressing the needs of children in China who have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite the fact the country has the largest educational system in the world and has numerous policies to ensure all children's rights to an education, opportunities are limited for children…

This article considers the increased identification of special educational needs in Australia's largest education system from the perspectives of senior public servants, regional directors, principals, school counsellors, classroom teachers, support class teachers, learning support teachers, and teaching assistants (n = 30). While their…

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs completed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that consisted of 12 evaluative areas of EHDI programs. For the EHDI program infrastructure area, 47 coordinators responded with a total of 292 items, and themes were identified in each…

The Ministry of Education's special education policy (commonly referred to as SE2000) has been progressively implemented since 1996. Although it is a funding rather than a professional-practice policy, it has had some negative and unintended consequences for the practice of educational psychology, for special education and it is suggested, for…

The etiology of autism spectrum disorders is unknown but there are claims of increasing prevalence in many countries. Despite more than a decade of epidemiological investigation, it is still unclear whether the rising trend in prevalence reflects a true increase or changes in diagnostic trends and improvements in case ascertainment. This paper…

In Canada, there is a recent trend toward non-categorization of services of students with emotional and behavioural disabilities (EBD). Yet in Alberta, the coding of students with EBD provides opportunities to diagnose students' learning difficulties but is hindered in this process, in large part, by being tied into special needs funding. Current…

Response to intervention began as a way to identify and teach struggling readers and special education students. It's fast becoming a way to change schooling for everyone. This special report examines the many forms the approach is now taking, its research base, its influence on the educational marketplace, and the federal regulations that both…

Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) is a developmental disorder affecting motor co-ordination. The "Diagnostics Statistics Manual"--IV classification for DCD describes difficulties across a range of activities of daily living, impacting on everyday skills and academic performance in school. Recent evidence has shown that…

Results of the study indicate that much of the variance among states in terms of numbers of handicapped students identified and use of special versus mainstreamed placement is accounted for by the amount of financial resources states and locals commit to education, a state's minority enrollment, and the number of children living in poverty.…