The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) (IDEIA) requires practitioners to use educational evaluations to assess students in K-12 schools that are suspected of having a disability. The resulting data provides the basis for determining whether students qualify for special education services, their precise educational…

The model of special education known as inclusion, or mainstreaming, has become more prevalent over the past 10 years, and today, more than 60 percent of all students with disabilities (SWDs) spend 80 percent or more of their school day in regular classrooms, alongside their non-disabled peers. This is not the full inclusion favored by some…

There are two sides to a coin when it comes to implementing technology at universities; on one side, there is the university using technologies via the virtual learning environment that seems to be outdated with the digital needs of the students, and on the other side, while implementing technology at the university learning environment the focus…

The number of youth with serious emotional disorders has increased tremendously; unfortunately, meeting the needs of such children has been a challenge. In an effort to deal with the challenging behaviour exhibited by children and youths, expensive out-of-home placements such as juvenile justice centres and clinical and psychiatric…

Over the past three decades, transition practices research has demonstrated that post-school outcomes of students with disabilities improve when educators, families, students, and community members and organizations work together to implement a broad perspective of transition planning, more appropriately referred to as transition-focused…

Education in an inclusive setting appears to be a concept in this 21st century. This concept is beginning to gain recognition in the field of education. Children with and without disabilities are gradually being educated together in large scale societies. This is because most large scale countries have begun to recognize, appreciate, and accept…

Meeting the health and wellness needs of students in school is a necessary and effective approach to reducing educational barriers for children and ensuring America's economic dominance in the 21st century. Since 1988, Medicaid has permitted payment to schools for certain medically necessary services provided to children under the Individuals with…

This article takes up the question of equity, access, and cyber charter schools from the perspective of disability studies in education (DSE). DSE positions inclusion and educational access as social justice concerns. In doing so, we assert the importance of making visible the social justice implications of the current laws that impact cyber…

In an era of standards and norms where assessment tends to minimize or dismiss individual differences and results in punitive outcomes or no action at all, Assessment of Young Children provides teachers with an approach to assessment that is in the best interest of both children and their families. Author Lisa B. Fiore explores a variety of ways…

This 2012 edition of this publication updates information provided by state coordinators on state policies, programs, and practices under the Preschool Grants Program (Section 619 of Part B) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Information includes: (1) program administration; (2) funding; (3) interagency coordination; (4)…

With the passage of P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and subsequent amendments, states and jurisdictions have made great strides in the provision of services to young children, ages 3 through 5 years, with disabilities. As of Fall 2009, America's…

Full inclusion is a confusing topic. Many people misunderstand the "least restrictive environment" provision of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Districts need not educate every disabled child in a regular classroom for the entire day, but have numerous options, so long as each child is carefully evaluated. Recent…

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), redefined expectations and accountability appeared concerning education of students in the nation's schools. The focus of this article is to examine the ramifications of NCLB for students with special needs. In addition, given NCLB, the idea of inclusion--the practice of placing…

When Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1997, it authorized an evaluation to track progress at the state and local levels on the legislative goals of IDEA. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) commissioned a national longitudinal study, the Study of State and Local…

Current national efforts at education reform rely largely on the use of standardized testing, the cornerstone of federal education policy as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, with its requirements for regular testing of all students and demonstrations of adequate yearly progress on tests by all schools. The challenges…